Raw material pretreatment: Before rolling, make sure that the wormwood is fully dried, and the moisture content is generally controlled at 10% - 15%. Too much moisture will make the wormwood fiber too tough, making it difficult to control the tightness during rolling, and it is easy to be too tight or too loose in some areas; if it is too dry, the wormwood will break easily, which will also affect the rolling effect. Gently comb the dried wormwood to remove impurities and lumps to make it uniform in texture, laying the foundation for subsequent uniform rolling.
Choose the right tool: Rolling wormwood sticks usually uses bamboo sticks or paper tubes as the axis. The thickness of the bamboo stick should be moderate. If it is too thin, the support force is insufficient, and the wormwood roll is easy to loosen. If it is too thick, the wormwood layer will be too thin, and it will be difficult to adjust the tightness during rolling. The paper tube can be selected with appropriate hardness and the surface should be as smooth as possible to reduce the friction with the wormwood, so as to facilitate the smooth application of force during the rolling process, so that the wormwood is evenly attached, thereby accurately controlling the tightness.
Manual rolling skills: When starting to roll, take an appropriate amount of wormwood and place it on one end of the tool. Gently pinch the wormwood with your fingers and slowly roll it along the axis with uniform and gentle force. If the force is too strong, the wormwood will be over-squeezed, the inside will be tight, the oxygen supply will be insufficient when burning, and the smoke will be thick and pungent; if the force is too weak, the wormwood sticks will be loose, burn too fast and break easily. Press moderately with your thumb while rolling, feel the tightness, and adjust the force in time to ensure that the tightness is consistent from beginning to end.
Measure with auxiliary tools: You can make a simple measuring caliper and measure the diameter of the wormwood sticks regularly during the rolling process. For example, if the target diameter is set to 2-3 cm, if the diameter is found to be too large, it means that the rolling is too loose, and the rolling pressure needs to be appropriately increased later; on the contrary, if the diameter is too small, you need to relax the finger pressure and control the tightness within the ideal range through real-time measurement feedback.
Mechanical rolling control: When mechanical rolling is used for mass production, the machine parameters should be finely adjusted according to the characteristics of wormwood. For example, if the speed of the winding motor is adjusted too fast, the wormwood will not be evenly distributed in time, which may lead to uneven tightness. At the same time, the pressure value of the final roller should be set. If the pressure is too high, the roll will be too tight, and if it is too low, the roll will be loose. Through repeated tests, the best parameter combination suitable for this batch of wormwood can be found.
Experience judgment and calibration: Experienced producers can detect the difference in tightness by touch. Novices can make more samples and observe the burning state after ignition. If the burning is stable, the smoke is moderate, and the ash is well formed, it means that the tightness is appropriate; if it burns too fast, sparks fly or extinguishes halfway, summarize the experience and calibrate the tightness of subsequent rolling.
Post-processing fine-tuning: After the rolling is completed, if it is found that the tightness of individual wormwood sticks is slightly deviated, it can be fine-tuned. For those that are loose, gently wrap a layer of thin rice paper or hemp rope on the surface to reinforce; for those that are tight, you can rub them carefully with your fingers and loosen them moderately to ensure the uniform quality of the finished product and meet the use requirements.
