A Note on Speed Claims

You will see MK8-type machines advertised at speeds far above 2,500 per minute. Treat those claims carefully.

The Mark 8 platform is a proven mid-speed machine, and approximately 2,500 cigarettes per minute is its realistic, sustainable production rate. Machines genuinely quoted at 6,000 to 8,000 per minute are entirely different platforms, at several times the capital cost. A supplier who inflates the speed figure on a Mark 8 is telling you something useful about how they will handle the rest of the relationship.

How the MK8 Works: The Production Process Step by Step

Understanding the process helps you evaluate any supplier’s machine, and helps your team plan installation, training and maintenance.

Stage 1: Tobacco Feed and Distribution

Cut tobacco enters the hopper and is metered into the distribution system, which delivers an even, continuous stream to the rod-forming section.
Consistency here determines consistency everywhere downstream. Uneven feed produces uneven fill weight, which shows up in the finished product as loose ends, variable draw resistance, and customer complaints.

Stage 2: Rod Forming on the Garniture

Cigarette paper is drawn from the bobbin and runs along the garniture, where the tobacco stream is compressed and wrapped into a continuous rod. The paper seam is glued — with PVA or hotmelt — and sealed as the rod travels.

Stage 3: Weight Control

Optional microwave weight control continuously monitors rod density and feeds corrections back to the tobacco feed system, holding fill weight within tolerance.

On blends that vary in moisture or density, this is worth specifying rather than treating as an optional extra. It pays for itself in reduced waste and more consistent product.

Stage 4: Cut-Off

The double-knife cut-off divides the endless rod into individual tobacco rods at the required length. The “D” in Mark 8 D with MAX-15 refers to this double-knife arrangement.

Stage 5: Transfer to the Filter Assembler

The 1117 infeed unit transfers tobacco rods into the MAX-15 filter assembler, maintaining correct orientation and spacing throughout the handover.

Stage 6: Filter Cutting and Tipping

Filter rod is cut to length and positioned between two tobacco rods. Cork tipping paper is applied and wrapped, bonding the filter to both rods simultaneously.

Stage 7: Final Cut and Delivery

The assembled double-cigarette is cut at its centre, producing two finished filter cigarettes, which are delivered to the catcher for collection or onward transfer to a tray filler or packer.

Why a 1959 Design Is Still in Production

The Mark 8’s longevity is not sentimentality. It is a consequence of how the machine was engineered.

A Mark 8 can be diagnosed, adjusted and repaired by a competent maintenance team without proprietary diagnostic tooling or a service contract with the original manufacturer. Its mechanics are comprehensible and its wear parts are replaceable. In markets where downtime is expensive and specialist support is distant, that is a decisive practical advantage over machines that must be serviced by the manufacturer.

The platform survived because it solves a real problem: delivering genuine industrial output from equipment a factory can actually maintain itself.

Budhan manufactures new machines built to this proven Mark 8 design. Budhan is an independent manufacturer and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an authorised agent of Molins or the Coesia Group.

Kretek Production: Running Clove Tobacco Without Compromising the Blend

This section matters most to manufacturers in Indonesia and other kretek markets, and it addresses a limitation the industry has quietly accepted for decades.

Why Kretek Is Difficult for Cigarette Machinery

Kretek — the clove and tobacco blend that accounts for roughly 90% of cigarettes smoked in Indonesia — behaves very differently inside a kretek cigarette making machine from flue-cured or Virginia blends.

Clove is rich in eugenol, the aromatic oil that gives kretek its characteristic flavour and its distinctive crackle when burning. That oil, combined with the sugars and casings typical of kretek recipes, produces a cut tobacco that is oilier, stickier, heavier and often higher in moisture than the blends most kretek cigarette making machines were designed around.

Inside a standard cigarette maker, those properties cause cumulative problems:

• Residue builds up on the garniture and tape
• Cut-off knives gum up, requiring more frequent cleaning and sharpening
• Tobacco adheres and bridges in the hopper and distribution system
• Fill weight becomes inconsistent as denser, damper tobacco flows differently
• Oils interfere with glued and bonded surfaces
• Contact surfaces wear faster
• Cleaning stops become more frequent, and effective uptime falls

None of these are dramatic failures. They are a steady tax on production — a machine that needs stopping more often, cleaning more thoroughly, and adjusting more frequently than the same machine running a conventional blend.

The Compromise the Industry Has Accepted

The standard workaround is revealing.

Machine-made kretek producers routinely reduce the clove-to-tobacco ratio specifically to prevent clogging. Hand-rolled kretek can carry a higher clove ratio precisely because no machine has to survive it. The machine-made version is adjusted to suit the equipment’s limitations.
In other words, the industry has been compromising the defining characteristic of the product in order to keep the machinery running.

The Budhan Approach to Kretek

Budhan configures and modifies the MK8 specifically for kretek production, so the machine runs oily, heavy clove blends smoothly.

The objective is straightforward: you should be able to produce the blend your market actually wants, at the clove ratio your recipe calls for, without adjusting it downward to protect the machine.

We have built this capability into machines for clove-blend producers, and we configure each machine to the customer’s specific blend, clove ratio and moisture profile rather than supplying a single standard build and hoping it copes.

If you produce machine-made kretek — full flavour, light mild, or a new brand in development — talk to us about the blend you actually want to run, not the one you have been running because of the equipment.

Why This Matters Commercially

Machine-made kretek, known in Indonesia as SKM (sigaret kretek mesin), has decisively overtaken hand-rolled kretek, SKT (sigaret kretek tangan).
Industry figures have put SKM volume at roughly 199 billion sticks against 60 billion for SKT, and the gap has continued to widen as manufacturers shift production from hand-rolling to machines. That shift is driven by labour costs, consistency, and the ability to produce filtered products at scale.

It also creates a specific requirement: machines that can produce authentic kretek at industrial volume without diluting what makes it kretek. A maker that handles the real blend protects your product’s character while giving you machine economics — rather than forcing you to choose between them.

New Machines vs Rebuilt Machines

A large share of the MK8 machines on the world market are used, rebuilt or reconditioned original Molins units, many of them decades old. They are offered at attractive prices, and for some buyers they work out. But you should understand exactly what you are being offered before comparing prices.

Budhan supplies brand-new machines only. Not refurbished, not reconditioned, not rebuilt.

What “Brand New” Actually Means

• A known service life. A new machine starts at zero hours. A rebuilt machine may have run for decades, and wear in castings, shafts and bearing housings is not always visible in a refurbishment.
• Integrated modern controls. Budhan machines are built with Delta PLC and HMI touch-screen control as part of the original design, not older electronics retrofitted onto an ageing frame.
• Consistent, documented build. Every machine is manufactured to the same specification, so a second or third line matches the first — which matters for operator training, spare parts and maintenance procedure.
• Predictable spare parts. Parts are manufactured to a current, documented specification rather than sourced for equipment built two generations ago.

Questions to Ask Before Buying a Rebuilt MK8

If you are weighing a rebuilt machine against a new MK8 cigarette machine, ask for the following in writing. A straightforward supplier will provide it without hesitation:

1. What year was the machine originally manufactured?
2. What are its total operating hours?
3. Which components were replaced during refurbishment, and which were retained?
4. What warranty is offered, and what does it exclude?
5. Are spare parts available, and from what source?
6. Can the machine be inspected under power, running, before purchase?

Then compare total cost of ownership rather than purchase price. A cheaper machine that loses production days to breakdowns is not cheaper.