Preparing tobacco in the factory

Introduced: September 1968

Last revised: January 2006

Classification Context

Section:: HUMAN NECESSITIES
Class:: TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
Subclass:: MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF

Filing statistics

IPC A24B 3/00 belongs to the parent subclass A24B, which recorded 35,622 patent applications worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Annual filings grew from 2,030 in 2013 to 4,021 in 2023 (+98%), peaking at 4,357 applications in 2022. The most active applicants in class A24 are PHILIP MORRIS PRODUCTS (13,201 applications), NICOVENTURES TRADING (7,482 applications) and KT & G CORPORATION (4,818 applications).

Source: EPO PATSTAT, worldwide filings

Related Keywords

HUMIDIFYING tobaccoMOISTENING of tobaccotreating STEMS of tobacco leaves

10 direct subcodes

Child Classifications

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A24B 3/02 Humidifying packed raw tobacco
A24B 3/04 Humidifying or drying tobacco bunches or cut tobacco
A24B 3/06 Loosening tobacco leaves or cut tobacco
A24B 3/07 Cutting or removing tie leaves; Cutting-off stem butts
A24B 3/08 Blending tobacco
A24B 3/1 Roasting or cooling tobacco
A24B 3/12 Steaming, curing, or flavouring tobacco
A24B 3/14 Forming reconstituted tobacco products, e.g. wrapper materials, sheets, imitation leaves, rods, cakes; Forms of such products
A24B 3/16 Classifying or aligning leaves
A24B 3/18 Other treatment of leaves, e.g. puffing, crimpling, cleaning

Top Applicants

Top 10 applicants by patent filingsfor class A24, 2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT

PHILIP MORRIS PRODUCTS CH 13,201
NICOVENTURES TRADING GB 7,482
KT & G CORPORATION KR 4,818
JAPAN TOBACCO JP 4,636
JT INTERNATIONAL CH 3,806
CHINA TOBACCO YUNNAN INDUSTRIAL COMPANY 2,490
CHINA TOBACCO HENAN INDUSTRIAL 2,453
CHINA TOBACCO HUBEI INDUSTRIAL 2,344
BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (INVESTMENTS) GB 2,199
SHENZHEN FIRST UNION TECHNOLOGY COMPANY 2,097