Just Started and Curious
Posted by Mike B on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007
Ok, so although I'm 31 and have been a smoker for 13 years, I never even heard of MYO until this past weekend. I bought a TOP Handheld, some Top premium tubes, and a couple 6oz tins of bugler. I think I'm doing something wrong, though. When I made my first few screwed up smokes, they were actually some of the best sticks I've ever had. However, now that I'm getting the hand of it, my creations taste like almost nothing. I'm getting the tubes full and packed but the draw is ridiculously difficult and It feels like smoking a pre-packaged ultra-lite. Only every now and then, I get the true full flavor effect.
However, I have been an internet hound reading all I can because this is something I know I'm going to enjoy for many years.
Any suggestions on tobacco/tubes to get a better full flavor experience?
Comments [ new ]
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Mike B on Thursday, 13-Dec-2007
WOW! Thanks for all the advice. the only thing I am wondering with the "too much tobacco" issue is: won't my sticks be real loose if I use less tobacco?
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I do have to say that my few "good ones" were when I was using the wrong side of the tamper (yeah......don't ask) so obviously I wasn't packing as tight in the machine. So, yeah, since I figured out (took 3 or 4 smokes) the right side of the tamper to use, I've been mashing the S@@T out of them. Could be how the other individual got the blister, too. :)
Different note.......does Drum make anyone else nauseous? Man! I love the flavor and the unique "buzz" but I want to hurl after about 5 minutes after I'm done with one.
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Alist on Friday, 14-Dec-2007
"I've been mashing the S@@T out of them. Could be how the other individual got the blister, too. :)"
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You are VERY perceptive here. I smoke ultralight, so for me, the lighter the draw, the better the cigarette. That was my reason for stuffing the S@@T out of them and ending up with blisters.
"does Drum make anyone else nauseous?"
It doesn't make me nausesous, but that's probably due to the extremely light tubes I use with them. I am no fan of Drum for other reasons, however. In my opinion, I have forgotten about Drum, because to me, Samson is far better version of that style of tobacco. (And Bali Shag is even better than Samson!)
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Captain U-96 aka Mike on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007
Welcome aboard! You've already been given some good information and suggestions on hand--helds and tobaccos, but remember patience is a virtue! Over on RYO Magazine's site there are instructional videos on everything from types of tobacco to blending, and hand rolling--between here and there a wealth of information to say the least! One suggestion I'd offer is that when you acquire different machines you read the instructions. Every machine has a learning curve; even for those of us that've been making our own for many years. In my opinion D&R offers the best tobacco money can buy; and they also give the most information on each one of their blends, and are the cleanest tobaccos I've ever used! A Connoisseur's smoke at a reasonable price! Stokkebye's also have several quality blends to choose from. I started ryo in 1990 there--abouts and basically had Top and Bugler to choose from; with the addition of Kite and Five Brothers Smoking Tobacco.
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These days you will be able to custom make your own blend, and will find yourself hard pressed to not develop several blends you enjoy. You will also find out how certain tubes work better with different tobaccos. The combinations are endless for a true seeker of enjoyment! One day you will discover that magical blend that is the best in "your" opinion. I didn't mean to go on and on, but when I think of the new guy or gal to our little hobby; I think back to my own discoveries and their effect on my enjoyment of good tobacco. One tip on the Five Brothers Smoking Tobacco if you should decide to try it--be sure you have someplace close to sit down if you get dizzy; since it is the most potent smoke I've ever had! Variety is the spice of life, enjoy! Capt Mike
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Alist on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007
"Any suggestions on tobacco/tubes to get a better full flavor experience?"
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My first question to you is, is it possible you are over stuffing the tubes? To answer this, how long is it taking for you to smoke a cigarette? If it is burning for 9 or 10 minutes, then you most likely are using too much tobacco. The fact you state it is difficult to inhale the smoke, suggests to me you are probably stuffing the tubes too tightly with too much tobacco. I have been SYO since early September of this year and I had a tendency to stuff too much tobacco into the tubes in the beginning.
I hope this helps, and welcome you to SYO. Personally, I will never go back to premades, because SYO is far superior and far cheaper, even if you smoke tobaccos on the high end of the price range.
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Dano on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007
I would suggest, that if the Draw is all of a sudden 'difficult', that you are putting too much tobacco into the injector. This is a common problem for those that are new to MYO.
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Here's a tip for using a Hand Held Injector.
