Abstract: In order to characterize and control the distribution of cut tobacco in a cigarette, the cigarette was divided into sections by density, a computational formula for the eigenvalue of cut tobacco distribution was proposed, and the characterization method for describing cut tobacco distribution was developed. Taking the eigenvalue of cut tobacco distribution and loose end cigarette percentage as the response variables, the optimal parameter combination of ecreteur disc pattern of 3 deep and 3 shallow grooves was determined for uniform experiment, and then the eigenvalue of cut tobacco distribution under the above optimal parameter combination was obtained. The eigenvalue of optimal cut tobacco distribution in cigarettes of Brand A was determined with the developed characterization method. The results showed that:1) The distribution of cut tobacco could be characterized by the ratio between the density difference of cigarette sections and the mean density of total cut tobacco in cigarette; the smaller the ratio was, the more uniform the cut tobacco distribution would be. 2) The optimal size of deep groove was 24 mm×2.4 mm (width×depth); and that of shallow groove, 20 mm×1.8 mm. 3) The eigenvalue of optimal cut tobacco distribution for Brand A was 0.136, the percentage of loose end cigarette and smoking smoothness decreased if the eigenvalue higher than 0.136, while it was on the contrary if the eigenvalue lower than 0.136.