Fresh Choice
An electric cigarette making machine from the Fresh Choice Tobacco Company. The machine was previously called the Revolution. The retail price is $449 but new ones sell for as low as $360 (shipped) on eBay.
There are a limited number of tobaccos that will work well with this machine. It is more sensitive to tobacco cut and moisture content than the crank machines. If you like to experiment and try a lot of different brands, this isn't the machine to buy. If you are content with smoking one or two machine friendly brands, make a lot of smokes, and cannot get dialed in on the crank machines, the FC machine has possibilities.
The Fresh Choice (FC) machine has much in common with the crank machines. Like the crank machines, it has a chamber that gets filled with tobacco that is compacted against a spoon which injects the tobacco into a tube held by a gripper on a nozzle (grammatical correction please :-). Like the crank machines, the number one caveat is not to use tobacco that is too moist. The FC machine is more sensitive to moist tobacco than the crank machines. While tobacco moisture content seems to be the overriding factor, the FC machine is also more sensitive to tobacco cut.
Tobacco that is too moist (e.g. the FC tobacco that came with the machine) will stick to the spoon and partially retract with the spoon (same as on the crank machines). The result is that there will be both a filter end void and tobacco protruding from the tip of the tube (the length of the protrusion equals the length of the void). Tobacco that is too moist will also result in an uneven and overly compacted cigarette (no matter where you set the compaction dial) and torn tubes (or pushed out filters on poorly glued tubes). One side of the finished cigarette will be noticeably harder than the other.
The FC machine has a cutter/compressor that is split in half horizontally. The two pieces sliding back and forth provide for metering the tobacco as well as cutting and compressing it. The FC takes multiple cycles to do what the crank machines do in half a crank turn. Anything over 7-10 cycles is exponentially more likely result in a poorly made cigarette. For every additional cycle, tobacco already inside the chamber gets slightly more compacted (i.e. that harder side). Both moisture and cut can easily bump the number of cycles over 10. My biggest problem with this machine was over compaction due to moisture and cuts that caused excessive cycling.
Tobacco that's too fine or moist doesn't cut easily and tobacco that's too shaggy doesn't feed well. Fine cuts are usually shaggy but they are also pretty fragile at lower moisture levels (you'll get tip fallout). Medium width and length cuts do well and wider/shorter should also be fine. I'd think many of the more inexpensive American bends should work fine (Smokers Warehouse, Stoker's, etc.). The Fresh Choice tobaccos worked fine at 68%RH. I had to dry Turkish Export (finer and shaggier, but not so fine as most of the Stokkebye's) down to 61%RH before getting decent results. Tearing it into shorter pieces didn't seem to make a lot of difference because the strands, while shorter, were still interlocked too much. I usually stuff the Turkish when its at ~68%RH but the 61%RH stuff was fine (not too dry for smoking).
Filter size, more specifically the inside length of the tube, can be a limiting factor. Like the stock crank machines, the machine works best with, and seems to have been designed for, tubes with 15mm filters. Because of the strong tube gripper, it is possible to use tubes with longer filters and get a cigarette with the tobacco flush to the tip of the tube. It's trickier because the compaction level needs to be low enough that the plug can compress lengthwise. If the compaction is too high, not enough lengthwise compression can occur, the tube will tear and there will be tobacco protruding from the end. Using tubes with 17mm filters should be fairly easy, the 22mm filtered cig size is pushing it (the FC has a small nozzle and the smaller diameter cig size tubes fit just fine). It really depends on the tobacco. I had some good results with the cig size using FC tobacco and the lowest compaction setting. With the Turkish Export I was happy to get good results with 15mm filters.
edited Sep '07
Comments [ new ]
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Coffeybeans on Friday, 20-Jul-2012
I really don't know how the producers of this machine sleep at night. A Fresh Choice roller is nothing more than a very expensive paper weight. THEY ARE COMPLETE JUNK!!! If you want to roll at home get a MIKR-O-MATIC. the best roller (in my opinion) that a SYO can buy. I guess If You are just "SOOOO" busy that you can't take an extra 15min or so to roll a box of tubes try this machine out, but my bet is that you will be thoroughly disappointed.
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by roy on Monday, 07-Apr-2008
I have purchased a FC off of e-bay for about $100. I didn't receive a manual and I'm not sure if this was new or used. I've never been able to produce a smokable cigarrette no matter what tobacco and I've read every posting on here in regards to this machine. I don't regret buying it, but I was wondering if Freddie or Dave could help me find a manual for this. Also, I appreciate all of Freddie's technical knowledge on the FC, but at times have had trouble understanding it. Freddie? Do you post your pics, and if so, where could I go to see them? My FC does not load the tobacco....no matter what I do. Logically, it appears to be a timing problem during the cycle. I'm hoping its not the micro processor. My next step is to take it apart and start investigating. Any information to help me along those lines, would be much appreciated. Thanks for all the postings DAVE!!
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Dave L on Monday, 07-Apr-2008[ reply | link ] to this. Go to [ parent | topic | top ]
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by roy on Tuesday, 08-Apr-2008
I really appreciate the response Dave... thank you. I'll let you know my results.
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Wednesday, 09-Apr-2008[ reply | link ] to this. Go to [ parent | OP | topic | top ]
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Wednesday, 09-Apr-2008
I left out for some reason that you can make a piece out of the plastic lid that looks like the photo above for the RIGHT side to help reduce the number of compaction strokes..... the 2-3/4x4 piece goes on the LEFT side of hopper and it does not have to be bent like the one in photo.
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Dave L on Wednesday, 09-Apr-2008
Someone mentioned jambing their FC machine. Since I no longer have a FC machine I am wondering, is it possible to get the compressor plates positioned so that there is an open path to the inside of the chamber. My thought is that one could turn the machine upside down and use something like a flat tipped bamboo skewer to loosen/push the tobacco out by poking at it through the nozzle.
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Wednesday, 09-Apr-2008
Yes, Dave, you go to clean mode then press once to open/retract metal plate.... unplug machine for safety.... then clean out chamber... I have used a hook-scribe to reach into chamber to remove tobacco.... Or you could make a hook out of a coat-hanger.
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Once removed run clean out again and then clean spoon with alcohol.
When top metal plate is fully retracted, the bottom plate is retracted about 3/4 to 1".... plenty of room to clean out.
