I just got mine cleaned from it jamming and found a wad of hard packed tobacco at the end of the spoon and across the backside top and a small pack at the gate that closes off the chamber as the spoon advances. I'm suspecting high humidity as the culprit. Of course I did not see this until I took the cover off and looked at it from every possible angle, first seeing the gate jammed, which freed it up enough to get the spoon to cycle, then seeing something lodge to the spoon to which I cycled it and shut it off mid cycle as nothing I had would dislodge the hard pack. Even with the spoon extended it was a bear to pry that out.
Be interested in an update. I just got mine. 3 cigs badly packed and its jammed solid. Brand new machine. Oddly I have some no name ciggy packer from china for $39 and it works fine. 1000 packed so far. Just a bit slow as you have to manage the hopper manually. I was so excited for my new powermatic 3. Lasted about 2 minutes.
Yes when they fail it happens very fast I don't know when I will strip this machine I suspect the knife is the part that I need to open and clean I will post a video on the repair but this is months away. I am in Malaysia now and off to Thailand tomorrow.
