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Welcome to the RYO Information website
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RYO Info Home |
RYO Tobacco Brands |
Online RYO Shops |
Links Too
(First time visitors please read the short page descriptions
below before using the above links, Thanks!)
NEWS: The
RYO Revolution Forums are now open! (1/24/08)
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Acronym Definitions & Terminology Used Here:
RYO =
Roll Your Own (Cigarettes)
You probably had an instantly appearing mental image when you read 'Roll Your Own' and most
likely everyone saw something different. Maybe a personal experience from your past when you
rolled up a smoke (cigar, cigarette, or some herbal mix) out of curiosity or on a dare. Perhaps you
had a relative who you can see vividly in your mind twisting one up, or maybe you know
someone who still rolls their own, or remember a scene from an old western movie or TV show.
Rolled Tobacco is believed to have existed for several thousand years, (pipes have been carbon
dated to 9,000 years old). Natives in North, South, and Central America crushed tobacco leaves and
rolled them into tubes inside inner corn-husks (maize) or palm leaves. The first cigarettes date
back to the early 1600's when street beggars in Seville, Spain would collect cigar scraps and roll
them up in paper. Today there are hundreds of brands of cigarette paper which are used for rolling
cigarettes by hand or with the assistance of a roll-box (usually without a filter), and rolled
cigarettes are usually thinner than factory made cigarettes, and have bits of tobacco sticking out
of one or both ends. Most manufacturers and distributors of Fine-Cut, Loose, or Shag Tobacco for
use in cigarettes (as opposed to pipes) refer to their tobaccos as Rolling Tobacco.
Relatively new techniques of stuffing a filtered cigarette tube with a 'cigarette making',
'injecting', or 'tube filling' machine are often differentiated from the broader RYO category by
using new acronyms like SYO, MYO and CMC (see below). I personally feel that the distinction is
unnecessary for the most part, and tends to confuse people who might be interested in alternatives
to the Tailor Made (TM) (aka Factory Made Cigarettes, FMC) they are now smoking.
So, I will also be using the RYO acronym throughout this website in it's broad, generic sense,
even though for the most part what I'll be referring to specifically is to MYO (Make Your Own) CMC
(Custom Made Cigarettes) using the SYO (Stuff Your Own) method. ;) Yes I'm aware of the fact that
no Rolling is involved, so RYO is a bit of a misnomer for what I'm talking about. I'm also aware of
the social stigma associated with RYO, (see the Rant below for more on that). I can't think of another business segment
so desperate for a new acronym, if you think of one be sure to let me know, in the meantime I'm
gonna stick with RYO.
SYO =
Stuff Your Own (Cigarettes)
The use of a device (hand held, crank-style or electric machine) to push (fill/inject/stuff) a
formed (compressed) rod/cylinder of tobacco into a pre-made filtered cigarette tube (usually formed
around a filter and the same length as a King Size cigarette but slightly larger in diameter). The
tubes actually look like factory made cigarettes that the factory forgot to put tobacco into. Once
they are Stuffed with tobacco a casual observer would likely believe them to be factory made.
Apparently Mark Ryan of D & R Tobacco Top 10 Online RYO Shops came up with the SYO acronym when
he first started selling tobacco in 1992, he even had T-shirts printed up which said "Stuff It".
But the acronym didn't really catch on and was eventually replaced with MYO.
MYO = Make Your Own (Cigarettes)
Making cigarettes by either rolling or stuffing, however since RYO is widely understood to mean
Rolling, the MYO acronym usually specifically means Stuffing.
CMC =
Custom Made Cigarettes
Since MYO, like SYO never really caught on, CMC is the latest acronym being used to describe
filling a cigarette tube with tobacco. However I'm guessing it will have the same problem catching
on as MYO has, because it's still to generic to really define the segment. Seems to me Custom Made
Cigarettes would include both hand-rolled and stuffed tube cigarettes by definition.
