Abstract: In order to clarify carbon emission characteristics of cigarette products, life cycle assessment was adopted to analyze the carbon emission of cigarettes of a typical brand at different stages, including raw material processing, cigarette manufacturing, transportation stages, etc. The results showed that in a whole life cycle, the carbon footprint was 79.709 4 kg of CO₂ per ten thousand cigarettes; the raw material processing stage accounted for 90.25% of the total emission, which indicated that stage had decisive impact on the carbon footprint of cigarette. Cigarette manufacturing stage was the next with a percentage of 9.22%. Carbon emission at transportation stage was negligible. Tobacco leaf production, cellulose acetate tow production and cigarette manufacturing are key stages for reducing the carbon footprint of cigarette.