How is cigarette paper made?

Cigarette paper is not a paper like any other. Its weight ranges from 12 to 25 g/m² so that it can hold tobacco and be rolled easily. But how is cigarette paper actually made? Here is an overview.

Cigarette paper explained

Cigarette paper, or rolling paper, used to be made from flax and hemp fibres, but also from scraps of sailcloth or military canvas. Specific machines had to be built from the start, and industrial models very quickly replaced stones and sanding equipment.

Many accounts describe how it was made in earlier times. The best known is surely that of Jean Bardou who, in 1838, wrote a set of instructions with detachable rolling papers. In 1842 he filed a patent and launched his famous JOB brand.

How cigarette paper was made in the old days

Once the cloth had been sorted and torn into strips, it was washed with hot steam. The pile of fabric then passed under a heavy cylinder that crushed and cut it. The waste was collected in a small channel, buttons, nails, coins and the like, while the rest of the cloth continued to be worked and then rinsed in clean water. The washing drum then completed the separation of the fibres. Only afterwards did the pulp press come in, turning the fabric into what looked like damp yellow cakes about a centimetre thick. The pulp was then ready to be bleached.

Several chemicals were added to the resulting pulp to whiten it. Next came the refining stage, which called for cylinders and vats. The pulp was then sent to the mixing tank before reaching the sand trap, where remaining impurities were removed. After that came the screening stage. The pulp was then ready for the paper machine.

Once pressed and drawn off by suction, the sheet of cigarette paper was cut to size, then wound into reels before being packaged.