DIY Cigarettes, How to Make Your Own (MYO)

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Now you should have your Tobacco, Injector and Tubes. If not, head back to the RYO Revolution Homepage for some basic advice and what to look for.

Your hand-held or table-top injector should come with Basic Instructions but I'll walk you through the process and share a couple tips to help get you started.

Getting Started

• You're likely to make a big mess when you first attempt to make a Custom Cigarette so clear off a workspace area on your desk or kitchen table before you get started. You might want to lay down an opened page from the newspaper to catch the stray tobacco bits which are likely to fly about while you're making your cigarettes. Set the injector in the center of your work area, open the box of tubes and break the seal on the tobacco pouch or can. Then STOP!

  Go Wash Your Hands! Seriously, you're going to be handling and smoking this stuff! Any bacteria, viruses, hamburger grease, or other gunk you might be carrying around Will Be Transferred to the Tobacco. Do you really want a bacterial colony multiplying in the pouch or can and getting sucked deeply into your lungs? Now it's not like you'll be performing brain surgery, but I recommend thoroughly washing your hands with an anti-bacterial soap.

  OK, thoroughly clean hands? Good, let's continue.

  Now, open your tobacco pouch or can and take out a few grams (several pinches) and put it in a small pile near your injector, then seal the container back up again. You want to keep the tobacco in an airtight container to retain it's moisture and freshness, if it gets too dry it will crumble to dust, become harsh and could jam your injection machine. Likewise, if the tobacco is too moist it can also jam the injector. Depending on the moisture content of the tobacco, you will likely need to let it dry out a little before you pack it into the injector.

  Tobacco at the right moisture level for injecting will not feel moist. If you squeeze a small quantity into a ball it should slowly spring back, not crumble to powder.

  Maintaining the proper moisture content of your tobacco is the Most Critical Aspect for successfully injecting MYO cigarettes with consistency and ease!

1. Now, drop a pinch of the tobacco into both ends of the slot and press it into the corners, then take another pinch and drop it into the center of the slot. Many hand-held injectors include a "tamper", press the tobacco down evenly with your finger tips or the tamper, you want the tobacco to be somewhat compressed into the slot, it should be firmly packed but still springy.

2. Next, place a filtered cigarette tube onto the nozzle of the machine, be careful not to crush the end of the tube. It should slide on easily, if you have trouble, put that tube aside and try another one. With the tube over the nozzle and the tobacco packed into the chamber, clear off any bits of tobacco that are on the rails before closing the cover.

   

3. Next, close the lid and press the lock grip closed (if so equipped) and while pressing down, slide the cover all the way to the opposite end. (You should feel some resistance, but if it is very hard to slide you have overfilled the chamber, if there is very little or no resistance then you under-filled it.)

4. After sliding the cover all the way to the other end, return it to the start position and open the cover. Then gently remove the filled tube from the injector's nozzle in a straight line motion (try not to dislodge any tobacco that is extending beyond the end of the tube). Then hold the filled tube lightly near the filter and give it several sharp taps (filter side down) onto the table or other hard surface. This will "pack" down the tobacco tightly against the filter and should eliminate the overhanging tobacco, if there is still a little tobacco extending past the end of the tube you can either push it into the tube or pinch/cut it off.

Voila! Congratulations, you are now holding a Fresh cigarette that You Made, and it only cost you a few cents and less than a minute of your time. Now go ahead and make another one and don't worry if it didn't come out perfectly, it's typical for the first few you make to either be under-filled or over-packed.

MYO Cigarette Tips

• If the cigarettes are Under-filled;
  Add more tobacco to the slot and tamp it down a little more before injecting. Fine-cut and Shag cigarette tobacco usually need more tamping than coarse cuts.

• If the cigarettes are Overfilled;
  Use less tobacco or don't pack it as firmly in the chamber if the cigarettes have too much tobacco overhanging after packing & tapping it down, or if you find them too tightly packed to get a good draw from.

  NOTE: If you are using standard "Light" tubes which have laser perforations in the filter tipping paper, be especially careful not to over-pack the tubes, or the resulting cigarettes will be Ultra-Ultra Light.

The more you make, the more proficient you will become, and soon you will know exactly how much tobacco to use for each cigarette to come out perfectly.

But don't get carried away and make too many at once, just as the tobacco can dry out and become harsh, so too will the cigarettes.

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If you do decide to make more than a few at a time, put them into a plastic cigarette case that seals, a Tupperware style food storage container, humidor, or as a last resort a zipper style baggie to keep the cigarettes fresh. Rolling tobacco is much more sensitive to humidity levels than pre-made cigarettes because of the fewer humectants and chemical preservatives added to the tobacco. They will become harsh and the tobacco will tend to crumble to powder if allowed to dry out.

Also, don't put them in the refrigerator or freezer as the sudden changes in temperature affects the relative humidity of the air surrounding the cigarettes/tobacco and does more harm than good. Refrigerators are great for vegetables, NOT for tobacco, and storing your tobacco in a frost-free freezer is probably one of the worst things you can do to it, contrary to popular belief.

When you light-up that fresh, custom made cigarette the first thing you'll notice is that it doesn't taste like the factory made cigarettes you're used to.

That's because you're likely tasting something you haven't in a long time, if ever. That's right, you're tasting the tobacco instead of the hundreds of chemicals, preservatives and artificial flavors that the big tobacco companies put into their cigarettes to hide the fact that they are made from reconstituted "sheet" tobacco, "expanded" tobacco, stems & stalks! Chemicals are often also added to the tobacco and paper to make them burn faster, so that you'll smoke (and buy) more.

And now, every state but Wyoming have passed FSC cigarette laws which require that ALL cigarettes sold are "Fire-Safe Certified". These abominations are constructed with alternating bands of fire-retardant chemicals in the paper so that they will stop burning if left unattended. I guess our government officials don't think there are enough chemicals in factory made cigarettes, or perhaps it's another underhanded measure to try to force thinking adults into quitting. Who in their right mind would want to inhale fire-retardant chemicals? Fortunately, we still have the RYO & MYO alternatives. No rolling papers or cigarette tubes currently on the market in the U.S. contain these fire-retardant chemicals to my knowledge.

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So go ahead, stuff another tube using your new found skill, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage, then light-up that homemade custom cigarette and enjoy the fact that you're smoking something a lot closer to that which smokers historically enjoyed.

Smoke LESS chemically altered factory produced quasi-tobacco cigarettes, and enjoy MORE real tobacco flavor like our ancestors smoked when you Make Your Own cigarettes.

You don't need to limit yourself to the 3 or 4 Rolling Tobacco brands that you find on the shelf at your local supermarket or convenience store. There are over 150 Brands of RYO Tobacco to choose from! Please consult my Master List of RYO Tobacco Brands to understand the choices available to you.

Tobacco manufacturers have responded to the huge RYO tobacco tax by introducing a number of new "Smooth Pipe" tobaccos, I've recently compiled a list of the Pipe Tobaccos for RYO for your convenience.

There are dozens of tobacconist shops with online stores these days. I've compiled a list of the 10 Best Online RYO Shops. These great shops are ready to serve you with many varieties of RYO & Pipe Tobacco and discount pricing!

And be sure to visit the RYO Revolution Forums for personal advice or to share your opinions and interact with fellow RYO enthusiasts.

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