Ok. I've looked at too many pics and read too many post. I'm ready to get my feet a little wet. Was looking around and found that on Leaf Only. They have a Starter Kit. Is this a good place to start? I know my first few are going to look pretty horrible. I don't want to waste a lot of money practicing.
Place to start
- Thread starter TheFlask
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Abort now.
I'm not not f'ing kidding. You're going to get a lot of "helpful" BS advice about kits now.
But it's TOTAL BS. This is not a cheap hobby to get into. Especially if you follow the kits trap. When you start following ostensibly well-meant but ill-advised advice that you're going to get by the ton now. Cut your losses and walk away and smile and give thanks to the sky you got out early.
The kits are the starting grounds because they allow you to buy a small amount of tobacco to roll into cylinders and set fire to. It helps to get the feel for the leaf and process but just scratches the surface. With any hobby, if you go into it with the idea of saving money, you are going to be disappointed. Sure, you can buy a starter kit for cheap. Next you will want a proper rolling surface, a chaveta, molds (one will never be enough if you really get into it). Then there is the art of blending. Finding the leaf you like and making it play nice with friends. I am passionate about rolling cigars and it has taken my enjoyment of them to a whole new level, but I don't even want to add up the hours I have spent practicing and failing or the amount I have spent on leaf and tools. It's a wonderful hobby, but it is difficult and it will suck all of your time and free money. I was rolling almost a year before things started to really click and come together aesthetically and there is still lots of room for improvement. Make sure you have the time to invest and the willpower to keep trying when everything you do seems to go wrong.
Don't listen to these bullshitters Flask. The second best enjoyment you will ever get from a cigar is rolling it. The first best is giving it away. Smoking them is fine and dandy; but getting your hands on leaves and a snootful of their aroma ... that's da bom.
Dunno bout LO kits. You can score a WLT kit for thirty bucks complete with glue. All you need is a $12 ulu from the kitchen store and a piece off a wide board, and you're in business. The rest you don't need unless you go off the deep end like bliss man there.
Send me an addy I'll shoot you a kit.
Dunno bout LO kits. You can score a WLT kit for thirty bucks complete with glue. All you need is a $12 ulu from the kitchen store and a piece off a wide board, and you're in business. The rest you don't need unless you go off the deep end like bliss man there.
Send me an addy I'll shoot you a kit.
A kit might do the trick. The waste part may be unavoidable to some degree depending on your perceptions. You will have to try. You may be a natural. For me, something happened when I got leaf in my hands. You may want to try gauging your interest by applying some wrappers to some of those sticks from the devils site first.
I don't know what you budget for cigars right now but I just pulled the leaf money from the stogie budget. This means I've not ordered any commercial sticks this month but I'm ok with that. The rolling of my own has been fun, the experimenting with casing, blending, wrapping has been fun, and the smoking of my own is fun too. It all depends on what you will enjoy. Good luck and have fun,
Jim
Jim
Thanks guys. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. Really only want to buy the kit to have a little tobacco and glue to get the feel of it in my hands. I know that if I like it I'll end up spending quite a bit. Also know that it's better to come here for technique and blend. It's great to be able to talk to people that have been there and done that versus wondering if they are just trying to sale me something.
I started with a 2lb kit from LO. For glue, I'm using arabica gum from the grocery store. $12 seems like it'll be a lifetime supply! I don't have a chaveta (a buddy is making one for me) so I've been using a pocket knife. No added cost there. Our cutting boards are too small for this so I bought a plank, cut into thirds, glued it together and now have a maple cutting board for less than $20. I've used newspaper strip for molds while figuring out whether or not this is something I'll keep doing. You don't have to spend a bunch to try it out....
Eggs Ackley.
I've never found gum arabic in the grocery. What aisle is that in?
"Defined as a cold water-soluble polysaccharide, gum arabic is a multi-functional hydrocolloid that features a highly branched arabino-galactan-protein complex."
Say what?
I have been rolling for about 2 years now, I have not bought any sticks in about 6 or so months and on average I smoke 3 a day. I have bought a lot of leaf but no specialist tools, I use a pizza cutter and a pair of scissors (that I nicked out my 1st aid kit at work!) and use news papers for moulding the bunches.for the 1st year I didn't even bother wrapping them.
I must admit that financial benefit is a good incentive, I can't get machine rolled crap for less than about $5 each here and those are for panatela type smokes. But as I have improved, (with huge help from guys on here and bliss) I have noticed that I have become extremely critical of my home rolls and spend ages trying to get everything right. When I started my cigars, were very crude looking but smoked ok, now like others I try and improve things all the time.
There is a feeling like no other when I take one of my own out the box and look, smell, taste and feel it, criticising every aspect of it, lighting it and thinking damn I am getting good! Its not an ego thing, I don't brag to any one about it. When they have come out really good I don't even want to light them up, I do though when life gets in the way of my hobbies and my stock runs low!
Have a go, but be warned its way more addictive than actually smoking the stuff!
I must admit that financial benefit is a good incentive, I can't get machine rolled crap for less than about $5 each here and those are for panatela type smokes. But as I have improved, (with huge help from guys on here and bliss) I have noticed that I have become extremely critical of my home rolls and spend ages trying to get everything right. When I started my cigars, were very crude looking but smoked ok, now like others I try and improve things all the time.
There is a feeling like no other when I take one of my own out the box and look, smell, taste and feel it, criticising every aspect of it, lighting it and thinking damn I am getting good! Its not an ego thing, I don't brag to any one about it. When they have come out really good I don't even want to light them up, I do though when life gets in the way of my hobbies and my stock runs low!
Have a go, but be warned its way more addictive than actually smoking the stuff!
- Joined
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I guess The one and only advantage to living in the great white north is that even with outrageous shipping costs It still likely works out to be cheaper to roll my own.The duties for retail cigars here are so friggin unreal it makes my butthole pucker just thinking about it.
- Joined
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Trust me if you saw it you,d never be the same.
That will work, but a little goes a long way and you want to only make as much as you can use in a day or two. I suggest ordering the gum Arabic or Tragancanth as soon as you can though because it does work way better and doesn't spoil