Preparing the Tobacco

Processing different types of tobacco

image of blending heli-doffers

Several outlying departments, so called because they were located outside the 1948 New Cigarette Factory (NCF)Click for a map of L&M's Durham complex, worked simultaneously to prepare the various ingredients that go into the cigarettes. Pictured here is the blend silo with large, metal rotators called heli-doffersClick for a glossary definition, on the sixth floor of the NCF. DoffersClick for a glossary definition--rollers that assist with discharging the tobacco forward through the process--are used in many manufacturing operations. The helix shape of these doffers gave them the name heli-doffers.