> My FC does not load the tobacco
Roy, Dave knows more about the FS than I do... Only thing I can add is... top compression plate is high carbon steel... bottom pessure sensor plate is plastic..... As top plate opens to accept tobacco (about 3/4 to 1"), it sequencially opens lower pressure plate to fill compression chamber..... Compression motor drives steel plate..... steel plate moves plastic plate.... plastic plate transmits pressure/volume to a micro switch (controled by compaction knob).- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by michael on Wednesday, 19-Mar-2008
I'm trying to find comments, on this site, about the Fresh Choice maching for 2008. Anyone help? I've got one on the way, and since there have been problems with this machine, I wanted to be ready.
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- Re: Fresh Choice hopper problem
- Posted by Freddie on Friday, 26-Oct-2007
Does anyone with a Fresh Choice machine have a problem with the tobacco hanging or clumping in the hopper?
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- Re: Fresh Choice hopper problem
- Posted by Dave L on Friday, 26-Oct-2007
Any kind of shag is a problem, short/loose/medium-width cuts work the best.
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- Re: Fresh Choice hopper problem
- Posted by Captain U-96 aka Mike on Friday, 26-Oct-2007
I kind of figured it, because the proprietor at Cheap Tobacco gave me a strained look as I approached with a can of Bali Red.
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Dave, I thought it quite refreshing going back to the archived beginnings of this thread and reading through to the present. Thank you for you forethought in site design, and your work on the Fresh Choice machine. Capt Mike
- Re: Fresh Choice 73% RH & 23% moisture
- Posted by Freddie on Sunday, 23-Sep-2007
My Fresh Choice Machine is now working flawlessly using tobacco that is 73% RH & 23% moisture (very moist)... I never thought it possible on a FS.
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No tobacco sticks to spoon... No tobacco pulled back out... I now have a moist, firm (not hard) smoke that is the way it should be.
Whats more, I do not have all that dry tobacco dust falling out the bottom of my machine.
- Re: Fresh Choice 73% RH & 23% moisture
- Posted by bebop on Friday, 28-Sep-2007
That's great, Freddie. I've never been able to use moist tobacco with my FC machine. What's that made out of? It looks like plexiglass but I'm not sure. Do you have any problems with the moist tobacco rolling up into a ball (sticking together as it goes down the chute)? Is this mod fairly easy to make? I'd be interested in trying to make one for mine,
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- Re: Fresh Choice 73% RH & 23% moisture
- Posted by Freddie on Friday, 28-Sep-2007
Hello Bebop... Yes, I made it out of acrylic plate plastic. The plastic mod that I show make the FS feed faster and more even with less cycles. On my FS it reduced cycles from 8-12 down to 2-3. It does cause a rolling action in bottom of hopper, but feeds tobacco into into metal slide at a much faster rate.
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The biggest reason for the very moist tobacco is controlling volume and pressure on my Fresh Choice machine.
In order to use very moist tobacco, I had to take apart my FS and relieve about 0.050" (50 mil) back pressure from the fixed pressure, spring plate located on the plastic slide.
I had the complete inside unit outside the the case sitting on table and experimented by first removing spring plate and bending it into a arc using metal slide plate and a screw pulling it into a arc. I did this in 10 mil increments to a final 50 mil... The problem was that after using the machine for a day or 2, the spring plate returned to about 25 mil... So I filed the bumper stops on metal slide 25 mil to get my 50 mil back.
Re-assemble slide plates and bottom cover.
Then adjust the top metal slide so that both upper and lower slides are even inside the tobacco chamber. This is done by adjusting the lateral movement of the slide motor mount... (2 lock screws and 1 jack screw) after loosening the 4 Allen socket motor mount screws.
Then re-adjust the limit switch Allen socket screw (controlled by the volume knob) until it opens and closes contact at the least slide movement.
After all this, the volume knob truly adjusts the volume. This is because actual chamber pressure is controlled by the fixed spring plate. So... the more volume, the more tobacco goes into the chamber.... the pressure is still the same. Since the original pressure was to much... it caused the moist tobacco to stick to the middle of the spoon... which in turn was caused because more tobacco was unevenly feeding in the middle of the hopper creating a more compressed tobacco in the middle.
I now get about 2 1/2 cartons of smokes from a pound of tobacco instead of 1 3/4.... they are smoother, easy to draw, and burn much more evenly. They come off machine feeling like they are too loose but get firm after a few minutes when tobacco releives some compression in cigarette tube to a nice firm smoke.
I now realized that the mod in the photo makes the FS cycle a lot less and helps feed tobacco more evenly. It does help when using moist tobacco, but if too moist.. the tobacco will over-pack... and the over-packed chamber is because the fixed pressure plate is too much without relieving it 50 mil.
On my FS, since my tobacco is so moist, I have to clean the spoon with alcohol after each use. I have an eye-dropper/bottle with alcohol in it and a needle nose surgeon's clamp handy to clean each time.
Bebop... you can experiment with the mod, using a piece of stiff paper (from one of your empty tube cartons)... bend to shape and tape to inside of hopper.
- Re: Fresh Choice hopper Mod
- Posted by Freddie on Monday, 17-Sep-2007
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here is a mod that I am still working with but though I would post it anyways.
It reduces the number of cycles and helps spread tobacco evenly and so far it has worked very well.... I have only made a couple of packs of smokes (40 or 50) and had no bad sticks or tobacco being hanging in nozzle.
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Sunday, 02-Sep-2007
Well... Bebop... Maybe I can say it better ....
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I have both, a digital remote humidity and a digital tobacco moisture meter. I have kept a log on moisture readings and the operation of the FreshChoice results..... and the results are conclusive!... The Damn FreshChoice Electronics are just NOT consistent and the Plastic tube nozzle is mashed to an oval shape allowing the tube hold-down to grip the end of the tobacco in the tube and allowing it to pull part of the tobacco back out of the tube.... and .... the compaction pressure is uneven in the tube because tobacco feed is maybe heavy in the middle of tube and light on the tip (end) thus allowing a combination of the gripper, oval nozzle and spoon to pull the tip of tobacco back out of the tube.
