General	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Nature of Business [Abstract]
Nature of Business	General Nature of Business Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., or SWM or the Company, is a multinational diversified producer of premium specialty papers headquartered in the United States of America. The Company manufactures and sells paper and reconstituted tobacco products to the tobacco industry as well as specialized paper products for use in other applications. The Company’s tobacco-related products include cigarette, plug wrap and base tipping papers, or Cigarette Papers, used to wrap various parts of a cigarette, reconstituted tobacco leaf, or RTL, which is used as a blend with virgin tobacco in cigarettes and reconstituted tobacco wrappers and binders for machine-made cigars. These products are sold directly to the major tobacco companies or their designated converters in the Americas, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Non-tobacco industry products are a diverse mix of products, certain of which represent commodity paper grades produced to maximize machine operations. The Company is a manufacturer of high porosity papers, which are used in manufacturing ventilated cigarettes, banded and print banded papers for the production of lower ignition propensity, or LIP, cigarettes and the leading independent producer of RTL used in producing blended cigarettes. The Company conducts business in over 90 countries and currently operates 9 production locations worldwide, with mills in the United States, France, Brazil and Poland. The Company also has a 50% equity interest in two joint ventures in China. As used in this 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to “we,” “us,” “our,” “SWM,” “Schweitzer-Mauduit” or similar terms include Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

General

Nature of Business

Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., or SWM or the Company, is a multinational diversified producer of premium specialty papers headquartered in the United States of America. The Company manufactures and sells paper and reconstituted tobacco products to the tobacco industry as well as specialized paper products for use in other applications. The Company’s tobacco-related products include cigarette, plug wrap and base tipping papers, or Cigarette Papers, used to wrap various parts of a cigarette, reconstituted tobacco leaf, or RTL, which is used as a blend with virgin tobacco in cigarettes and reconstituted tobacco wrappers and binders for machine-made cigars. These products are sold directly to the major tobacco companies or their designated converters in the Americas, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Non-tobacco industry products are a diverse mix of products, certain of which represent commodity paper grades produced to maximize machine operations.

The Company is a manufacturer of high porosity papers, which are used in manufacturing ventilated cigarettes, banded and print banded papers for the production of lower ignition propensity, or LIP, cigarettes and the leading independent producer of RTL used in producing blended cigarettes. The Company conducts business in over 90 countries and currently operates 9 production locations worldwide, with mills in the United States, France, Brazil and Poland. The Company also has a 50% equity interest in two joint ventures in China.

As used in this 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to “we,” “us,” “our,” “SWM,” “Schweitzer-Mauduit” or similar terms include Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.