O/T Rolling your own cigarettes

37chief · Dec 21, 2012

Around 1960 I had a job with the neighbor farmer. I drove his bean truck to the wearhouse, to dump his lima beans. This old guy rolled his own cigarettes. I rode with him a couple times. When he wanted a smoke, He would manage to get a paper out of a little pack, hold it, get a small bag of tobacco open, and fill the paper, spilling a lot of it in his lap. The small sack had a paper disc on the string he grabbed with his teeth to close the bag.He managed to roll a small cigarette. Lick the edges, and get it lit. Doing all this while driving his stick trans pickup. It was amazing to watch. Does anyone still roll their own? Not the funny stuff. Stan

Walt Davies · Dec 22, 2012

Years ago I did when in the Navy it was never the same as the prerolled because the tobacco was not the same.
You get pretty good it after awhile.
Walt

Anonymous-0 · Dec 22, 2012

I don't smoke but my grandfather did and he rolled his just as you said. He use to use Half & Half pipe tobacco. He smoke till the day he past away at the age of 93. He had all the dashs on his cars all scratched up because he would strike his matches on them.

Bill(Wis) · Dec 22, 2012

We had a hired man who rolled his own, in much the same way you described. He could do it while he was plowing.

JD Seller · Dec 22, 2012

My Grand Dad rolled his own. He smoked Bugler tobacco. He called that his work smokes. If he was going to town or away from home dressed up he smoked Camel non filter. He called them his "town" smokes. Us kids knew which ones he meant for us to go get when he ran out.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 22, 2012

I had a friend a long time ago that said his dad had a friend that was born without arms and he would roll his cigarettes with his toes.

Dr. Walt · Dec 22, 2012

I've been hand-rolling my own cigarettes for the past 50 years, & yup, even do it while driving my pickup w/ "four on the floor" transmission. The tobacco you referred to in the pouch with the pull-tab was Bull Durham which is no longer made. I used to smoke it a lot because it was the only tobacco that allowed you to roll it with just one hand - the tobacco was "flaked" while all the others are either chopped or shredded.

Back in 2003 we had a yard sale after my parents passed away, and some fellow about my age stood and watched me hand-roll a cigarette, he didn't say anything and just walked away. Later, my sister told me that when he had been talking to her, he mentioned that he has rolled his own cigarettes for years but that he watched me hand-roll a "perfect" cigarette faster than he could do it with a machine - to which my sister replied "Yes, that's my brother and he's been doing that all of his life".

MarkB_MI · Dec 22, 2012

My stepson has a machine to roll his own. Apparently you avoid cigarette taxes that way, but his excuse is so he doesn't inhale the fire-retardant chemicals in commercial cigarette paper. This way, he only smokes the healthy carcinogens found in pure tobacco.

I knew a guy once who was a former smoker and heroin addict. He said that cigarettes were harder to quit than smack. Must be true; my stepson has been forced to quit twice, once at Parris Island and again in the county hoosegow; both times he lit up as soon as he got out.

60 acre hillside · Dec 22, 2012

My dad did and I remember one time he ran out of papers and improvised with newspaper. he also chewed and could drink water and continue chewing, he ewas born in 1885. He smoked RJR made by the R.J. Reynolds Company, On the label it said "Our Advitisor"

buickanddeere · Dec 22, 2012

Lots of kids roll their own home grown glaucoma meds around here.

MarkB_MI · Dec 22, 2012

Quite a few of the adults, too!

JOB · Dec 22, 2012

My dad rolled his own, he used Prince Albert in a can. The tobacco in hand rolled is not packed as tight as store bought cigarettes. The hot ashes would fall off and burn holes in his shirts. Later in life when the doctors found a spot on his lungs he gave up smoking. He then kept Prince Albert in the can.

Gambles · Dec 22, 2012

While we are on the subject, there was a machine out (probably in the late 70s-early 80s) that did everything for you. All you did was slide a lever or something like that. I'm pretty sure there was more than one brand also. Anybody still have one or remember what brand or name of this was called?

ben brown · Dec 22, 2012

my dad rolled them horse back when i lived in colo. when i left to go to the army in the fall of 1968 he gave me a sack of bull durham said you need this as everyone well want to bum your smoke just hand them the sack of tobacco and paper it well put a stop to the guys asking to bum a smoke,, it did work after first weak no more asking to bum my smokes

John A. · Dec 22, 2012

Stan, As an Ins. Agent I am in 10 to 15 Homes/ week.
I have come across a hand full of people who Roll-their-own over the last few yrs! Various reasons why, Mostly cost. The machine is a 70s / 80s hold over thing I think, or maybe something gotten from a smoke shop! I don't Know for I don't use tobacco at all.
Came across one not so terribly old women who was getting her tobacco from the unused end of Cigs she had gotten from,,,,Somewhere! Had a gallon zip-lock baggie half full! She opened it up up, the stink was terrible. Reason; cost I an 99% sure just behind the Nicotine Monkey on her back!!! It was really sad.
Later,
John A.

js305 · Dec 22, 2012

Habits are bad when they involve addiction. But,...I have a relative who lived to the age of 90-something that chainsmoked Camels. He never really inhaled directly, as he lit one off of the other and took one drag and held in what looked like an eagle claw of a hand until it burned down.

