Abstract: The nature of the variation of cut tobacco moisture content during drying, its strong nonlinearity, uncertainty, longer time lag, accompanied with disturbance and noises, precluded the conventional PID algorithm from attaining the expected results.The MFA (model free self-adaptive) controller combined with ASYM was used to improve the moisture content control in cut tobacco drying, and the mathematical model of feedforward and moisture content object was established.The precision of model was increased.By means of the self-adaptability and anti-lag function of MFA, the fluctuation range of moisture content of cut tobacco was decreased, the amount of over-dried cut tobacco during start and finish of drying operation were reduced, and cigarette quality was improved.