To keep a group of cigarettes in a stabilized state through the process from the shaping to the packaging and prevent the group of cigarettes from being damaged during the process.

In a method and device by which cigarettes 4 are put together into a group 2 and packaged, the cigarettes 4 are fed across their own axes onto a support surface 33 and form thereon a group 2 in layers which is to be positioned between two opposed holding heads of a pocket 7 which carries the group 2. The two holding heads hold the horizontal surface 52 of the group 2 virtually free and feed the group 2 along the support surface 33, across the axes of the cigarettes 4, and through a feeding line 10 for feeding a sheet 11 as a packaging material.