A machine for making cigarettes from empty filter tip cigarette tubes and from tobacco cartridges consisting of compressed tobacco contained in a thin sheath of cellulose film or other non-consumable material, the length of the cartridge being slightly greater than that of the cigarette tube. A cartridge is inserted into a cigarette tube, and the combination is slid along a trough and pushed against a stop. The stop, which is carried by a long rod coaxial with the trough, prevents movement of the tobacco while allowing movement of the sheath past the stop. The sheath is then stripped off by a slider which slides back and forth along the rod, thus leaving the tobacco in the cigarette tube.