Yes, moisture does play on the results of a stuffed tube.... BUT... UNEVEN COMPACTION WILL CAUSE 10 TIMES MORE PROBLEMS THAN MOISTURE.... And the Fresh Choice machine compacts more tobacco in the middle of the tube due to the half ass-ed tobacco hopper... if you don't believe me.... try just enough tobacco (to stuff 1 cigarette tube) .....spread evenly in the bottom of the hopper... and the machine is empty and clean... and the probability of success will be much greater than filling the hopper and relying on gravity feed.
Trust me... I have spent a lot of research time on stuffing smokes.. I have a crank machine that I have modified and made a tobacco feeder that fills tobacco chamber evenly and My hand crank makes consistent smokes is twice as fast as my FreshChoice piece of shit.....Even with different moisture levels of tobacco.
Once I identify the major problems on my FS machine, I will modify it and turn it into a decent machine.... that is unless I can sell it first.
You know.... Fresh Choice could have taken a little time and effort on the mechanics of stuffing smokes and made this a decent machine instead Fresh Choice chose to dress it up, make it look good and turn it loose to the market on looks alone.... Hehehehe.... it must have worked... I fell for it... hehe guess I'm the dumb ass after all.
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by bebop on Wednesday, 05-Sep-2007
I don't have anything that measures the moisture, I just go by how the tobacco feels and that was after a lot of trial and error. You may have something on the compaction being more compact in the middle, though. I know if the tobacco is too dry, It seems looser on the ends and you can have a lot of fallout. At least thats when I notice it the most. That would make sense if it's compacting too much in the middle, Though I don't notice it if the tobacco is just at the right RH. I had a lot of trouble with the hand cranker as far as having to tap the smokes down a lot. Though a lot of my issues with the hand cranker was probably I wasn't letting the tobacco dry out, which I realized after I had got the FC and realized how much moist tobacco affected it. I don't think the FC is a good looking machine, though. To me it's the design borders on ugly and it is way overpriced for not being a perfect machine. For me after a lot of trial and error, It's been working out pretty good with the brand that I have been smoking, though lately I have been trying out other brands, since I can't seem to find MC in any of the stores in SW florida and Lil brown seems to have issues on thier site with payment methods. Just out of curiousity how would you go about modifying the FC?
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Wednesday, 05-Sep-2007
Bebop, I am working on 2 ideas right now....
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1... mod the hopper with a feeder that will make the tobacco feed evenly and as needed to the slide area at the bottom of the hopper so as to effect an even compaction... My idea right now is to have the feeder actuated by the slide action of the knife.... I am making a front cover to replace the existing vertical smoke plastic insert then I will start my experiments based on the feeder I made for my hand crank that really works very well.
2... the other Idea is to replace the existing spoon with a mod that will have a retractable check stopper to hold tobacco in cigarette tube while retracting the spoon from tube.
I believe that correcting the uneven filling and the stopper will make the machine stuff tubes using very moist tobacco, making a fresh mellow smoke... not all dried out and harsh before I have time to smoke it.
On my hand crank, I can use very moist tobacco (which is completely unacceptable of a FC) because my feeder maintains an even, end to end chamber filling.... As I stated on earlier post... I have other mods that makes a clean shear not allowing tobacco to hang on knife and creating a void at the filter end of tube. My hand crank is just as automated as my FC. Instead of pushing a button, I pull the crank and it makes consistent, firm and good looking smokes.
You know, Bebop, If FC took more time studying the physics and mechanics of stuffing and less time on motorizing and overpricing the existing hand crank technology... They could have produced a good machine for same price.... It's a damn shame and a big disappointment to me when I received my FC... I expected it to be a lot more... at least perform as good as my hand crank.
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by bebop on Thursday, 06-Sep-2007
That's true, When I first got mine, I thought I could just use the tobacco straight out of the can, like I did with my hand crankers. I was totally suprised that it couldn't handle moist tobacco at all. There wasn't a lot of info on this machine, at the time I bought, expect for the few that it worked great. I do believe if FC had taken the time, they could have had a great machine at a affordable price. They had to have known about the issues with moist tobacco. If you get the mods to work, let us know and post some pics.
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Thursday, 06-Sep-2007
Actually, Bebop, I am working on refining my Crank first... The FC will have to wait in line. I would like to perfect the crank while I try to sell my FC machine... If I can't sell it I will then modify it. I want to sell it in it's original condition, I think it will be easier to sell. I am making a front hopper plastic insert and feeder, but foremost, I am working on perfecting the Crank model ... I think more smokers will benefit from it much more.
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Now, if I can't sell the FS, I will make it work like it should. I have made 2 suggestions and FS should make the mods to all existing machine owners to make up for their rip-off.
By the way, if your tobacco is too dry, it will stuff better.... but it will be harder to draw through the smoke as well as harsh and the tobacco is more likely to fall out the end... bad thing when you are trying to light one while driving (ouch!).
best way to make a good smoke is make a machine that will stuff using tobacco that has a moisture content of at least 20%... above that level it wants to stick to the spoon but it makes a much smoother smoke. That's why I suggested the auto retracting check stopper. This is much easier done on the crank but because of the FS's mounting, I will have to make a complete spoon and stopper that will bolt in place of the old one.
When I complete my crank mods, I will post pics and I thing you will get ideas on make the same principle work on your FS.
I am not back-tracking, Bebop... I just think as it stands, The hand crank is much better than any electric out there [snip]
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Dave L on Friday, 14-Sep-2007
Uneven compaction isn't a cause, its a result. A high number of machine cycles, caused by tobacco cut and/or moisture, will result in uneven compaction. An oval nozzle would be more likely to prevent tobacco retracting with the spoon, no way can it cause it. Tobacco retracting with the spoon happens when the tobacco is too moist.
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You'll have to be more specific about the electronics being inconsistent. I know that most of the actions are controlled by limit switches. My thought is that when there's enough tobacco in the chamber the compressor cannot extend enough to engage one of those limit switches and the machine will stop cycling. That excessive cycling causes compaction issues supports the theory (read the topic). I did write Sally to ask about this 2x but got no real answer. The problem with rooting around in the patent is that the machine of today is significantly different from the machine in the patent.
I deleted your post about round-trip shipping (possession is 9/10 of the law, etc.). Paying shipping (both ways) on machines is typical these days. What bothers me is that there's also an unknown handling fee and that they don't have a copy of the warranty on their site. They also don't clearly state that the machine was specifically designed to work with their tobacco.
