This is for anyone that stuffs your own/makes your own (SYO or MYO) cigarettes, like I do - or for anyone considering this option of smoking.
For those unfamiliar, this is where you buy a carton of empty cigarette tubes, filtered or non-filtered, loose tobacco in a pouch/can/bag and a hand-held or table-top injector.
By stuffing my own cigarettes, a carton of smokes costs me anywhere from $8.00 to $13.00 depending on the brand of tobacco I'm using.
Aside from the federal tax increase on cigarettes that took place back in January, here in Mississippi we also suffered a state tax increase. At the time, this took my brands of cigarettes from $11.00 a carton to $28.00 (Seneca) and from $26.00 a carton to $50.00 (Camel). After these 2 tax increases, I only bought Seneca because I couldn't afford Camel anymore.
Then the federal government passed a new law requiring all cigarettes to be fire-safe. This is called FSC or Fire-Safe Certified. This was done by adding chemicals to the tube paper or by adding mysterious thicker rings at different intervals along the tube. For me, and most smokers, this immediately made cigarettes even more unhealthy (additional chemicals being inhaled from the FSC retardant) and taste even more yuck! Not to mention the mess. Thanks to FSC, the ashes were always falling off while I would smoke the cigarette and before long, I had ashes all over the place. People started running around trying to find old stock that didn't have the letters FSC in the barcode on the packs.
So I went SYO/MYO. It took a little getting used to, especially that darned little hand-held injector machine. I would always put too much tobacco in it and it would jam up or rip my tubes. But I finally got the hang of it but it was a slow process. Then I moved on to a table-top injector which made my smoking life a lot easier and faster. I use an injector made by Gambler and love it. It can be seen here: http://kwe-ltd.com/items/tubecutmachine/image1.jpg
The main reasons for this post is to make others considering this option in cigarette smoking aware of the money savings and to tell you about a new cigarette tube that I have switched to and absolutely love:
I use a brand of tubes called Beretta (a Beretta reference on here that isn't about a gun?? yes!). I prefer these tubes over all others because they don't use bleach to whiten their tube paper like all other pre-made companies (Camel, Marlboro, Winston, etc.) and all other tube/rolling paper companies (Gambler, Premiere, Top, ZigZag etc.) do. Instead, this company uses an oxidation process to whiten the paper. Oxidation = oxygen. Not only is this more environmentally friendly on the company's part as they aren't polluting the environment with their manufacturing process but you can also taste the difference when smoking one of these tubes. You don't get the bleach chemical taste. Beretta Tube Company is a new company on the market as of 2010 so chances are you won't find these tubes at your local tobacco shop. I had to order them online until I finally got one of my local shops to start stocking them. Currently they only offer a Full Flavor tube but are working diligently on a Light tube and a Menthol tube. Oh yes, these tubes also make an interesting fashion statement as the filters are black with 3 shiny silver bands on the filter. Since you can't buy the tubes directly from the company, I don't think I'm breaking any rules by posting a link to their web site. If I am, mods, feel free to remove the link and admonish me with the understanding that I am not employed by this company and have nothing to do with them other than buying their product at my local tobacco shop.
http://www.berettatube.com/
For those unfamiliar, this is where you buy a carton of empty cigarette tubes, filtered or non-filtered, loose tobacco in a pouch/can/bag and a hand-held or table-top injector.
By stuffing my own cigarettes, a carton of smokes costs me anywhere from $8.00 to $13.00 depending on the brand of tobacco I'm using.
Aside from the federal tax increase on cigarettes that took place back in January, here in Mississippi we also suffered a state tax increase. At the time, this took my brands of cigarettes from $11.00 a carton to $28.00 (Seneca) and from $26.00 a carton to $50.00 (Camel). After these 2 tax increases, I only bought Seneca because I couldn't afford Camel anymore.
Then the federal government passed a new law requiring all cigarettes to be fire-safe. This is called FSC or Fire-Safe Certified. This was done by adding chemicals to the tube paper or by adding mysterious thicker rings at different intervals along the tube. For me, and most smokers, this immediately made cigarettes even more unhealthy (additional chemicals being inhaled from the FSC retardant) and taste even more yuck! Not to mention the mess. Thanks to FSC, the ashes were always falling off while I would smoke the cigarette and before long, I had ashes all over the place. People started running around trying to find old stock that didn't have the letters FSC in the barcode on the packs.
So I went SYO/MYO. It took a little getting used to, especially that darned little hand-held injector machine. I would always put too much tobacco in it and it would jam up or rip my tubes. But I finally got the hang of it but it was a slow process. Then I moved on to a table-top injector which made my smoking life a lot easier and faster. I use an injector made by Gambler and love it. It can be seen here: http://kwe-ltd.com/items/tubecutmachine/image1.jpg
The main reasons for this post is to make others considering this option in cigarette smoking aware of the money savings and to tell you about a new cigarette tube that I have switched to and absolutely love:
I use a brand of tubes called Beretta (a Beretta reference on here that isn't about a gun?? yes!). I prefer these tubes over all others because they don't use bleach to whiten their tube paper like all other pre-made companies (Camel, Marlboro, Winston, etc.) and all other tube/rolling paper companies (Gambler, Premiere, Top, ZigZag etc.) do. Instead, this company uses an oxidation process to whiten the paper. Oxidation = oxygen. Not only is this more environmentally friendly on the company's part as they aren't polluting the environment with their manufacturing process but you can also taste the difference when smoking one of these tubes. You don't get the bleach chemical taste. Beretta Tube Company is a new company on the market as of 2010 so chances are you won't find these tubes at your local tobacco shop. I had to order them online until I finally got one of my local shops to start stocking them. Currently they only offer a Full Flavor tube but are working diligently on a Light tube and a Menthol tube. Oh yes, these tubes also make an interesting fashion statement as the filters are black with 3 shiny silver bands on the filter. Since you can't buy the tubes directly from the company, I don't think I'm breaking any rules by posting a link to their web site. If I am, mods, feel free to remove the link and admonish me with the understanding that I am not employed by this company and have nothing to do with them other than buying their product at my local tobacco shop.
http://www.berettatube.com/
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) and had the same problems you describe with tubes getting ripped and jammed. What makes the new machine you got better, and what'd you pay for it?
