Ten Facts about RYO Tobacco and Cigar Smoking You Need to Know!

We field hundreds of calls each month about all things tobacco, RYO tobacco, cigars, and smoking accessories from customers. There are a lot of misconceptions about rolling tobacco and cigars that you should know.

If you are smoking cigars of any kind other than machine-made cigars you should buy a cigar humidor and you can buy a decent humidor with an onboard moisture adjustment system for under a hundred dollars. If you are an RYO tobacco smoker there is no need to manually roll cigarettes, even if you only smoke 3-5 per day you can now get a decent manual cigarette machine for under fifty bucks.

Sure you can buy low-cost machine-made cigars in your local convenience store that are not going to stack up to a decent premium cigar in any sense of the word.

But, know you can also buy a decent machine-made cigar that will have a decent taste. No, it’s not going to stack up to a ten-dollar premium cigar; but, if you are in a hurry (and who isn’t?) check out our machine-made cigars page for some awesome deals.

Today you can get RYO tobacco in just about any flavor imaginable

From all the “berry flavors” (blueberry, strawberry, etc.) and a ton of flavors that are liquor influenced. RYO tobacco flavors are no longer tied to the “old school” mentality of just offering a few flavors – exotic flavoring is the order of the day today.

Read several blog posts (linked here) on how to create your one-of-a-kind RYO tobacco in your kitchen. No need to be tied to what RYO tobacco manufacturers think you want to taste; your tobacco tastes can be as varied as you want them to be.

Cuban tobacco for cigars is the ultimate in flavor and quality

In the last 20-plus years since the embargo cigar manufacturers have been growing great tobacco in a ton of countries around the world: the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Asia (multiple countries), and even here in the U.S. Now that the embargo has been lifted expect to have a lot more options for Cuban tobacco – but it’s old school thinking to use Cuban tobacco as the gold standard for cigars.

Thinking pipe tobacco only has a shelf life of a few weeks

If you store your pipe tobacco properly and it’s good quality and shipped to you in a container that’s airtight your pipe tobacco can last for a couple of months, assuming you also store it in a cool dry place and you reseal your package after every use. Yes, lower-quality tobacco sourced in your local convenience store may not last as long.

But, that’s a reflection of the overall quality of the product and possibly how it was sourced and stored during the manufacturing process.

Lighting a cigar with a match is never a good thing

You are inhaling the fumes from the match through your cigar and the tobacco can absorb some of the sulfur that is always part of lighting a match. You can get a great butane lighter for under twenty bucks and this is how you should light a premium cigar. Always use a lighter, with butane being the preferred fuel.

A small plug for us here at Windy City Cigars. In the last ten-plus years, we’ve helped thousands of consumers make RYO tobacco and cigar purchases. You’ll find our staff knowledgeable about any/all topics relating to cigars and BTW here in the office in Chicago, we typically have a premium cigar in hand as we work.

We are all tobacco enthusiasts ourselves and we use the products we are recommending we test a lot of them here in the office before we sell them!

Learn more:

Video Reviews of Eight Fine RYO Tobacco and Cigar Products