If someone could scan and OCR the One Year Limited Warranty and Our Guarantee I'll add links to them in the first paragraph.
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Saturday, 15-Sep-2007
reply to post: Dave Lers on Friday, 14-Sep-2007
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I am not trying to be smart... just trying to state the facts as I have found them through my hand on experience. You may know a lot more than I about tobacco and you may know more about the machines. But, I can tell you that I have over 30 yrs experience setting up and installing packaging equipment. I know the Fresh Choice electric inside out.... probably more than the people selling them. Now, that's a bold statement and the reason I said that is if your machine ever breaks and it is covered by warranty, they will replace it with a new machine.... If all FS machines are like mine.. they are not to be taken apart because all mounts are sealed with loc-tite. Therefore making it extremely difficult to repair.
Uneven compaction a cause... Just one of the many problems ... this is due to tobacco not spread evenly in the compression chamber... and on the FS it is because of the design of the tobacco hopper. TOBACCO WILL NOT FEED EVENLY IN A GRAVITY FEED HOPPER... it must be distributed evenly to the compression slide first.... I am making a mod now to do just that.
Mr. Lers, I have completely dismantled my Fresh Choice Machine. Examined for wear, misalignment and etc.... Now, I KNOW HOW IT WORKS AND I KNOW MANY OF ITS PROBLEMS.
You are wrong about too much moisture making it stick to the spoon.... TOO MUCH COMPACTION DUE TO TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON MOIST TOBACCO CAUSING A MUCH GREATER VOLUME OF TOBACCO BEING PRESSED INTO THE TUBE UNEVENLY IS THE CAUSE.
The Nozzle has a slight horizontal oval and the spoon assembly has a slight vertical oval... Now the tobacco is squeezed on the end of the tube even more because of the down pressure of the tube holder onto the soft plastic nozzle thus pinching the end of the over compressed tobacco and pulling it out.
Dave Lers says: "You'll have to be more specific about the electronics being inconsistent"
OK... You must regulate your pressure to compensate for the moisture on a Fresh Choice machine. Now, this is difficult to do on the FC because it is controlled by a mechanical limit switch which is NOT CONSISTENT because back pressure (resistance) changes due to the wear, grit, and friction of the slides. This is where the pressure knob comes in.... Now the pressure knob has a detent (the clicks that you hear when you turn it). You can not fine tune the back pressure enough because one click may not be enough where the next click may be too much.... this is where your excessive cycling comes in to play...
Now ... the excessive cycling CAUSES the FS to over compact the tobacco chamber in the middle (in most cases)... The over compacting in the middle is caused by the poorly designed gravity feed tobacco hopper allowing a greater amount of tobacco being pushed into the middle of the chamber.... Which I think my mod will correct.
I have found so many internal things on my FS that should never have been allowed to go to production before being corrected.
I don't think FS intended for anyone to disassembled their machine because all their mounting screws were lock-tite'd which had to be drilled out and re-tapped.
1. I am making a tobacco feeder actuated by the slide cam.
2. shimming the shear plate 30mil to compensate for the shear gap
3. modifying slides to reduce/eliminate variable resistance
And several other things.
I just mod material today so it will take me some time, but when I finish, I will let you know what I did and if all works ok....
I am very serious about this. I am retired and I have spent the last 3 months studying the physics of tobacco and it moisture affects on volumes/pressure and cuts and ... designing and modifying my crank machine with a tobacco feeder, shear knife plate and several more things. Many of these similar improvements should work on the FS.
I can take a very moist tobacco (over 20% moisture content) .... using a measure amount.. evenly spread and using my hand crank to make a manufactured looking/feel smoke that NEVER sticks to the spoon.
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Sunday, 16-Sep-2007
Update to previous Post:
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A little more detail as to how the FS works.
Initial pressure and volume is controlled by the top metal slide... Pressure on it is controlled by a non-adjustable spring plate... Volume is controlled on it by adjusting the slide assembly horizontally with the jack bolt after loosening the lock bolts.
The knob on front actually controls volume more than pressure, since lower plastic slide receives it's secondary pressure from the metal slide... Unless there is an evenly distributed pressure on the lower plastic slide, the machine will continue to cycle until the top slide builds pressure to activate lower slide limit switch... This is where you get the hard spot in the compression chamber....
The knob actually controls volume more than pressure.
Think of it like setting car jack on soft ground... if pressure is not distributed evenly over a broad area on soft ground, the jack will sink into the ground.... the ground under the jack is more compressed than surrounding area.... Set the jack on a long board and it will not sink.
Back to the FS ... since the hard spot is usually in the middle of the smoke... the looser tobacco towards the tip is pulled back out when the spoon retracts... This usually happens more when using moist tobacco because it is easier to over compact as opposed to dry.
Because initial pressure on the FS is non-adjustable... this is why you can't use an overly moist tobacco like you can on the hand crank. The more moist the tobacco, the more critical volume to pressure ratio must be. (you can compress more moist tobacco in the same area with same pressure as opposed to dryer tobacco.
This is why even distribution in the tobacco chamber is more critical on the FS when using a moist tobacco. THE TOBACCO MUST BE EVENLY DISTRIBUTED IN THE CHAMBER TO EFFECT A GOOD SMOKE.
The FS chamber/spoon has a vertical oval area to compensate for the more compressed tobacco being pushed into the chamber so that when pushed into the tube and the spoon is withdrawn, the linear center should expand back to round cigarette.... if it doesn't.. the cigarette is over-packed.(most cases unevenly packed)
On the FS, all pressure is relayed back to to pressure controllers through the slides which will vary due to grit, friction and etc..
Pressure would have been much more accurate and easier to control had FS measured/controlled pressure of back of spoon in compression chamber.... They didn't but I am trying to figure a way to do it keeping existing machine parts.
But for now, I am experiment with different FS tobacco feeder/measuring methods for even distribution and volume so I can use moist tobacco.... after all, I like a smooth/moist smoke better than a dry/harsh one. Also I will make the initial pressure adjustable. With adjustable pressure and even volume, I think I will be able to get the smoke I am wanting from my Fresh Choice machine after all.
- Re: crank machine feeder
- Posted by SirVette on Wednesday, 31-Oct-2007
Posted by Freddie "I have a crank machine that I have modified and made a tobacco feeder that fills tobacco chamber evenly and My hand crank makes consistent smokes is twice as fast..."
