any RYO cigarette smokers here?

I was puttering around in the garage and I found my old Premier machine, along with 4 cartons of tubes.

I haven't made my own cigarettes in more than 5 years, but I'd like to get back into it ... saving money over the cost of store-bought name brand smokes is my goal.

What are the good brands of bulk tobacco nowadays? Where can I get them by mail-order?

I used bugler pipe tobacco when I rolled my own. I smoke Marlboro red, and while it isn't the same at all, it was a smoke I could enjoy. I ended up going back to buying smokes as it became a hassle to make them.

Also, pipe tobacco is cheaper as its taxed different, and typically coarser cut, but I found the bugler to work well.

I've tried all the drugstore brands like Bugler, Top and Kite and found them lacking.

I used to get my bulk tobacco from Daughters & Ryan, but they seem to have switched over to pipe tobacco only, at least that's what they seem to be offering to out-of-state customers.

Yes, I know about the taxes ... I think that was why I went back to buying regular brand cigarettes 5 years ago. It used to be a lot cheaper to RYO, but not so much anymore.

I used to be a big fan of DRUM tobacco. I would roll it by hand and really enjoyed the taste. But they re-formulated around the late '90s and its never been the same since.

Another hand-rolling brand I liked were Jester and something that started with an "A" ... I'm not sure if these are still available.

But I'm looking for machine-rolling now. I'll go back to the hand-rolling if I can't find the right blend at the right price for my Premier tube-machine.

Many, many years ago I had one of the machines like you are talking about that used the tubes and had filters also. I also had the kind that opened like a wallet and rolled the cig. when you closed it. When I try hand rolling I always end up with a Camel...hump in the middle.

This is the kind I have now, but like Michael said I just buy the store bought ones and don't go to the trouble of rolling, but it's not bad when you make up a pack's worth at a time.



I've had Bugler and the other kinds, but since I smoke menthols I have a pack of Kite that's been here for years...no need to say that it needs re-hydrated now. I also have the old cloth sack of Bull Durham, but the little round paper tab on the draw string is long gone.

I've never ordered any RYO; I always just bought it at the local store. I'm sure you could order it from Smokingpipes or P&C.

I never like the bugler cigarette tobacco. I feel like the pipe tobacco is different. Obviously, there are definitely higher quality tobaccos out there, but they won't save you any money I don't think.

I didn't know Peter Stokkbye made rolling tobacco...interesting. I've never checked in to premium rolling tobacco before.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=premium+roll+your+own+tobacco

If you want inexpensive, you have to go with the bulk pipe tobacco that is cut to work better when rolled. If you want GOOD cigarette tobacco and don't mind the expense, I recommend the American Spirit line. Excellent taste and it rolls right. The Perique blend is the best of them to me.

simon1 said:

I didn't know Peter Stokkbye made rolling tobacco...interesting. I've never checked in to premium rolling tobacco before.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=premium+roll+your+own+tobacco

Click to expand...

The Peter Stokkebye is good stuff. The RYO tobacco is the same as the pipe tobacco, but in a shag cut. I like the Amsterdam and the Turkish.

My wife smokes RYO on occasion, we have a injector style machine that uses the premade tubes. I've tried a couple of the brands of bagged "pipe tobacco" in my pipe out of curiosity.

Gambler Red was quite nasty.

Smoker's Pride Rich Taste and Smoker's Pride Mellow Taste receive decent reviews as actual pipe tobacco. I've tried Rich Taste and mostly it's a mellow burley based blend. Not terrible, and fully smokable if I were really cash strapped. Mellow Taste is burley/ Virginia. Not tried it.

I pi would start with those two blends since people who actually appreciate tobacco for flavor, rather than just nicotine say they are decent blends.

In in my experience the Rich Taste needed some drying time. Straight out of the bag it was too wet, and jammed my injector machine.

I smoke RYO.

My wife and I actually import whole leaf tobacco from down there in the States to here.

De-stem, blend, inject.

4:3:1 - Yendji Oriental, Canadian flue cured tobacco and aged burley leaf in that order.

I like Vera Cruz Elegante tubes and my wife likes their Midnights.

0.8mm cut manual hand shredder and a Powermatic 2 electric spoon fed injector.

