How to Hand Roll Your Own Cigarette

The price of cigarettes has skyrocketed in the last few years. One way to save money on this habit is to buy loose tobacco and rolling papers, and roll your own cigarettes. Here's how to do it.

Look at your rolling papers and realize that each of them has a crease down the middle. Looking at the inside of the crease you'll notice that one of the outer edges has a gummed strip on it. It's lick-and-stick glue.

Begin by putting a pinch of loose tobacco into the crease of your rolling paper. You'll hold the paper in front of you long-ways side-to-side with the V-shape facing upwards while you lay the tobacco in the crease. Loose tobacco comes in cans and boxes packed loosely. Depending on how big a pinch you take, it may just take one pinch to get enough onto your paper.

The bigger the pinch of tobacco you add the fatter your cigarette will be when it's finished. Fatter cigarettes can be harder to roll. So when you first begin learning to roll your own cigarettes, you'll probably want to go with just enough loose tobacco to sprinkle all the way from one end to the other of the crease.

Hold your rolling paper with the tobacco in the crease so that the open edge is up and the long-way is running side-to-side in front of you. Keep your middle fingers of each hand on the side of the V that is away from you, and your thumbs on the side that's closest to you. Your first finger on each hand will simply be there to stabilize so that you don't drop it. Holding your hands in this position, pinch the paper closed over the loose tobacco. Then rub your middle fingers and your thumbs up and down against each other to pack the tobacco tighter.

It should feel as though you're squishing down the loose tobacco tighter and tighter into that crease, so that it takes up less and less space. You'll roll it down to no more than half an inch in diameter.

Once you have the tobacco packed tightly at the bottom of the crease, you'll begin rolling the paper around the cigarette and back onto itself. The edge closest to you, (the one without any adhesive), is going to be tucked in. Then use your thumbs to roll what remains upwards, just short of the sticky gum line. It should roll up just like a roll of paper towels.

In order to keep your cigarette closed, you'll need to wet that gum strip and stick it down to seal the hand rolled cigarette. You can get a fancy closer similar to what secretaries use to seal letters, or you could just lick along the adhesive line. Most smokers I've seen just lick it. As soon as it's wet it'll turn sticky. Just lean it down and stick it to your cigarette and this will keep it from unrolling itself.

Be sure to let that gum strip dry a little bit before you light it, because it won't burn evenly if part of the cigarette is still wet from being licked.

The average price of a carton of cigarettes is approaching thirty dollars in many areas of the country. Enough loose tobacco and papers to roll your own cigarettes cost perhaps a third of that. Learning to roll your own cigarettes can be an extremely economical choice.

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