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Freddie
Your crank machine feeder would make a great topic!
I recently bought a new Top-O-Matic, did an update on it [link] & am thinking about a feeder.
I would be interested in anything you have to say about your crank machine feeder. :)
- Re: crank machine feeder
- Posted by Dave L on Wednesday, 31-Oct-2007
Define "feeder". The referenced post (link) is talking about the spoon. While the spoon does feed tobacco to the tube, its called the spoon and has nothing to do with evenly filling the chamber.
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- Re: crank machine feeder D LERS
- Posted by Freddie on Thursday, 01-Nov-2007
Mr Lers, why is it that every time I make a post about something I have made or done, you make a negative comment. My hand crank machine feeder has nothing to do with the spoon.
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Now .... if you don't want me to interact with this web site... then by all means say so. You then can remove all my posts/photo, I will REMOVE your website from my booksmarks, I will keep my thoughts to myself and mind my own business.
The following is in response to SirVette's above post....
My feeder is a tobacco hopper storage that distributes a measured amount of tobacco to the tobacco chamber. It is simple and it works. It is adjustable to volume variation due to different tobacco cuts. If any of you have ever done any trap/skeet shooting and loaded your own shells, think about how the loader works.
Now I have made a hopper feeder for my Fresh Choice out of common materials that anyone can make and it is activated by the slide/knife on the FS machine. I no longer have to "stir" tobacco in hopper so that it will fall down evenly into the knife/chamber.
My posted photo is another experiment that forces the tobacco into the knife at a faster rate so as to require a preponderantly less knife number of cycles.
- Re: crank machine feeder D LERS
- Posted by mike c on Thursday, 01-Nov-2007
dear Freddie
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I read it twice and thought the same thing as Dave
Dave is just extremely straight-forward and to-the-point
I have given him a lot of reasons to ask me to just cease
he's alright, you just confused him on that issue.
And also, he's dealing with some new crank-machine owners who have(through no fault in particular) not got the terms of the parts correct yet, and this is probably some of it
all the info is on this forum and he also may wish they would read through better......it's what I had to do
forgive a name "plug" but Kerry actually taught me to use one, Dave laid out what was best in choices, and between the two, I landed on all fours,,,,,,
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Jo on Saturday, 23-Feb-2008
If I had your expertise and knowledge, I would figure it all out and patent it, build it and get rich.
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A successful machine mimics the best way to do something by hand.
For me, it seems like I can stuff a better cigarette, if I push the tobacco that will end up next to the filter with my finger toward the left, making it heavier in that area. I leave the middle alone, then I make tobacco lighter at the end that the tobacco will be in the tip of the cigarette.
Then cranking compresses it with more in the filter end and less in the tip end. This works for me a lot, but it does seem to have a mind of it's own.
I would never want to have to dry my tobacco very much to use the electric machine, because it would be harsh tasting.
I would hate waiting 45 seconds for it to cycle, too.
Jo, here is a photo of a tamper component that is similular to the improved version that pushes the tobacco down into and to the ends of the crank chamber without over-stuffing the middle.... like you would do if you were useing your fingers..... it goes with my hopper/feeder which discharges out the bottom side and into the chamber (I think there may still be a photo of the basic hopper in the crank section).
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Paintsmere on Tuesday, 31-Jul-2007
For the fresh choice machine to be $350.00 & up, and to have no return policy....... They must really be gambling on the fact that us consumers in the world are dumb. Makes it look to me that they don't back what they sell.
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by mike c on Tuesday, 31-Jul-2007
I'll swear I saw that scam in it's formation back with cigarettes cheaper holding contests for machine invention
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without having tried a Magnum, if only that it's size makes sense, I'll bet they hate that design and are quite jealous of it
sorry folks.....just stating the cards as I read 'em
at this point we can make the judgement:
thumbs down on the Fresh Choice
nothing personal, just a matter of truth and human right to it
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Smokin n Jokin on Tuesday, 31-Jul-2007
There's a sucker born every minute, if you don't believe me just ask the makers of turbo-matic. It has a two year warranty, but they charge a $24.99 handling fee, which is about twice what the machine is worth.
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Jo on Saturday, 23-Feb-2008
I always try to stay a step ahead. I ordered a part for mine and the postage cost more than the part, so I ordered all the parts I would most likely need in the future because the postage was the same, but haven't used them yet...so I may have lost by trying too hard to win. I guess you can't win them all:-)
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I lost the rubber tip that holds the tube in place, so the one I had ordered came in handy, but found the original one later. It pays to push on that part to keep it from working off of the machine. (Mine may have had some help getting off from the grandkids, though:)
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by steve brown on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2014
Where did you order that part from? I need one and cant find one anywhere. Its the rubber tip that holds the tube in place. Please let me know the part number also.
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Thanks,
Steve
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Jim Moss on Monday, 23-Jul-2007
I have a fresh choice machine and a premier hand crank. Out of a pound of tobacco I can get 2 1/2 cartons from a crank machine, and only about 1 3/4 cartons from the fresh choice. I roll some for my family using the fresh choice machine. I prefer the hand crank for my own, because I get more consistency by hand. Don't waste your money on the fresh choice machine, it's really not worth it. It is faster if you can figure out the right combination of tobacco and dryness for the machine. It can be kind of stress full when using the machine, I can smoke a pack almost as fast as you can roll them. haha
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Freddie on Thursday, 19-Jul-2007
The Fresh Choice machine is a nice toy.... keep your hand crank, it faster when total completed sticks vs. failed, poor and bad sticks are totaled up.
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Overpriced, poor engineering and difficult to get a consistent smoke, just to name a few. I just ordered a digital moister meter in hopes to eliminate unfilled tubes and tobacco hanging up in nozzle and pulling up to 1 inch of tobacco back out of stuffed tube when removing tube from machine.
As I see it.... everything MUST BE PERFECT before you will be able to get consistent smokes. ( Yes ... consistent NOT perfect smokes). I wished I had found this site before I bought my FRESH CHOICE machine .... I would be $400.00 richer today.
Knowing what I know now... It would be very difficult for me to part with $200.00 if the fresh choice machine were retailed for $200.00.
