Are you sick and tired of paying too much for the cigarettes you smoke? Tired of constantly trying to find the best price for cheap generic cigarettes which don't even satisfy, to reduce the cost of your smoking habit?
Have you purchased cigarettes online or driven across state lines to try to save a few bucks?
Did you know that 13 States have issued subpoena's to online cigarette sellers and many of them have, or will soon be, sending tax bills to those customers to pay the owed back-taxes, often with the threat of extreme penalties (up to 500%) if they aren't paid within 30 days?
Are you fed up with the rising cost of cigarettes and the constant increases in 'sin-taxes' that are forced onto smokers to help the states balance their budgets?
Did you know that in 1998 the average price for a pack of cigarettes was $2.18, in less than 2 years the average cost had jumped to $3.12, and in 2007 the national average price for a pack was at $4.63. The average price will surely exceed $5 per pack this year with 10 or more states taxing cigarettes at $2 per pack or higher!
How can a smoker today afford to buy gas AND cigarettes?
There is an Easy Solution to avoid the Outrageous Taxes and constant price hikes smokers have been subjected to over the last 10 years (besides quitting).
Join the RYO Revolution and Start Rolling Your Own!
Now I don't mean rolling a cigarette in the traditional sense, not like you've seen in the movies where a cowboy takes a pinch of tobacco and drops it into the paper and twists it up into something resembling a lumpy toothpick with tobacco hanging out of it.
What I'm talking about is a newer RYO method that is often referred to as Making Your Own (MYO) or Stuffing Your Own (SYO) cigarettes. It doesn't use standard rolling papers or take a lot of skill to Roll Your Own (RYO) cigarettes.
This newer method of making RYO cigarettes uses an easy to operate 'tobacco injector' to fill pre made filtered cigarette tubes and results in cigarettes which look and smoke like factory made, yet they Taste Better and are a Fraction of the Cost!
1) Tobacco 
Start with a pouch (about $2 locally for 3/4 ounce - enough for about 1 pack of cigarettes) or small bag or can (about 6 ounces - $10 to $12 locally, enough for about 1 carton) of "fine cut" cigarette rolling tobacco, which you can find at your local tobacconist's or smoke shop. Even your local convenience stores, supermarkets, and gas stations likely carry a few brands of rolling tobacco. Please BEWARE of the most popular and so called "bulk brands", we want your initial RYO experience to be a good one!
NOTE: In other words, avoid the best selling Top and Gambler brands as they tend to be rather harsh - no offense intended to any of their fans - but there are Much Better RYO Tobaccos available to choose from.
In fact there are over 150 Brands of RYO cigarette tobacco available, refer to my List of RYO Tobacco Brands to get an idea of just how many brands and varieties are available. One American Company is a favorite of the RYO Revolution forum members, and we now have a page dedicated to D & R Tobacco which describes their 34 premium RYO cigarette tobacco blends.
2) Injector 
When you buy the tobacco you'll also want to get a hand-held injection machine, trust me this isn't nearly as scary as it sounds, it has nothing to do with needles! Sometimes these hand-held devices are called "shooters", "stuffers", or simply "cigarette making" or "tube filling" machines. The hand-held injector should cost about $5 to $10. (Again if you're buying locally you will likely have a limited choice, avoid the Top and Zig-Zag Precision Pro Injectors.) Good hand-held units from Premier, Gizeh, El-Rey, Maiker, Zen and a few others work much better, especially for newcomers.
NOTE: There are also tabletop 'crank' injector machines which cost from $20 (Premier Excel & Simron EXP1000) to $45 (Premier Supermatic, Republic Top-O-Matic and various clones), these machines are even easier and faster to operate and are ideal for making dozens of cigarettes at a sitting. There are also electric machines such as the Easy Roller and Magnum Injector available from $120 and up which promise even greater convenience and are ideally suited to those who suffer with physical disabilities).
Visit the RYO Revolution Forum for more information about the variety of hand-held, tabletop crank style and electric injectors available.
