FIELD: package.
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to packing method and machine for producing a packet of cigarettes comprising a group of cigarettes with at least two rows; and an inner package enclosing the group of cigarettes; a group-forming pocket, for housing the group of cigarettes, is fed along a group-forming path extending past a succession of first cigarette hoppers; group of cigarettes is formed by expelling each row of cigarettes from a corresponding first hopper into the group-forming pocket; wherein a second hopper, containing a spacer, is located along the group-forming path, between two first hoppers; and the spacer is transferred from the second hopper to the group-forming pocket so as to insert the spacer between, and separate, two rows of cigarettes.
EFFECT: in the following description, reference is made, for the sake of simplicity and purely by way of a non- limiting example, to a rigid, hinged- lid packet of cigarettes.
2 cl, 10 dwg