Take a pinch of tobacco, put it into the injector and use the Tamper to lightly tamp it down. Don't try to smash it down as far as it will go :) Do it lightly. IF, after you first tamp it down lightly, the tobacco doesn't come up to the top of the hopper, add a little more, and tamp lightly again. Properly moist tobacco will spring back after you tamp it down, so if you try and cram too much into the hopper it will over stuff the tube and be hard to draw.
As far as Tubes go, Bugler are decent. A lot of people here like the Rizla FF tubes, Zig and others. The ONLY tube I would suggest not buying is the Premier!
As far as Tobacco's go... now that's entirely subjective. If you liked the Bugler, try the Bugler Gold. If you're limited to buying from a local smoke shop, which usually only carries pedestrian tobacco's you might like to try the Lane (if you like a strong smoke). Ultimately I would suggest going to D&R's web site and reading what they have to say about their tobacco's. (you might like to check out the MYO mag website since they have a wealth of information (but ignore ANYTHING they have to say about Premier tubes etc.:)
Personally I like the SJ Rimboche which is a little sweet but deep as well as the Roland Gold from D&R. D&R has quality tobacco and a lot of different styles of it. Try their 10/2 packs (cheap) to try different ones. You might also like the Peter Stokkebye brand of tobacco which is top quality. Their London & Danish Export are pretty popular and can sometimes be found in better local smoke shops depending on where you are.
Hope this helps :)
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by KL on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007
Sounds like you are over stuffing your tubes, that will make it like an ultra light or a light.
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The TOP Hand Injector is one of the hardest hand injectors to use on the market today. there are much better ones out there to be had, cheap.
Links to the best (in my opinion) injectors
[link]
[link]
[link]
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And there are more. This forum is a good place to find out.
To me, anything by Gizeh or Mascotte or even the Maiker is a great hand injector. No stuffing tools with these injectors, you don't need them. Just put the tobacco in, close the lid and inject. that's it.
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Dano on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007[ reply | link ] to this. Go to [ parent | topic | top ]
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by KL on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007
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I always wanted to try or buy one of those. That one, or it's big brother the deluxe. the deluxe has a cool rubber base, and both of these have a nifty place to hold and store the stuffing tool, right on the injector it's self. very cool.
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by mike c on Thursday, 13-Dec-2007
I wasn't going to open up my virtual "big mouth" on this subject, but changed mind
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I find myself in agreement with Doug K (RYO mag) that a fresh stick is best and not to make up too many at a time (especially with colder weather where I am)..and I think Capt. Mike would agree with me on this one....so the point is....the sliders to me always had one huge annoyance, and that is not filling to the tip......apparently this is helped by drying the tobacco...I dunno....but I prefer using a Maiker 100 to fill kings, if using a HH slider (the NEW term!!!) lol, with this you will get occasional tiny paper tears but I still prefer that......now, to spell things out clearly
other than what I just said, there are 2 champions established, I'll take Dano's word here: The Premier, and The El Rey, which is most absolutely a great one............and in parting, I had the reverse luck with the Top....when I bought mine, I totally knew it was a POS, but just got it for the look.....WHAT A POS!!!!!! and the really funny thing is- their older models are a better design!!!!!!! I myself don't recommend sliders but maybe Dano and others can make them work for you better than I was ever able
I _still_ haven't seen my Rizla De Luxe model on eBay, unbelieveable.
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Alist on Wednesday, 12-Dec-2007
"The TOP Hand Injector is one of the hardest hand injectors to use on the market today. there are much better ones out there to be had, cheap."
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NOW you tell me! When I first got into this, I didn't want to blow money on a Topomatic or Supermatic until I first knew whether it would suit me or not. So I bought a handheld Top injector. After a few days, I had blisters from using the tamper, which ended up being a good thing, since by then, I knew SYO fit me perfectly and purchased a Topomatic. I didn't even know you could purchase handhelds that don't require tamping. I will have to get one of these as a back up. Thanks for the lesson!
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Dano on Thursday, 13-Dec-2007
I just have to ask :)
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How DID you get blisters from using the Top Tamper??
