Abstract: In order to improve the role of CO₂ expanded cut tobacco in cigarette blends, the classification of tobacco to be processed for CO₂ expansion was tested. The tobacco was classified into several blocks according to their changes in physical characters, chemical components and sensory quality before and after expansion. The processing parameters for each block were determined on the basis of process quality evaluation and off-line/on-line experiments. The results showed that classification processing could not only improve the processing durability of expanded cut tobacco and cigarette quality, but also reduce the consumption of tobacco leaf.