I sold the cigarette rollers in the grocery stores I worked in until I left that business in 1988. The ones we sold were green and had the Bugler name on them. You could get replacement "belts" for them as well, but the machine didn't cost all that much to start with. As I recall, we sold more machines to people who didn't buy the tobacco at the same time. I suspect we didn't carry their "brand".

hermit · Dec 22, 2012

I've rolled thousands of them, but was never very good at hand rolling. I knew people years ago that could roll them about as good as the ready rolls. I have two of the old Bugler rollers. When I was a kid I would roll up a bunch and put in an old Bugler bag to take to the field with me the next day. Back then the Bull Durham that Dr. Walt mentioned was 3 cents a sack and Bugler was a nickel. At the time ready rolls were about 15 or 20 cents seems like. Only time I bought any of them was if I was going out on Saturday night when I got old enough. But that sure took a big chunk out of the 4$ that I had made that day in the field from daylight to dark. Quite a few years ago I bought a fancy machine that you bought the papers with a filter built in and made pretty cigarettes. I have been quit for a while now (fingers crossed) but still have the urge and would like to have one right now. When I got out of the Navy, I gave away almost all my clothes and filled my sea bag up with $1.00 a carton sea store cigarettes (was 90 cents for a long time). Pall Mall red was my choice for years and years. Dr. Walt, I could never roll Bull Durham worth a dern. I tried all kind of things to keep the tobacco in, but never could, so I smoked Bugler back then. The Bull Durham sacks were loved by us kids, and were used for all kinds of things such as marble sacks. We kept every one that we could get our hands on. Brings back a lot of memories.

MSD · Dec 22, 2012

My dad always rolled his own. A can Velvet and a pack of papers lasted about a week.

teddy52food · Dec 22, 2012

I rolled my own untill I quit in 77 or 78. I don't think the home rolled were as addictive as the tailor made.

schultz47 · Dec 22, 2012

Wife's Uncle rolled his own, used Prince Albert from a can. Like another poster said, he would scatter tobacco all over. He would smoke the cigarette, then grab the Prince Albert can out of his overalls and light up his pipe!

JayinNY · Dec 22, 2012

Hi Stan, when I worked in a horse barn 4 winters ago, every day when we went in the office for lunch, and to warm up, this kid would roll/ make cigarettes. He had some plastic device that he put the empty roll or paper tube in, then he would fill it with tobacco, pack it or something and then have finished cigarettes. It was always neat to watch. He said it was cheaper than buying packs or cartons!

RN · Dec 22, 2012

Used to roll some with Borkhum Rif- long thread 'Rif' cut- tobacco for Ex-Girlfriend, told her friends that she had some cigs already so don't give her any readymades when she begs until she has run out of my home rolled, gave a few away to the friends-- a couple gave up smoking after trying them and their husbands said use up mine first before they can buy some from store, couldn't take the smoke hit to back of throat. Know a married couple now that roll their own tobacco because of cost. Younger brother had rolling machine, used to start the week by rolling enough to fill metal pocket case for the day, got pound bags mailed to him. Heart attack no surprise after 40 years of smoking and drinking.

Billy NY · Dec 22, 2012

True, I have a friend thats been doing this for years, he does not smoke much, but the little he does is enjoyable, seems the tobacco is better, the cost was less, but they,(government) got into this, cost is not the savings it was.

Cigarettes from the major tobacco companies sold in cartons or packs, to me, are just vile, they reek of an odor that is untolerable. There is just something wrong with what they produce.

The loose tobacco, and I know nothing of grade, variety, has some moisture, not as foul an odor and or almost seems tolerable. On occasion a cigar is something I will enjoy, again not often, so I took a drag off one of these cigarettes, the tobacco was much better than a regular cigarette and the smoke almost tolerable, say if you were inside or a vehicle, resembling more of a pipe tobacco. Big difference.

Bottom line is I hate the darned things, mass produced cigarettes, never liked any of it, but the cigar, on occasion, outside, ok. If I was going to smoke cigarettes, the tobacco would have to be grown in my soil to my liking and hung/cured or what have you, there has to be no comparison between what you could grow and use from the plant, then what the big tobacco producers create, which in my opinion is floor sweepings LOL !

Ken Macfarlane · Dec 22, 2012

And people complain about kids texting and driving!

Dr. Walt · Dec 22, 2012

As a matter of FACT, I do have one. The brand that I have was made by the "Long" Tobacco Company & it came in a metal box about 6" wide x 12" long x 4" deep and contained a 6 oz. bag of tobacco, a box of paper tubes with the filter already installed in the tube, and the little sliding filler. To make a cigarette, you lifted up the top half of the filler machine, put the tobacco into a little tray, closed the top half until you you heard or felt it "click", then you put a paper tube on a little plastic tubular projection on the end, then while holding the machine firmly in your left hand you slid the top half of the machine to the right until it stopped. This process packed the tobacco into the tube. Then you removed your finished cigarette.

Even though I hand-roll, I bought one of these kits just for the sheer novelty of it. I can hand-roll a half-dozen cigarettes in the time it takes for this machine to make one cigarette.

barnE · Dec 22, 2012

Least 3 uncles in
SC did this. Looked easy and while driving. Dave

O/T Rolling your own cigarettes

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