Abstract: As a solution to the cigarette defects including air leak caused by improper tipping paper scraping, a tipping paper tension control system based on SIMOTION servo control was designed for an ultra-high speed cigarette maker. The system adopts an independent servo motor to drive the tipping paper tension roller, the first and the second guide rollers. The output torque and working position of the tension roller are regulated by the combination of direct torque control and positioning control, and further the contact tension between tipping paper and the scraper is controlled to achieve better scraping effect on tipping paper. The designed system was tested on a ZJ119 ultra-high speed cigarette maker, and the results showed that the system was adaptable to the cigarette maker running at a speed of 12 000 cig/min. The total rejection rate of cigarettes with air leak was 0.06%, in which the rejection rates of cigarettes with substandard compactness, ventilation rate and draw resistance were 0.041%, 0.010% and 0.009%, respectively; the appearance quality of cigarettes met the technical requirements. This system provides a support for the design and development of ultra-high speed cigarette makers.