I have a Supermatic II that I reworked knife chamber.... Lined bottom with stainless steel shim stock ... formed ss shim stock to fit top of knife which has a razor sharp edge to cut tobacco when closing.... bored and polished tube filling port... milled cutter block to allow for ss inserts... My Supermatic never (yes Never!) need cleaning and it make almost perfect smokes every time. With the filler box on top it is just as fast as my Fresh Choice machine (faster when you count all the wasted tubes and tobacco)
If I could get my money back on this Fresh Choice machine, I would do it tomorrow. My fault for not checking this machine out before I bought it... I thought for a retail of 450 bucks it had to be good.... WRONG!!!!
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Dave L on Saturday, 21-Jul-2007
The one inch protruding from the tip is because the tobacco is too moist. The cut of the tobacco will determine how dry it needs to be to stuff well. Wider/shorter/looser cuts will need less drying (toppings/casings may also be a factor). Its a painful process because the hopper isn't easy to empty. You have to keep drying and trying until you have a low number of cycles and no protrusion. When the tobacco is dry enough to stuff well, you have to empty the hopper one more time to take a RH reading. Then you know what works for that brand and the hygrometer will save you future hassles with that brand.
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If you like to experiment and try a lot of different brands, this isn't the machine to buy. If you are content with smoking one or two machine friendly brands, make a lot of smokes, and cannot get dialed in on the crank machines, the FC machine has possibilities.
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by bebop on Friday, 08-Jun-2007
I havn't tried anything new on the machine since my last post. I have been making over a cartons worth of Mcclintok FF about every 4 or 5 days with it. out of 250 cigarettes, I get about 6 that have a void or loose on the end. For me it takes 50 minutes to a little over an hour depending on how rushed i am at the time. I can't use the machine watching TV like I use to with the hand cranker, cause the cycle is loud and you can't hear when it's going. But it does make the majority perfect cigarettes end to end, which I like. Again the tobacco has to be dried, Tobacco like my MC has to to broke up before putting in the chamber and occasionally breaking up the tobacco ( with a pen or pencil) in the chamber if it looks like it hanging up. I have found that if you use to much shake that it will make the ends looser and tobacco to fall out when turned. So I add some shake ( more tobacco than shake) to the tobacco in the chamber to even it out and that seems to work out well.
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- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by Krikey! on Friday, 08-Jun-2007
Jeebus Christo! Over a carton every four or five days?
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Damn... I'm no angel when it comes to nicotine intake, but that is one helluva lot of smoking.
Maybe you oughta switch to light tubes. LOL
- Re: Fresh Choice
- Posted by mike c on Friday, 08-Jun-2007
I don't think she's the only one smoking
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great to hear from you Bebop....I wasn't too worried about WHAT you posted, just glad you did
sounds like MYO is work, no matter how some of us may try to escape it
won't shake me
everybody have a great day, oh yeah, for a lot of you it's friday......I miss that feeling of getting off work....well maybe not the Sat morning hangover....nevermind
mc
- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by bebop on Friday, 18-May-2007
I only filled the chamber about halfway on most of these. I just wanted to get a idea on how different brands will work in this machine. I clean cycled between every 3 brands.
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American Spirit= This was dry and cut was long and stringy. I only made 7 sticks of these. All 7 sticks came out good with a slight over hang on two.
Bali Shag (red) = The pouch I used was pretty dry, The cut on this is thin, long and stringy, as i was breaking it up to put in the chamber. I made 7 sticks of these. The first came out slightly loose around, but filled end to end, I pushed the tobacco down in the chamber with a pencil. The second had already cycled, but looked good. The rest came out good end to end, but each cycle took like 30 seconds instead of the usual 3 seconds. On 4th stick the add tobacco light also came on and i had to break up the tobacco on the bottom, where it had kinda formed a small ball.
Mac Baren (American Blend)= This was also really dry and the cut thin, long and stringy. I made 7 sticks of these. This was exactly like the bali shag, 1st a slight loose around, add tobacco light after the 4th and the cycle taking about 30 seconds. One stick had slight overhang, the rest good end to end.
Samson= This is thin and stringy but also has birdeyes? pieces. This bordered on almost being too dry, but after I broke it up and put it in the chamber, I went ahead and pushed it down with a pencil before I started. I made 7 sticks of these. All except two had slight overhang, and a few slight looseness near the filter. The cycle was only a few seconds and no hangups in the chamber. When I talk about the looseness near the filter, I mean if you run your finger over the cigarette, its firmly packed, when you get the filter end, even though there is tobacco there, It feels not quite as firm as the rest of the stick. It's something you probably wouldn't notice by just looking.
The Three Castles= I did not push down on this after breaking it up and putting in the chamber as the strands looked shorter. I made 6 sticks of these. The cycle was 2 to 3 seconds and 5 sticks were good. 1 was loose and when tapped down left a 1/4 inch gap on the end.
Jester= This is thin and stringy with the birdseye pieces, very dry. After breaking it up, I did push this down in the chamber with a pencil before starting. I made 7 sticks. The cycle was longer about 20 to 30 seconds, the add light came on after the 5th, broke up the tobacco in the chamber with the pencil and finished the other two sticks. All 7 sticks came out good with a slight overhang on 4.
PS Turkish Export= This tobacco was slightly moist, but thought it may be dry enough. This is similiar in cut to McClintock. I made 8 of these. The cycle was about 6 to 7 seconds. I didn't push down on the tobacco at any time. All sticks except one had a little overhang. All seemed packed more firmly than normal. I smoked one and it had a harder draw. I guess the tobacco was not dry enough.
Windsail= This tobacco was dry. I filled the chamber up to the top. The first 5 seemed hard packed and had overhang. Two had the paper ripped on the end. I set the compaction to 7. The next 6 still seemed to be too firmly packed and had overhang. I set the compaction to 6. the first came out packed good but missing tobacco about 1/4 inch at the end. There was a little plug of tobacco in the nozzle when I looked. Cleaned it out. the next 5 came out better with 2 having some slight overhang. This may have been the correct setting for this tobacco, but couldn't make anymore as I ran out of tobacco. I smoked one of the ones that was firmly packed, and I was suprised the draw was not bad, maybe cause the tobacco was drier, than the turkish export.
