Cigarette Cases from Improvised to Extravagant are Practical Necessities for MYO and RYO Smokers

The use of cigarette cases is not very common amongst those who smoke ready made cigarettes, perhaps in part because it is time consuming to remove smokes from a perfectly serviceable package in order to put them into a case.  When they are used, it is often due to utility (to keep cigarettes from being crushed in certain environments), convenience (many cases are thinner and more convenient to carry than cigarette pack), vanity (cases range from simple to flamboyant), and perhaps even discretion in an intolerant society that is ever hostile towards the use of tobacco.

Riverside Mellow Pipe Tobacco is Good and Attractively Priced

Several cigarette manufacturers market attractively priced tobaccos suitable for roll your own (RYO) and make your own (MYO) applications. S&M Brands of Keysville, Va., producer of Bailey's cigarettes, is no exception. This company also makes the affordable, Riverside brand of cigarettes and offers pipe cut tobacco under this label. Locally, it is available for $5.49 for a six ounce bag and $9.99 for a one pound bag; a current promotion provides instantly redeemable coupons for $.50 off of the smaller bag and $1.00 off of the larger bag.

The Top-O-Matic T2 Tabletop Cigarette Injector: A Great Machine at an Exceptional Price

Back in 2009, due to both the bleak economy and draconian excises, I started making my own cigarettes. Initially, I injected tubes with a Premier Supermatic Twin hand held injector with varying results that were at best less satisfactory than factory made cigarettes. It was not long before I found that a roller provided me better cigarettes and, with the exception of a brief and equally dismal affair with another hand held inector from Gambler, I continued to laboriously roll my own-- until last week.

Kentucky Select Tobacco

Over the past few weeks, I've been rolling cigarettes from Kentucky Select Green Cigarette Tobacco (a menthol tobacco) and Kentucky Select Pipe Tobacco. Kentucky Select is made by U.S Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers, Inc. which is owned by the U.S. Tobacco Cooperative, Inc., a cooperative of tobacco farmers from Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida that was founded in 1946.

U.S Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers, Inc. produces 1839 Cigarettes (the winner of the 2008 Golden Leaf Award for Most Promising Product Introduction) and loose, roll your own (RYO) tobaccos in the 1839 and Kentucky Select product families. 1839 cigarette tubes are also available for make your own (MYO) applications (RYO refers to rolling cigarettes either by hand or with a roller while MYO refers to "stuffing" ready made, typically filtered, cigarette tubes with an injector).

Upon first examining the Kentucky Select Green and Pipe tobaccos, I noticed that each bag was labeled to proclaim: "You get more flavor, more tobacco taste, more quality, and much more for your money." With the cigarette tobacco priced at $15.99 (despite the draconian excises) and the pipe tobacco priced at $6.99 for six ounce bags, I was eager to try both products to see if they fulfilled this promise.

After rolling and smoking several packs of each, I noticed that neither tobacco had an over abundance of stems as I have discovered with other lower cost products. The Pipe Tobacco makes a smooth, mild cigarette that is almost too mild for my taste. The Green Cigarette Tobacco is satisfying but I find the menthol taste quite substantial; I would probably enjoy it more if I regularly smoked menthol cigarettes. Overall, I believe that Kentucky Select delivers upon the promise on the label and I find it to be a very good value.