Abstract: The transportation characters of cut tobacco in a pilot rotary cylinder without heating were studied,and the effects of cut tobacco flow rate,air velocity in the cylinder, rotating speed of the cylinder and moisture content in cut tobacco on the retention amount,average retention time and axial transportation velocity of cut tobacco in the cylinder under stable transportation state were investigated. The moving cycle of cut tobacco from being lifted to dropping, the number of cycles,and axial displacement per cycle under different test conditions were analyzed. The results showed that:1) air velocity in cylinder, rotating speed of cylinder and moisture content in cut tobacco influenced the average retention time of cut tobacco in rotary cylinder significantly; with the increase of air velocity and rotating speed, the average retention time of cut tobacco decreased, the axial transportation velocity increased; however the effects of moisture content in cut tobacco were on the contrary; 2) with the increase of rotating speed of cylinder,cut tobacco flow rate and moisture content in cut tobacco, the number of moving cycles of cut tobacco increased,while the axial displacement per cycle decreased; however the effects of air velocity in cylinder were on the contrary.