
1. Powermatic 2
Best Overall Cigarette Rolling Machine
5/5 Product Rating
You’ll most likely find this particular unit useful if you care more about rolling your day’s cigarettes as quick as possible and aren’t to concerned with customizing your cigarettes. Still, you’ll be able to choose from a couple of compatible cigarette sizes simply by being selective in the tubes you buy. Because the ring gauge is set in stone, you’ll be able to choose between king size cigarettes and 100s, being that both sizes use the same ring gauge and only vary in length. If you’re looking for a more heavy-duty piece of equipment to fill up your pack quickly and efficiently, the Powermatic 2 is likely the cigarette rolling machine for you.
– Sarah Lytle
2. Top-O-Matic
Best Overall Cigarette Rolling Machine – Runner Up
4.7/5 Product Rating
Once again, this particular rolling machine allows you to choose between rolling king size cigarettes or 100s. To rotate between the two, all you have to do is use different tubes. Because the ring gauge can’t be changed, regular cigarettes won’t be an option. However, the Top-O-Matic’s included warranty should more than make up for this issue.
– Sarah Lytle
3. Powermatic
4.5/5 Product Rating
Once again, you’ll be able to choose between king size and 100 cigarettes. You’ll also be entitled to a one-year manufacturer’s warranty, giving you some degree of guaranteed longevity and consumer protection. Considering that the unit costs under fifty dollars, a one-year warranty seems like more than enough in relation to the product’s value.
– Sarah Lytle
Cigarette Rolling Machine Buying Guide
What is a Cigarette Rolling Machine?
While there is truly no escaping today’s extremely high tobacco taxes, there are certain methods of damage control you may choose to undertake. One of such methods is the rolling of your own cigarettes. Depending on where you live, you may find rolling tobacco to be cheaper than cigarettes on a gram-by-gram basis due to a different taxing scheme being imposed on them.
While this all sounds great, you may find yourself having a bit of difficulty getting a decent cigarette at first, let alone one which resembles the Pall Malls you’ve been smoking for all of these years. This is especially true if you’ve been rolling your cigarettes by hand with nothing more than a pouch of tobacco and a pack of Zig Zags. For this reason, getting the perfect cigarette rolling machine can make your transition from tailor-made to homemade cigarettes a whole lot easier. This is, of coarse, assuming you get the right cigarette rolling machine in the first place.
Perhaps you’re still not quite sure which cigarette rolling machine is best for you? Or maybe you’d like to branch out from the above list and take shopping into your own hands? You’ll find doing so a breeze, so long as you keep the following considerations in mind.
How Much Do You Smoke?
If you smoke two packs a day, you’ll likely want to opt for a rolling machine which puts a large emphasis on efficiency. Nothing will drive you back to store-bought cigarettes like having to sit down for an hour every day just to fill up your pack.
What else will you be smoking?
While this may not apply to everyone, if you fancy the occasional cigar or cigarillo, there are actually machines which will be able to roll those as well as cigarettes, though they may require more work to use.
What is your preferred smoke?
If you prefer unfiltered cigarettes or only want to smoke those of a certain size, the perfect cigarette rolling machine for you is out there, though you may have to look around for it for a while. Be sure to check what any given unit can roll before finalizing your purchase.
Types of Rolling Machines
To make the above information easier to use in practice, let’s look at a few different types of cigarette rolling machines and find out what each one can do for you.
- Injectors – The three rolling machines we covered above all fit into this category. While they may not give you much control over how your cigarettes turn out, they’re the most efficient.
- Thumb Rollers – Thumb rollers may take some time to master, though they give you more control over your cigarette. You’ll be able to experiment with different sizes and include filters at your own discretion. These can also be used with cigar wrapper leaves, making them great if you also enjoy cigarillos. Thumb rollers have the potential to either create the best or worst cigarette. They also take much longer to use.
- Glock-Style Injectors – Some injectors come with no handles and have you pull back on the top glock style. While these offer no benefit over handle-equipped injectors and can be harder to use, they generally come at a much lower price.
- Electronic Cigarette Rollers – These rollers are similar to injectors, though are powered electronically. These are what you might expect to find in a cigarette factory and are likely to produce the most consistent product every time. These are great if you don’t mind spending some serious money, though their cost-to-quality ratio isn’t nearly as high as standard injectors.
Common Machine Features
As you can see, each cigarette roller functions through a completely different means, making each type more suited to one type of person. There are; however, a few common features to look for which are sure to better your experience.
- A Large Chamber – “Chamber,” in this sense, is not an official term. It refers to the area of a roller where you place the tobacco. Outside of thumb rollers, bigger chambers are usually better as they’ll allow you to roll more cigarettes in a row without having to stop for a refill.
- A Tight Fit – You want your cigarette tubes to be able to stay secure as you fill them with tobacco. Otherwise, you may find they fall off when you try to roll a tighter cigarette. This can prove very frustrating and can make the entire process of rolling a good cigarette much harder.
- A “Normal” Size – This one only applies to thumb rollers. If you pick one of these up, take a look at its advertised length. Typically, you want something that resembles a particular cigarette size (regular, king size, etc.) so that you may buy a refillable pack which keeps your cigarettes secure without knocking them all over the place.
Conclusion
The most important takeaway here is that picking a cigarette rolling machine with the proper variables is extremely important if you’d like to get a cigarette which closely resembles the brand you already smoke. As if switching from Pall Mall to American Spirit or Marlborough wasn’t enough of a challenge, switching to cigarettes of a completely different size and feel can prove many more times challenging. Luckily, this is a problem which can easily be avoided by choosing the right cigarette rolling machine.
Before deciding upon your cigarette rolling machine of choice, it’s important to keep in mind exactly what features you need to keep your homemade smoking experience consistent with what you’ve grown used to. This makes the transition from store-bought cigarettes to homemade cigarettes much less painful. In fact, with the right rolling machine, rolling papers/tubes and tobacco, you may find making the switch to require no effort at all. Keeping all of the previously discussed factors in mind before making the switch once and for all will ensure things run as smoothly as possible.