MSA =
Tobacco Master
Settlement Agreement
The November 1998 legal settlement between the four major tobacco manufacturers (Phillip Morris,
RJReynolds, Brown & Williamson, and Lorillard), and 46 states plus the District of Columbia,
and five US Territories. The other 4 states (Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and Mississippi) had
previously settled with the manufacturers. The agreement enumerated prohibitions and other
restrictions on the marketing and advertising of their tobacco products and set-up a system to
compensate the States for costs associated with health care problems attributable to the use of
the companies tobacco products.
OTP =
Other Tobacco Products
Term used by government agencies and industry analysts to classify all tobacco products that aren't
cigarettes.
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Website Pages:
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RYO - Reminder
I use the RYO acronym throughout the website, but I don't mean Rolling per se. Like many
manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and government agencies I'm using RYO as a broad,
generic term meaning Making Your Own Custom Cigarettes both by physically rolling and by
using a device to inject or stuff filtered cigarette tubes with rolling tobacco.
The Master List of RYO Tobacco
Brands - Over 150 (MSA Compliant) RYO Tobacco Brands by 36 Manufacturers;
Hundreds of hours over many weeks were devoted to compiling this list of every MSA Compliant
RYO Tobacco Brand, and all known varieties of each brand currently available in the U.S..
The Brands are listed alphabetically by Manufacturer, with addresses, toll-free phone numbers,
and direct links to their website if available. The List has been cross-checked with over two-dozen
separate state MSA Compliant directories and is updated on a monthly basis.
Note: The latest updated list can be found on the new website ryoRevolution.com
I originally started work on The List for my own reference but when it was announced around
Christmas that the forums at StuffYourOwn.com would be closed to user comments, I decided it was time to make
my List available to the RYO/MYO/SYO user community and build a website around it. Of course by the
time I found a host and edited and got the content online, Dave L. (owner and webmaster of
StuffingYourOwn.com) had second thoughts and came up with what sounds like a perfectly workable
plan to continue the development of both his informational website and separate user driven forums.
Nevertheless, I've started down this path and fully intend to continue development of this site
especially if the RYO user community deems it to be a worthwhile endeavor (more below...).
Online RYO Shops -
External Links Page One of Two;
Contains Links to the Top 10 Online RYO Shops, More Online RYO Shops (in progress), Special Links
(RYO Forums & Pro-Tobacco websites), Tobacco Seed & Growing websites, RYO & Tobacco
Industry Magazines, and News & Information Links. These websites should keep anyone with an
interest in RYO or tobacco busy for weeks.
Links Page Two -
External Links Page One of Two;
Contains Links to Native American (tax-free) Smoke Shops, Overseas Smoke Shops, Cigars & Pipes
Specialists, Medical Information sites of interest to smokers and Anti-Smoking Campaign websites
(know thy enemy).
This page and the pages linked above represent the full extent of the content of this site at this
time. I intend to maintain and update the online version RYO Tobacco Brands Master List, and
continue development of this website, in hopes of making it a complete informational resource for
the RYO community. I also hope to introduce more smokers to the advantages of Making their Own
Custom Cigarettes and grow the RYO user community. I'm currently in the process of testing a forum
with the intent of eventually becoming another RYO community hub, just in case things don't work
out with Dave L's new MYO forum.
With that said I need to make the following clear so that my intent doesn't become misconstrued. I
have complete respect for everything that Dave has done with his SYO site, in fact I'm deeply
indebted to him for the time that he has invested in his site and the knowledge and insight that
I've gained from the huge archive of information that he has amassed over the years. But I've only
found one other public forum related to RYO, and that was added as an afterthought offshoot to a
pro-smoking political activist website. Also, RYOMagazine seems to be the only website besides
StuffingYourOwn.com which is specifically focused on RYO, and while I find Doug K's reviews of
tobacco, tubes, machines and accessories informative, at times it seems less than objective.
Surely another informational RYO website can't be seen as anything other than a 'good thing',
especially if it promotes the free-exchange of user opinions, experiences, tips and tricks of
experienced RYO enthusiasts and newcomers alike.
OFF SITE NEWS: The New RYO Revolution Forums are now open to the RYO Community. (1/24/08)
I hope you'll join me there to discuss all things RYO related.