Drum and Smokers Warehouse= I used 1/2 and 1/2 of each. This is one of my favorite mixes and I also use midnight special in place of the smokers warehouse sometimes. I mixed and broke this up before filling up the chamber. I left the compaction at 6. The first tubes were looser packed than I like, but still nice end to end. I moved the compaction knob to 7, didn't notice to much difference, so went up to 8 and finally started packing tighter. I ended up with 24 sticks, all nice end to end. But the cycles between each cigarette took 20 seconds.
All in all I think it did a pretty good job on these. You have to make sure the tobacco is dry, You might have to push down or break up on shaggier tobacco in the chamber occasionally, you will have to play with the compaction knob to get the right settings and to get minimal tobacco fallout at the end, You will probably get the occasional bad stick. It does seem to make nice cigarettes overall and it is pretty fast. I do like it a lot better than hand cranking. It is overpriced though, With more people stuffing thier own and the market growing, You would think they would make it more affordable, I'm sure they would double their sales if they did. It's still too early to know how reliable it will be in the long run.
- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by bebop on Wednesday, 09-May-2007
I just seen this on Ebay. It's used and was $300 with free shipping. The guy has good feedback, so i went ahead and got it. I sure hope this thing works good with McClintock and premier tubes and our occasional sportsman vanilla and bali shag. I can't seem to find to much on how well this will work with brands other than fresh choice brand, which i have never tried or used.
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- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by bebop on Sunday, 13-May-2007
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I got the fresh choice machine yesterday. It has a see through plastic piece in the front of the chamber that you pour the tobacco in with a hinged plastic lid thats attached to the machine that covers the chamber. The plastic piece slides out to clean the chamber. At the bottom of the chamber there is a metal piece. This metal piece when you hit the start button goes back and forth like a cutter with teeth over another metal plate underneath it that appears to go back and forth also. There looks to be a rectangular slot on the side between cutter and metal plate that the tobacco, i guess must be pushed into. There doesn't appear to be an off/on switch on the machine. There is a stop, clean, load, start buttons in addition to add tobacco, door open, power on lights. Also a compaction knob.
When you first plug it in all the lights blink on and the cutter retracts. The clean and load button stay on. You hit the load button and the metal segregated spoon (this comes out of the nozzle tip you place the tube on) and plastic block slide out for cleaning. There is a round clear plastic with slots on the bottom covering them, so i used a pipe cleaner to brush off any tobacco off them. You hit the load button again and the spoon and plastic block retract again. It'll want you to repeat this one more time, then the cutter slides back into place and the start button lights up. This basically reminds me of the way hand injectors work. You know the way you slide over the spoon and block? The spoon and block appear to be good quality and not flimsy.
I put some McClintock FF tobacco into the chamber, breaking up the tobacco as i was putting it in. I placed a premier light tube onto the nozzle tip. You have to push down a lever as you are placing a tube onto the nozzle to pull up the plastic piece that will hold the tube in place. They must use a heavy spring for this, since it's a little hard to push down, but i guess it will hold the tube no matter what. I pressed the start button and heard the cutter going back and forth for what seemed like maybe 45 seconds or so. Then the load button lit up so i pressed it. It injected the tobacco into the tube. I pushed down the tube release lever and pulled out the tube. There was some over hang on the tube and when i looked at the nozzle there was a plug of tobacco hanging from it. I cleaned out the nozzle and to make a long story short, The tobacco was just to moist with this machine. While the machine never jammed, The tubes had over hang, some got ripped at the end, were not filled all the way cause of hard plugs and just weren't smokable. I put a bowl of the McClintock to the side so it could dry.
I opened up a pouch of Top's vanilla tobacco and since it didn't look too moist, I poured it in the chamber. I was surprised that the cutter only seemed to go back and forth for a few seconds compared to McClintock which seemed to take longer. The first tube came out too loose, if you turned it a ¼ of tobacco just fell out of the tube. I turned the compaction button up a notch and the next tube came out looser! Well I played with the compaction knob and after over a dozen tube of various degrees of looseness, i started to get some well pack ones, filled to the filter and end nicely and good draw. I don't understand this compaction knob. There are no markings on it or the machine, the instruction say turn it clockwise tighter pack and counter clockwise for looser, but I'm not sure if it worked out that way when i was playing with it.
Okay now for my Arango vanilla. This stuff is pretty dry but not crumbly. I made 18 of these and all except two were nicely packed from filter to end. The two had slight looseness near the filter and a couple of taps fixed those. I couldn't believe how fast i made these. The cutter only seemed to take a couple of seconds and i could hardly get the tubes on before the load button was already lit! Wow, that was really nice. I did notice as i was putting the tubes into my smoky pack that some slight amount of tobacco fell out from some of the tubes, the tubes still looked nicely packed but had to mention that.
The McClintock has been drying now for 2 hours, so i am going to retry it. This time the cutter only went for a few seconds and it went real fast. I made about 16 tubes, before hubby said we had to leave for a friends house. The tubes looked well packed from filter to end, again i noticed a little looseness on two tubes near the filter and tapped those. I also noticed again as I was hurrying to put them in my case a little bit of tobacco falling out of the end.
As of now, I think it's too early to tell how well this is going to work out. I'll play with it a little more and try various tobacco's, I've got lots of different kinds and am curious as to how it'll work with various brands.
- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by Dave L on Monday, 14-May-2007
I hope you'll keep going with this (posting your experiences). I'll add supporting pictures (your post makes much more sense now that I've seen what you're talking about) when I have more time. I just got a machine on loan from Sally at Fresh Choice and, while I've only given it a brief try, my experience pretty much mirrors yours (and writing is painful for me :-).
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- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by Smokin n Jokin on Monday, 14-May-2007
That's great news. If either of you can get it to make a package of firmly packed sticks with no filter voids that don't have a quarter of an inch of tobacco hanging out the end I'll buy one.
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- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by bebop on Tuesday, 15-May-2007
I plan to keep on posting as i try it out, I have some time this afternoon to try it out somemore. I have only used it once more since my last post, to make some more of the McClintock (that had been drying for a few hours. Again this machine really seems to kick out what looks like nicely packed tubes from filter to end, with no overhang (unless tobacco is moist,see my post above). But again i noticed some tobacco falling out of the ends as i was putting them away. I have since noticed some of the tubes were a tad loose on the ends (not the filter end), which may explain why some of the tobacco is coming out. Hopefully tonight i can figure out, why this is happening. Still I have to say, I am really excited about this machine. For people like me who have to make over 3 packs a day (we have a few people in our family that smoke) It is timesaver, though i hope they can get the price down on it, to make it a little more affordable.
