Abstract: A special rotational cigarette filter design was prepared to study its variations after rotating. Four cigarette samples with perforated lines of different lengths (0, 1, 2, 3 mm) in the filters were prepared to study the effects of filter parameters on routine physical indexes, smoke indexes and sensory quality before and after rotation. The results showed that:1) On the basis of manufacturing effect scores, the optimal filter parameters were determined as ring cutting depth of filter rods at 3 mm, perforation size at 0.15 mm for preperforated tipping paper and glue-free zone width at 11 mm. 2) The filter ventilation rate decreased and the cigarette draw resistance increased after rotation. With increasing length of perforated line in the filter, the filter ventilation rate raised and the draw resistance reduced. 3) After rotation, tar, nicotine, CO, moisture contents, TPM, tar per puff, nicotine per puff increased and puff number decreased. With increasing length of the perforated line in filter, the variation ranges of the tar, nicotine, CO contents in mainstream smoke before and after rotation declined gradually. 4) The smoke concentration and the taste became thicker after rotation. With increasing length of perforated line in the filter, the taste and smoke concentration became thinner and the dryness increased. Optimal sensory quality was achieved when the length of the perforated line in the filter was 1 mm. 5) Filter rotation resulted in the perforated line misalignment between the tipping paper and plug wrapper, which caused the variations of filter ventilation rate and air input through burning cone, and thus the ventilation of mainstream smoke and the burning rate of cigarette were influenced accordingly. Finally the routine smoke indexes and sensory quality of cigarette samples were also changed.