The RYO LIfestyle and Pipe Tobacco Products Demystified

Historians believe the birth of the modern RYO lifestyle has it’s roots (sorry for the pun) in the days when organic tobacco plants were discovered by Native Americans in approximately 6000 BC.

No one knows for sure but the earliest know usage of smoking what is now called pipe tobacco began when Native Americans began using tobacco in ceremonies and casual usage by smoking it.

And archaeologist have discovered images showing Mayans with bundles of tobacco that were used for commerce and trading purposes.

Pipe tobacco has been with us for a long time and it’s not going away, especially for those practicing the RYO lifestyle in today’s anything goes culture.

Modern Pipe Tobacco Demystified 

Smoking traditional tobacco was the precursor to the modern pipe tobacco cigarette. In the early days tobacco was rolled loosely, using multiple wrappers and binders and held together by licking the ends of the leaves.

And in cigar culture or alternative the term “blunt” came of age when a cigar or cigarette was rolled forming a round smooth tip at one end.

In the late 1800’s here in the U.S. RYO lifestyle types rolled what we now call pipe tobacco in newspapers. But most of the newspapers used lead based ink which was not good for smoking, giving rise to the modern cigarette paper or tube which has its roots in Barcelona Spain when manufacturers started making paper just for cigarettes.

As the popularity of smoking pipe tobacco caught on in Europe factories were created in France, the UK and then all over Europe.

The dominant size for early hand rolled (RYO in today’s term) cigarettes was 78mm long by 44mm high in Spain and in the UK the size was a bit smaller (which had 25% less tobacco), 70mm long and 38mm high.

Move forward a hundred years from the 1800’s when the industrial revolution occurred, mass production of cigarettes proliferated around the world; both filtered cigarettes and unfiltered. Due to the influence of filters, modern cigarette manufacturers introduced a standard size of 84mm which was commonly known as King Size.

The actual origin or lineage of cigarette rolling papers and tubes can be traced back to a Dominican priest, Father Jaime Villanueva (1765 in Spain) who devised a method for peeling small sheets of high grade paper from a booklet dispenser.

Rolling papers for roll your own enthusiasts were ushered into the modern era in the 1900’s and ZigZag dominated the market in the 1960’s and into the 1970’s and today you can find exoctic tubes or cigarette paper made with natural unbleached and unrefined papers (called RAW) and even exoctic materials including rice paper and extra slow burning paper known as the DLX.

Today’s Fast Forward Lifestyle Means RYO Enthusiasts are Embracing Technology

Moving forward, in today’s world roll your own cigarettes using pipe tobacco have become popular vs. factory made “straights” (conventional cigarettes made by large manufacturers).

As most of you know you can practice the RYO lifestyle using paper and pipe tobacco sourced online or any local convenience store.

But for those who are increasing more reliant on using pipe tobacco the manual or electric rolling machine like the awesome PowerRoll Electric Cigarette Machine is now considered a must have time saving and more efficient way to roll cigarettes with pipe tobacco.

You can buy pipe tobacco tubes made out of standard rolling paper or much more exoctic materials and standalone filters are easily integrated in the RYO pipe tobacco lifestyle. RYO pipe tobacco consumers are no different from others, demanding products and services that cater to the RYO lifestyle!

Learn more:

Your Living the Pipe Tobacco Lifestyle: You Need these Two Products for Summer Thrills