In the manufacture of a tampon, an absorbent structure composed of an absorbent material can be formed into a tampon blank. In various embodiments, a withdrawal element can be attached to the absorbent structure either before or after the absorbent structure is formed into a tampon blank. The tampon blank can then undergo a compression step which can result in the pledget of the tampon. The pledget, and resultant tampon, can have at least one linear channel and at least one non-linear channel.