(that must have been one ugly experience :)
An observation, some have said you can buy hand helds that don't require 'tamping'. My take on that is that the people making those machines are just too cheap to include a tamper in the package. The Premier I mentioned before has a ridge on the top that depresses the tobacco in the hopper. So theoretically you don't need the tamper, you could just close the lid and inject. The problem with that is if you put the wrong amount of tobacco in, you're either opening & closing the top of the machine to act as a tamper or you just trust to luck that you have the right amount in there in the first place. Sounds like a recipe for frustration. I like the Premier because it's wider than all the other hand helds. If you have medium to big hands it's comfortable to work with. It also works with the Rizla Cig Size Tubes. In fact it works better than the Rizla Injector made just for those tube. (imho:)
It's good you bought a big machine. I think everyone new to MYO (myself included) went through the same thing. They get tired of High Prices for Tailor Made's , They do the What Tobacco Tastes like my brand thing, They get a big machine and go through the whole what tube is best thing. They find their house filled with all kinds of tobacco and tubes and start doing the blending thing. After about a year, they have gone through just about every tobacco and tube on the planet, spent countless hours reading about tobacco on the web, their Big Machine starts to shake itself apart on a Friday night, they panic and buy a $5 Premier hand held at a local shop because UPS won't pick up their Big Machine they are trying to ship to the Repair Facility until Monday and they need to smoke, NOW! :) 2 or 3 days later they master the hand held and say 'screw buying another $40 dollar machine' :) About this time they also get tired of blending smokes, they have found their main smoke and keep a few tobacco's around for a change up. It's like the fog lifts and they live happily ever after. I call this the First Year Syndrome :) Tell me it ain't so :))
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Dave L on Thursday, 13-Dec-2007
LOL I agree in some respects (e.g. heading towards 2 years w/ Rizla cig size), though I still try at least one new tobacco, or revisit one that I thought was just OK in the past, with each order.
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I do have a beef with your repeated comments about the big machines shaking themselves apart. What does that mean? I don't get the impression that folks destroying parts, or needing to send machines away for repair, is a common occurrence. You're the only person I know who's using a handheld as a primary machine after having used a crank machine. There's nothing wrong with that, but there are reasons why most folks prefer crank machines. So as not to repeat a prior discussion on the topic, its five or six years now and I still haven't busted (the exception was not related to usage) anything and all the machines I've bought (with the exception of the Excel that I thew in frustration) are still in fine working order.
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Dano on Monday, 17-Dec-2007
Naaa you don't have any beef with me :)
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You know that I infuse everything with my own brand of distorted humorous sarcasm.
(If you don't? I'm typing in a Jedi Mind Trick Now :)
Ok, I admit that I initially started making those 'shaking apart' comments some time ago. As I recall it was when the Top machine was first coming onto the market and the Supermatic's were the only big machine widely available.
And to be totally fair I had a Supermatic II, the low end plastic based machine. It worked great out of the box for 6 months then the ritual became tighten the nuts, oil and clean the machine, do this that yada yada until it became a non functioning quivering mess that is now sitting in my laundry room in a crate with various other non functional sundries and torn T-Shirts that I keep for no rational reason and my wife demands that I through out. :)
And if my memory serves me correctly a year or two ago there was some spirited talk about Supermatic failures as well as the endless 'which is faster, Big vs Small machines' banter. (Which seems to me to be only relevant if you're going for the Guinness Book of Records as if in a Hot Dog Eating Contest :)
So in light of the fact that the Top and whatever other Big Machines are now established in the market, I suppose I shouldn't make such generalizations since there's obviously been a wealth of quality improvements vis a vie the Supermatic II of old.
My mantra has always been that Newbies to MYO should buy a big machine to start. I think it's a psychological advantage to actually have a 'Machine' to start making smokes. I mean after all, one is paying $40 or $50 for a carton for Marlboro's, the newbie can't possibly think they can do the same with a $5 piece of plastic. Ultimately I think both kinds of injectors do the same thing equally well. I will refrain from saying 'When Your Big Machine Shakes Apart' to saying IF it shakes apart, but Newbies should know that there are more hand injectors out there than big machines, and most of them are crap, and they shouldn't write off the hand held just because they happened to pick up the wrong one :)
- Re: Just Started and Curious
- Posted by Alist on Friday, 14-Dec-2007
"How DID you get blisters from using the Top Tamper?? "
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The blisters occurred on TOP of the first bend of my index finger, from using the tamper.
"I call this the First Year Syndrome :) Tell me it ain't so :))"
HA! It's working like that so far for me. I don't even know how many tobaccos I have sampled so far. I have a list for future purchases as well!
I agree with everything you said re: Over stuffing & Top Injector.