The higher oil consumption of oil-fueled pipe drier HXD in practical production was caused mainly by that: 1) the accuracy of mixed air temperature detector was distorted by direct simulation water impinging; 2) there were too few detectable parameters to set the burner to its optimal conditions; 3) the higher moisture content remained in tobacco at the beginning of a batch. Therefore, the monitoring system was improved by: installing a V-shape deflection plate in front of the temperature sensor to prevent simulation water from directly spraying upon the sensor; adding an oil meter and an exhaust gas temperature detector; and revising the run-in programme for tobacco drying operation. After improving, the qualified rate of moisture content in dried cut tobacco increased from 96.58% to 98.7%, time for equipment warming up decreased from 50.2 min to 38.8 min, the yearly average fuel consumption reduced from 2.64 L/100 kg to 2.41 L/100 kg.