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- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by Dave L on Tuesday, 15-May-2007
Thanks bebop. Your mentioning the drier McClintock again got me looking for my driest tobacco (not really dry, most of my tobacco is borderline too moist for even my moded Supermatic) and got me on track with this machine. Overly moist tobacco on this thing is all sorts of bad (e.g. the compaction knob that didn't seem to do anything). I'm going to take advantage and do an ongoing edited post at the top of the page.
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- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by bebop on Wednesday, 16-May-2007
In this post I used Premier light, Bugler and Zen tubes, swapping back and forth between them. It didn't seem to make any difference which of these tubes i used they pretty much all filled up the same. I also want to mention that the compaction knob has 10 settings.
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I started with the McClintock that i had left drying. I noticed some of it was still slightly moist, but thought it should be all right. The compaction knob was set at 7. I noticed it was taking longer to cycle and the first tube had some overhang. This was repeated on the next few tubes, so i quit and put the tobacco aside to let it dry some more.
Next i put in the American Spirit (blue can). This stuff is always super dry. The cycle was only a couple of seconds and tube only filled up about 3/4 of the way. Turning the tube upside down, a lot more of the tobacco fell out. I put the compaction up to 9 and the next tube was still loose. I put the compaction to 10 (can't go any further) and still this tube was loose. I ended up making 15 tubes with each filling better as i went. This kinda of reminded me of what happened to the topp tobacco when i had used right after i had used some moist tobacco. I wonder if using moist tobacco screws the machine up for a while? anyway only 5 out of the fifteen were pretty good. The rest had varying degrees of looseness, some just at the tip, others 1/4 to 1/2 way from the tip, only a couple were slightly loose at the filter. I turned the compaction knob to 5 and unplugged the machine.
A couple hours later I plugged the machine back in and went throught clean cycle. I had a sample of rowland that looked pretty dry, so pured that in the chamber. The first two tubes came out too loose with the tobacco falling out of the ends. I set the compaction up to 6. The next few tubes, were a little better but still to loose at the ends. Went up to 7. The rest started to get better as i went, they looked good from filter tip, but if you turned them some tobacco falls out and if you really tap hard a lot more falls out. Out of the 17 I made, 10 had tobacco flush to the end, the other 7, i will have to twist the ends.
Next i put in vengeur. The first few, still kinda loose at the ends. I went up to 8 on the knob. Ok now as i make them they are getting a lot tighter. They all still have some minimal tobacco come out when you tap or turn, but are still flush at the end and filter. Out of 26, I will have to twist the ends of 6.
Now for the Stokers #2. I am not sure if its because the compaction was set at 8 or if this machine just really likes this tobacco. I made 27 of these and all came out great with hardly any tobacco coming out of the ends.
Bugler Gold. I had poured what i had left in a pouch. I made 9 and again, same as the stokers, they all came out great.
Back to my McClintock that seemed to be good and dry now. This seemed to go pretty well also. There was only a few with some slight overhang, and the tobacco fallout when turned seemed minimal.
It seems on my machine at least, the compaction knob has to be set high, to get any degree of sucess. I do like how fast this machine is when everything is correct (tobacco, compaction), but like all machines, it does seem to have its flaws. Since McClintock is my main smoke and it always comes in the canister pretty moist, I will always have to let it set out to dry and that does somewhat affect the flavor slightly of it. Later this week i will try some more tobacco's and tubes as i still have a lot of stash of those during my expermintation stage (which never really stops, does it?).
- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by Dave L on Wednesday, 16-May-2007
Its looking like the machine works best with low moisture medium cut tobaccos and that moisture and cut are more important than the compaction setting. I was thinking AS should work but I had forgotten how shaggy it is. Shag doesn't fall freely into the chamber. When I tried it, the add tobacco light came on after the third cigarette.
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- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by bebop on Thursday, 17-May-2007
I did have that happen to me a couple of times when I first tryed the moist McClintock. It would ball itself up at or near the bottom of the chamber. Even now though it has'nt happened again. I seperate and break up the strands before putting in the chamber. Cause even when it's dry, it's such a stringy tobacco, It seems to want to stick to itself. But i had to that with the hand injectors also, as it would want to clump up. I got in such a habit of doing that, that I do it with all the tobaccos, now without thinking.
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- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by Kizer Sosa on Thursday, 17-May-2007
I appreciate both your comments on the machine, and I'm sure everyone else does as well... however at this point, I'm getting the overall impression that it's not worth the money?
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In other words, with its finicky operation based on moistness, it sounds like a mighty expensive way to limit the types of tobacco that you can smoke.
How would it treat something like Sagamore Platinum Gold?
- Re: Fresh Choice (Revolution)
- Posted by bebop on Thursday, 17-May-2007
Don't know, that's one tobacco I don't have a sample of. What tobacco is it similiar to in cut? I'm still in the learning curve with it as I've only had it less than a week. So far in my case anyway, I love the speed and quality of the sticks when they come out good. With the hand cranker I was spending a lot of time tapping the sticks down, pulling the tobacco into the chamber while being careful not to overfill or underfill. Of course as I am learning now, some of my problems with the hand cranker may have been my tobacco being too moist. As far as what limits this machine has with different types of tobaccos, that's why I'll be trying out different brands, I'm curious about that too. I also like to smoke other brands occasionly myself. As of my last post I've just figured out the best compaction level that seems to work best. So I'll be retrying a lot of them. As for expensive, You've got no argument from me there, even though I bought used one,It still was pricey.
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I've just made about a cartons worth of McClintocks this morning. This had been sitting out for a day so it was really dry. It was making perfect sticks then i noticed a slightly loose one. As i Tapped it, I thought about what you said, about the tobacco hanging up in the chamber, Dave. Even though the chamber looked full, when I opened the lid and pushed down the tobacco, It pushed down a lot. So as I was making the rest, I would once in a while open the lid and push the tobacco down with a pencil. The rest of the sticks came out perfect. I wonder if some type of weight in chamber would work, of course it would have come out before you got to the bottom. This may explain some of those occasional loose ones.
See Also: Posts From Oct '05 to May '07