Making Your Own Cigarettes

Q: How can I make my own cigarettes that smoke like the factory-made brand I enjoy most?

A: Factory made cigarettes are highly engineered products. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of factors (such as tobacco blends, flavors, types of paper and filters, etc.) that go into making a particular brand smoke the way it does. We have offered some general guidelines in the descriptions of our tobaccos and tubes but the best way to custom-tailor your cigarettes is by experimenting.

Q: What is the difference between "make-your-own" and "roll-your-own" cigarettes?

A: The foundation of the make-your-own (M.Y.O.) category are pre-formed cigarette tubes with the filters already attached and the specialized machines which "inject" the tobacco into the tubes.This category is extremely popular because the finished cigarettes look just like factory-made while saving you tons of money. Roll-your-own (R.Y.O.) cigarettes are made using traditional rolling papers and are rolled using simple machines or totally by hand. These cigarettes typically have a rather rustic look.

Q: Why do cigarettes that I make myself smoke longer than typical factory-made brands?

A: This is primarily due to the fact that you control the amount of tobacco you insert into the cigarette tube (up to the limits of the machines and tubes, of course). Generally, cigarette factories use technologies to limit the amount of tobacco that goes into their cigarettes. They essentially "puff" or expand their tobacco so that it has more filling power while using less tobacco. They also use a variety of "fillers" such as homogenized tobacco leaf, which is paper made partially from tobacco, and crushed stems from the tobacco plant to reduce their costs. Generic and low-cost cigarettes are loaded with this stuff! You may have noticed that most factory brands smoke more slowly when you first light them up and then speed up their burn the longer you smoke them. This is because most factories use a technology that puts more tobacco in the end you light and less tobacco toward the filter. We don't need to use any of these techniques or technologies because we sell our tobaccos by weight, not by cubic volume.

Q: What is the difference between "ventilated" and "non-ventilated" cigarette tubes?

A: Ventilated tubes are made from cigarette paper and filter tipping paper that has been perforated, usually by laser, with thousands of microscopic holes which allow air to be drawn into the body of the cigarette when you take a puff. The air dilutes the smoke and gives it a lighter taste. Non-ventilated tubes are just that: no perforations in the paper so you get a fuller delivery of smoke.

Q: Are cigarettes made with "light" ventilated tubes and "light" or "mild" tobaccos a safer smoke?

A: We don't make any health claims regarding our products or the cigarettes that you might make with them. The U.S. Government contends that "light" or "ultra-light" cigarettes are not any safer than "regular" cigarettes. Our terms "light", "ultra-light", "mild", "additive-free", "premium", etc. do not mean safer cigarettes.