Roll Your Own: (RYO Tobacco)

Roll-your-own (RYO) Tobacco

Roll-your-own tobacco is loose tobacco that the user places inside rolling paper and burns. It is a combustible tobacco product.

Roll-your-own tobacco, sometimes referred to as hand-rolling tobacco or fine cut tobacco, is almost certainly the oldest form of smoking, pre-dating the use of the earliest pipes.

Many tobacco manufacturers shifted towards the production of cigarettes as they grew in popularity, and roll your own tobacco became the choice of cost-conscious smokers or people who enjoyed the process of making their own cigarettes.

In recent years, the roll your own market has started to grow again elsewhere. Much of this growth is based on value for money and the fact that the ritual of rolling your own has become simpler with the arrival of easy to use cigarette rolling machines. Many varieties of tobacco, including Burley, Virginia, and Oriental, are used to produce the blends in British American Tobacco’s hand-rolling and pipe tobaccos.

We provide all blends for RYO Tobacco

Rolling your own cigarettes gives you more control over the paper, the tobacco type, and the size of the cigarette. You can roll cigarettes by hand, or you can use a rolling machine. All you need are rolling papers, loose-leaf tobacco, a bit of dexterity, and time to practice.

How to Form the Cigarette?

Choose your rolling paper. Use thin rice or wheat-straw paper in a standard or king size. Plan to tear your paper down to size—wide and square is a solid, versatile starting shape. Buy papers online, in convenience stores, at marijuana dispensaries, and at tobacco shops.

• Look for papers that burn slowly and evenly.
• If you plan to carry your papers around with you, get a rolling paper protector. Put your rolling papers into this metal case to prevent them from bending and tearing.
• Carry spare paper. Gummed strips torn from a spare paper are great for mending tears, leaks, and gaps.

Buy loose leaf tobacco. You can visit a Paramount Global website for a wide range of options. You can buy plain tobacco or flavored tobacco, depending on your taste.

• Consider common, generally affordable brands.
• Consider rolling cigarettes. All you need to do is mix shredded cloves with your tobacco.
• Some people like to roll their cigarettes with pipe tobacco. Feel free to do this, but keep in mind that pipe tobacco is usually longer and wetter than cigarette-rolling tobacco.

Shape the tobacco. Spread the tobacco out evenly on the rolling surface, then use a card or your fingers to form the pile into the shape of a cigarette. Choose a smooth and well-lit rolling surface: a mirror, a book, or a clean table. If you don’t want to put the tobacco directly onto a surface, cover it with a clean sheet of white paper.

• It helps if the color of the surface contrasts with your tobacco so that the tobacco doesn’t blend in. Rolling tobacco on a thick brown carpet, for instance, could quickly become a nightmare.
• Make sure that the tobacco is not too compact. Tear it apart lightly, so it still forms one connected unit.

Rest one end of your rolling paper between your thumb and middle finger. Hold the paper in the crease with your index finger of the same hand. Use the other hand to adjust the paper into a creased, open chute. Hold it steady so you don’t spill any tobacco.

• The index finger in the crease serves to stabilize the paper as you add tobacco, and it will also keep tobacco from spilling out the end.

Fill the crease with tobacco. Use your free hand to pinch the tobacco and sprinkle it along the crease in the paper. Work from one end to the other, starting with the end that you are holding. Transfer the rest of the pile from the rolling surface to the paper. You can roll your cigarette thicker or thinner to taste. The thicker the cigarette, the harder it will be to close; the more densely you pack the tobacco, the harder it will be to draw the smoke through the cigarette.

• If needed, even out the tobacco along the paper to make it consistent. Getting it as level as possible helps the cigarette burn more smoothly.
• You may wish to leave some hanging over the ends: you can pinch it off later, and it will keep the ends from being too narrow.