If you forgive a link (no affiliation), check out LeafOnly at their dot com. That's where I get my supplies from.

Altreac said:

If you forgive a link (no affiliation), check out LeafOnly at their dot com. That's where I get my supplies from.

Click to expand...

Very interesting ... I never knew that such a thing as whole tobacco leaves were available.

Is that how they come to you? How do you process it into RYO form?

Oh yeah, they come as whole leaves.

The Yendji are palm sized dainty leaves, the burley is very long, dark and heavy. The Canadian sort of looks how you'd picture a traditional tobacco leaf.

You pull the main stems and the larger offshoots.

Then the hand grinder has a handle and 2 inwards spinning cutters. You crank the de-stemmed leaves through it and they come out in 0.8mm strands.

Then you weigh your ratios, we use a digital scale for it, and hand mix the tobaccos together.

Then for us 0.8 g goes into the Powermatic hopper with a tube fitted. Pull the handle and voila. Less fiddly than handheld manual injectors.

Overhead startup takes an investment, but after that it very quickly pays for itself.

We usually import (again, legally duty and import fees and gst paid) 5 pounds at a time. It lasts us months.

I smoke up to a pack a day but usually 3/4s. My wife less than that. But still. It's great.

I was looking at that site while thinking of making a plug with some perique in it.

Here's an idea of my setup. Sorry for the mess.


(The bread is to keep it hydrated)


Left to right: Canadian flue cured, aged Burley, Yendji Oriental.


Shredder and injector.



Injector with tube loaded on fiction mount.

Custom blending tobacco is yet another rabbit hole you can float down.

There's this hopper filled, automatic density adjustment cigarette maker. Load your blend, set the dial to your desired pack tightness, load tube, press button.

There are big shredders that don't require you stem. So mix by whole leaf weight, blend, dump in hopper.

Then flavourings... Tubes, tobacco blending, cigar rolling... Humidors... Pipes (and their own blends).

Fits right in with razors, pens and other gentlemanly pursuits.

There is a dehydrator in the background. That gets used if it's too damp.

The trick is keeping your leaves at the moisture content level you prefer.

Summertime we find that the bread is not needed, each batch needs to be dehydrated. Then kept airtight.

Wintertime we need the bread and no dehydrator.

I just picked up a half-pound of something called Turkish House Blend for $12.50 from a local tobacco store ... I'll be sitting down over the next couple days and put together enough cigarettes to last me the rest of the month. I'm guessing that a half-pound will be equivalent to about a carton of regular cigarettes, at a savings of over 75%

I already have two cartons of Vera Cruz tubes left over from years ago. The local tobacconist also stocks these, and I'll be replacing them with the same brand unless I can find something better.

I really like that electric injector, especially the bulk hopper where you can load in enough for a pack at a time. My Premier hand-cranked injector is slow and requires too much work on my part. If I stick with the RYO smokes for more than a few months, I'll pick up an electric machine before long.

I'm not quite ready for the custom blending, but it looks like it would be a real treat to smoke. If I do decide to go there, the local shop can probably put together a custom blend for me. But their ready-made house blends are pretty good, and a lot cheaper than I thought they would be.

I don't know if Vera Cruz changed over the years. I know the ones I get now are the best I've found.

Tube Cut is my second favourite.


I'm aiming for a 'regular' smoke.

If you like light smokes, Zig Zag white tubes are good.

Altreac said:

If you like light smokes, Zig Zag white tubes are good.

Click to expand...

I'm definitely not into light smokes.

When I looked over the assortment of house-blends at the store today, they were arranged left-to-right in terms of increasing mildness ... I went all the way to the left and chose the Turkish blend, since I knew it would deliver a rich, full-bodied smoke full of Vitamins T & N (Tar and Nicotine.) Camel is my favorite commercial brand, so I figured this would be close to it.

I'm smoking one now ... hand-rolled, since I didn't feel like unpacking and setting up the Premier injector tonight. And it tastes really, really good. Its full of flavor and very smooth. And I only need to smoke about half of it before my cravings are satisfied.

It keeps going out if I don't keep puffing on it. Does that indicate purity? I'm not sure.