turning now to the drawings in more detail , numeral 10 designates a tobacco product shell of the present invention . the shell 10 is formed as a generally cylindrical hollow body with a central opening 12 extending along the shell &# 39 ; s longitudinal axis . the shell 10 can be made in any desired length and with a predetermined diameter . a longitudinal slit 14 extends through a wall of the shell body ; the purpose of the slit 14 will be explained in more detail hereinafter . a form casing 16 is provided for the practice of the invention . the form casing 16 is formed from a rigid material in a form of a cylinder of a predetermined length and outer diameter . the form casing 16 can be made either hollow , with a central opening 18 , or as a solid body . it is desirable that the form casing be inflexible and strong enough to withstand forces applied to the form casing 16 when a cigar shell 10 is rolled . to form a shell 10 , an operator selects the appropriate form casing 16 from a set of casings that may be available in the shop . tobacco leaves are prepared for rolling by application of a small amount of moisture to the leaves in order to make them more pliable . the operator carefully wraps the tobacco leaves about the outer surface of the form casing 16 , slightly compressing the leaves to cause them to adhere together . the next step involves rolling of the form casing 16 with a tobacco leaf wrapped about it on a hard level surface , such a worktable . the steps of wrapping and rolling continue until the necessary layers of tobacco leaves have been rolled to form a shell 10 of a desired thickness . it is known that wet tobacco leaves tend to adhere to each other . therefore , subsequent application of moisture , in many cases , may not be necessary . still , if the leaves become brittle and there exists a danger of breaking the shell 10 , the operator applies moisture to the leaves to retain their pliability . once the shell 10 has been created , the operator allows the shell to remain wrapped around the form casing 16 until dry . cutting through the wall of the shell 10 with a sharp knife or a razor then makes the slit 14 . a finished shell 10 is then removed from the form casing 16 and is wrapped either in cellophane or another similar type of outer wrapper . to facilitate disengagement of the shell 10 from the form casing 16 , an outer surface of the form casing 16 may be pre - coated with a non - stick material . in this manner , the danger of an operator damaging the shell 10 is minimized . the non - stick coating may be of a permanent type or applied immediately before wrapping of the tobacco leaves . it is important to select a coating material that would not leave an undesirable taste or odor on the tobacco leaves . a polytetrafluoroethylene ( such as that sold under the trademark teflon ®) coating may serve well for this purpose . the finished shells 10 can be packaged in conventional containers and sold directly to customers who desire to roll their own cigars , but do not have the required finger dexterity . an ultimate user will remove the shell 10 from its outer wrapper ( not shown ) and pry the shell 10 open by forcing the shell apart along the slit . the user will then fill the interior opening 12 with any desired blend of the favorite tobacco and seal the slit 14 by applying a small amount of moisture to the edges of the slit 14 and bringing the edges together . a small amount of pressure may be applied to the shell 10 to cause sealing of the slit 14 . in this manner , a custom - tailored cigar is made , answering all requirements of a connoisseur as to the tobacco blend , size and length of a cigar . if desired , a kit for roll - your - own tobacco products can be manufactured and sold through tobacconists and specialty shops . the kit would contain a set of form casings 16 , an initial supply of tobacco wrapping leaves for the making of the shell 10 and a set of instructions . the user will be able to make individual shells in privacy , at the most convenient time for the user time . in this way , the formed shells will be always the freshest . in the alternative , a special wrapping material may be used for making of the shells . this material is available on the market ; it is made of homogenized tobacco paper that can be wrapped about the form casing 16 . it is also possible to make the form casings 16 disposable . with this method , the shell 10 will remain wrapped about the form casing 16 until such time as a smoker desires to make a cigar . the wrapped shell 10 is then peeled off the form casing 16 and used in a conventional manner . the benefit of such a method is that the danger of a shell collapsing during shipment is eliminated . still another approach would be to use a rigid core form casing 16 with a non - stick coating on the outer surface and a secondary form casing made of cardboard that is slipped over the first form casing . the tobacco leaves are wrapped about the second cardboard form casing to make a shell . a cellophane sleeve is slipped over the finished shell and the first inner form casing is removed . the hardened shells with the cardboard form casing are shipped for sale . in that case , the finished product would look very much similar to the view shown in fig1 , except that the form casing 16 will be made of a cardboard material . stuffing of crushed tobacco into the cigars can be accomplished using a conventional funnel , the nose of which is lightly smaller than the diameter of the inner opening of the shell . the funnel , if desired , can be made a part of the kit containing one master form casing and a plurality of cardboard form casings . in such instance , the slit 14 may not be required , and the shell 10 will be constructed as a hollow cylindrical body with a slit - free sidewall . many changes and modifications can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof . i , therefore , pray that my rights to the present invention will be limited only by the scope of the appended claims .
a tobacco product is formed by rolling moistened tobacco leaves about a cylindrical form casing and allowing the leaves to dry to form a shell . after the form casing is removed a consumer can fill the shell with crushed tobacco leaves of a favorite blend , thereby eliminating some steps in the making of a “ roll - your - own ” tobacco product .