First, and you won't believe this, it has helped me cut back on cigarettes. I roll a high quality tobacco in one pack of my home made cigs, then a pack of light tobacco roll, then a pack of exotic tobacco, then a pack of my own special blend. Four packs generally takes me about 45 minutes to roll and I listen to radio in the garage while I'm working. These 4 packs will last me the week, easily. I used to smoke about a pack and a half a day, you do the math.
I would advise newcomers to the rolling game to follow the instructions in the kits and gradually you get the feel for the "perfect pack". It doesn't take much time. I prefer a tighter pack in my smokes, especially the exotic blend, and it is very satisfying.
Are they good? Well, a friend of mine at our lake cabin property and I were taking about my new hobby and he bummed a smoke, one of my full flavor blends, and he fell in love with it. We went back to his computer in the back of his little tavern on the lake and I got him to the website. So, he's hooked. I plan on seeing he and his wife next weekend (by that time he'll have his stuff) and we'll see how much he likes it.
Another plus: you run out of smokes while watching TV in the early AM. You don't jump in the truck and drive forever to buy a pack of smokes, you go to the garage and roll 5 or 6, or what ever it takes, sit back down and enjoy.
A high quality machine is expensive about 70/80 bucks the tobacco, depending on what you want and how much you want is very reasonable (I was surprised) and the tubes are very cheap, and very good quality. Now, think about 5, 6, 7, or 8 bucks a pack. At 8 bucks a pack you got the price of the machine back in 10 packs. Hey New Yorkers, you should be rolling your own ASAP.
Minnesota is about 4 buck a pack, I won't pay that! I get higher quality smokes for a small fraction of that, and I'm not feeding the anti smoking lobby.
I was sceptical until about 2 months ago, but I'm a believer now. The fact that I haven't purchased a pack of cigarettes in 2 months has made a difference as well. I enjoy a cigarette and the quality of commercial brands has gone to the dogs. My smokes are wonderful and exactly the flavor that I want. I can control that, and that's what a good cigarette is all about. Before long this will catch on and the quality of cigarettes will go up, just like micro-breweries increased the quality of beer. This is a strange time for all of these vices but once the government says you can't do something, or it pushes you to stop doing something legal Americans say, "Ok I'll do it myself and I won't tell you what I'm doing because, and remember this...IT'S NONE OF YOUR DAMNED BUSINESS"!
What machine do you recommend. What tobacco?