The freeze drying rate was investigated under various conditions such as pressure and moisture contents in order to establish the optimum condition for expansion of the culled flue cured tobacco lamina. The optimal pressure in the chamber to maintain the heat and mass transfer was about 0.8torr, When the moisture contents of sample was 50-60%, expanding rate was the optimum condition and the rate was 67-76%. As the thickness of the sample layers was increased, drying-rate was decreased conversely and this result seemed to be due to decline of heat and mass transfer coefficients. Differences with the position of its stalk were also observed in drying rate, and low stalk position leaves of 5 and 3 was the fastest. Key words : freeze drying, Popping, expansion tobacco.