3) Cigarette Filter Tubes 
Cigarette tubes come in a box that vaguely resembles a cigarette carton. Inside the box is 200-250 "tubes". The tubes (or blanks as they are called in Europe) resemble a factory made filtered cigarette with the tobacco missing, in other words it's a hollow tube with the filter already attached. The brand you choose doesn't matter much when you are starting out, there are only a few companies who actually make the tubes and the quality is pretty consistent these days. Your main choice will be whether to buy the "Full Flavor" or "Light". For starting out I suggest getting whichever reasonably priced brand of King Size tubes are available to you locally. The box of filtered tubes should cost about $2 (slightly higher for Menthol & other special tubes).
NOTE: There are actually dozens of brands and tube styles available; King Size, 100mm, Ultra Slim, "Cigarette Size", Menthol tip, Charcoal Filtered, Fruit Flavored, Brown, Black and even Unfiltered. Tubes are also manufactured with various filter lengths, filter density, paper porosity, perforated tipping paper, etc. which affects how full-flavored or light the resulting cigarette will be. But you needn't concern yourself with those details when first starting.
Looking for advice on RYO Tobacco, Cigarette Tubes and Injectors? Visit the RYO Revolution Forum for user reviews & opinions.
Ok so now you've got your Tobacco, Injector and Tubes. The hand-held 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 or wherever before you get started. Maybe lay down an opened page from the newspaper and set down your cigarette making supplies on it. 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! Whatever bacteria, viruses, hamburger dribbling's, etc. 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?
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 with the right moisture content for injecting will not feel moist, and 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 Consideration for successfully injecting cigarettes with consistency and ease.
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.
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.
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 underfilled it.)
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 underfilled or overpacked.
If the cigarettes are Underfilled;
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 overpack 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.
If you do decide to make more than a few at a time, put them into a tupperware type container, ziploc baggie or humidor to keep them fresh. The rolling tobacco is much more sensitive to humidity levels than pre-made cigarettes because of the fewer humectants and chemical preservatives, they will become harsh and the tobacco will 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 freezing your tobacco 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, many states have legislated and are requiring that ALL cigarettes sold are "Fire Safe Cigarettes" (FSC), these abominations are constructed with alternating bands of fire-retardant chemicals in the paper so that they will go out if left unattended. I guess our government officials don't think the 4000 or so chemicals in most factory made cigarettes are enough, 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, you still have the RYO alternatives. No rolling papers or cigarette tubes currently on the market contain these fire-retardant chemicals.
My 4 page essay at the RYO Info Center explains in detail the processes that have been used for over 30 years to make cigarettes out of reconstituted tobacco by-products and WHY you should stop smoking pre-made cigarettes NOW!
If you smoke, you owe it to yourself to try RYO using the MYO method detailed above, once your body adjusts to smoking cigarette tobacco instead of factory made chemical cocktail sticks, you will likely find yourself craving cigarettes less than ever, and quite possibly you'll gain the advantage you need to quit smoking entirely (if you're so inclined).
Many people have used the RYO method as a stepping-stone to quitting, since it's likely that the chemical additives in factory made cigarettes are at least as addicting (if not more so) than the naturally occurring nicotine in Real Tobacco. Because of the higher quality tobacco and fewer chemicals, most RYO smokers soon find that they are smoking fewer cigarettes per day. Once you've converted and your body is adjusted to RYO cigarettes, smoking becomes a choice again rather than a habit. It soon becomes easier to smoke fewer cigarettes per day and quitting no longer seems like an impossible task.
Other RYO converts continue to smoke as many custom made RYO cigarettes as they had
previously but can now fully enjoy the unprecedented flavor that comes from their choice
of fine quality tobaccos and wide variety of filtered tubes to suit their mood. One thing is for certain,
those who smoke RYO cigarettes are saving money every time they light-up.
So go ahead, stuff another tube using your new found skill, pour yourself a drink, 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, LESS chemically altered factory produced quasi-tobacco, MORE real tobacco flavor like our forefathers smoked.
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.
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 tobacco and discount pricing!