<Rant On>
Frankly I'm puzzled by the lack of non-commercial websites about RYO/MYO cigarettes. When
you consider that approximately 21% of U.S. residents smoke, there must be millions of smokers who
either are, or could become, interested in the benefits of RYO and the choices which are available
today, if they knew about them.
I don't think there is an intelligent adult in this country, or perhaps the world who hasn't been
inundated with the health impact and long-term ramifications that smoking factory made cigarettes
has on the human body, and yet Millions of cigarettes are consumed every day, either by choice or
by habit. It's my firm belief that if more Americans were aware of the ease of switching to RYO
cigarettes, not only for the considerable cost-savings but also for the higher quality
tobacco and the satisfaction that comes from gaining some control over what they are smoking,
there would be a mass changeover to RYO that would rival the switch from non-filtered to filter-tip
cigarettes in the 1960's. Over 50% of the Smokers in New Zealand and Thailand have embraced RYO, in
the U.K. sales of rolling tobacco increased 150% last year!
It's past time to abolish the stigma in the U.S. of RYO cigarettes as the last refuge of
the homeless, witless, and prison population.
I'd be willing to bet that if any RYO enthusiast gave an in-person demonstration to 10 smokers,
showing the variety and quality of premium rolling tobaccos and then showed the variety of King
Size (84mm long) and 100mm full-flavor or light filtered tubes that exist today, then demonstrated
the ease with which they can produce quality cigarettes with minimal effort and time investment,
the majority would switch to RYO on the spot.
People just need to be made aware that an alternative to smoking factory processed reconstituted
tobacco products made with expanded stems and stalks and hundreds of chemical compounds and
flavorings added to hide it's true nature exists, with the benefits of significant cash savings and
reduced chemical consumption. It seems to me that the only losers in the equation would be the big
tobacco companies and the states who have become reliant on their oppressive cigarette taxes.
When you consider the number of hobbyist and enthusiast websites and blogs about nearly any
activity you can imagine, and contrast that with the lack of information presently available to
cigarette smokers about the available alternatives to FMC, the mind boggles. Oh sure you can find
tons of online tobacco related resources created by Big Tobacco Companies (who pretend they want
you to quit smoking because they have to, it's part of the MSA) and Anti-Smoking lobbyist groups
have dozens of websites (they are primarily funded by big Pharma, I'm sure they really want you to
TRY to quit -- until their funding dries up -- what they really want you to do is try their
stop-smoking patches, pills, gums and other garbage). About the only other tobacco related websites
and discussion groups are either agricultural, historical, or industry development related. Finally
there are the RYO tobacco, paper, tube and accessory manufacturers, distributors and retailers (who
just want to make a sale, but don't seem to have much of a marketing budget and haven't been
aggressively targeting the average cigarette smoker to switch to RYO).
The only explanation I can come up with is that smokers in the U.S. as a whole have been so
brain-washed by the anti-smoking propaganda that they feel guilty about smoking and no longer take
any pleasure in it, or have any interest in discussing it publicly, for fear of being further
outcast and ridiculed. Smokers are being treated as 'second-class citizens' even though in most
states we are burdened with 'sin taxes' that add up to Billions of Dollars in revenue per year.
<Rant Off>
Contrary to what you might think after reading the paragraphs above, I have no interest or desire
in turning this site into a political activists mouthpiece, and I don't anticipate ever getting on
my soapbox again, nor will I become a shill for somebodies overpriced smoking device or
stop-smoking doodad. I also want to make perfectly clear that I don't necessarily advocate smoking,
those who don't smoke shouldn't start, and those who do smoke need to make every consideration to
not pollute the air of non-smokers they work, socialize, or live with.
This site is primarily here to make The Master List of RYO Tobacco Brands
available to anyone interested in RYO. Everything else is secondary until I'm able to bring the
forums online. As of Jan 24, 2008 the New RYO Revolution Forums are open to the RYO Community.
I hope you'll join me there to discuss all things RYO related.
Please note that these pages are still under development and the content is changing daily. If
you find Any Errors (factual, grammatical, spelling) or any design issues, non-working links, or
have a criticism, or comment you'd like to share. Please Contact Me at the address listed below, or
post your comments in the new forum. Thanks!
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