The ’mobilization’ of a fibrous material, cut lamina tobacco particles, has been achieved in a novel contacting device which uses high velocity gas jets to create a well-defined solids flow pattern. Conventional technologies, such as fluidized and spouted beds, are incapable of maintaining such a material in a ’mobilized state’ because of its entangled nature. Mobilization of tobacco particles in the device results mainly from momentum transfer from the gas jets to the bed. The maximum bed pressure drop is below that calculated to support the bed weight due to the contribution of the inlet momentum flux of the mobilizing gas jets. The maximum mobilizing flowrate at incipient mobilization can be predicted from a force balance model on the plug of fibrous particles.