What is a roll-your-own cigarette?
Commercial cigarettes are the most popular product for smoking. However, there’s another smoking product that can provide you with better benefits. A roll-your-own cigarette (RYO cigarette) is made by hand-rolling your own cigarette using loose tobacco. RYO cigarette is also known as roll-ups, burns and rolls, and rollies.
You can make your own RYO cigarette in many ways. First, you can use cigarette paper and tobacco and roll it to look like a cigarette. Second, you can use a rolling machine. A rolling machine lets you create an RYO cigarette that’s equally distributed in place and packed tightly. Third, you can buy a ready-made cigarette tube that you can fill directly with tobacco and smoke it. Some tubes have filters, and some don’t.
RYO cigarettes are still unhealthy although they have better advantages compared with commercial cigarettes. Just like commercial cigarettes, RYO cigarettes also expose you to the risk of having esophageal cancer, cancer of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, and lung cancer. Researchers also found that RYO cigarettes contain the following harmful chemicals:
- Tar
- Nicotine
- Carbon Monoxide
- TSNA
The good thing about RYO cigarettes is that it doesn’t contain as many harmful chemicals as commercial cigarettes do. Also, if you are a heavy smoker and you want to quit, you can use the RYO cigarette to gradually lessen the number of cigarettes you smoke each day until you finally stop your unhealthy vice.
In addition to these, here are the benefits of rolling your own cigarettes.
1. RYO Cigarettes Eliminate the Risk of Death After a Heart Attack
It’s surprising but true. There’s a study that shows that rollie smokers are less likely to be at risk of death after a heart attack. Furthermore, cigarette smokers who haven’t had heart attacks before are less likely to have dangerous heart attacks compared to non-smokers. There are some studies that also show that smokers respond to heart attack treatment more positively than non-smokers.
2. You Can Control the Amount of Tobacco You Smoke
Among the benefits of rolling your own cigarettes is you tend to smoke less compared to smoking commercial cigarettes. To use an RYO cigarette, you must exert an effort by placing loose tobacco on cigarette paper and rolling them in, unlike with a commercial cigarette where you just have to pull it out of the pack and light it up.
For this reason, rolling your own cigarette is time-consuming and inconvenient. To light another stick of rollie, you will have to stop for a while and prepare the next RYO cigarette to smoke.
As it was mentioned before, it can be used as a healthier alternative to RYO cigarettes. If you want to quit smoking but still can’t because your body has been addicted to it. You can use an RYO cigarette to gradually decrease the amount of tobacco you smoke until you finally stop yourself from smoking. However, self-control is still the best way to stop smoking.
3. Psychological Benefits of Rollies
For most people, the main reason why they smoke cigarettes, regardless of whether commercial or rollie, is to help them relax in a stressful situation. Also, some people smoke because cigarettes stimulate their brains. Nicotine, as an added chemical in an RYO cigarette, stimulates the brain to release dopamine.
Dopamine is a brain chemical that causes people to feel euphoric. This is the reason why cigarettes are addictive, and the reason why people feel happier for a short period of time when they smoke.
In addition to these, there are proven cases that people with schizophrenia who smoke tobacco have lesser episodes of attack. It also eliminates the disease’s impact. Furthermore, it indirectly reduces the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
4. You Know What You’re Smoking
Commercial cigarettes are manufactured and packaged so you do not know what other chemicals are included in it are. If you roll your own cigarette you already know which chemicals will go inside your body. Furthermore, you can customize your rollies even more by adding flavors to them.
5. RYO Cigarettes Help Lose Weight
If you notice, most people who smoke become slimmer. Tobacco can suppress our appetite. It causes people to diminish their desire to eat for a short period of time. Research has shown that tobacco is an effective way to combat obesity and eating disorders. However, the effect is just good for the weight and not for the overall wellness of the body.
6. Rollies are Cheaper
One of the best benefits of rolling your own cigarettes is its way cheaper than commercial cigarettes. If you’re going to compare the prices of the materials and ingredients used in making a rollie to commercial cigarettes, the total price is lower.
If you’re going to buy a branded commercial cigarette, it will cost you almost $30-$40 a week or $120-$160 a month. However, if you will roll your own cigarette, you will only need the following:
- a bag of tobacco worth $14,
- a pack of tubes or cigarette papers (100 sheets) worth $2
- a rolling machine worth $2 to $80 (optional)
With all these materials, expect to spend only $20 a week or $80 a month for roll-your-own cigarettes.
7. Eliminates the Risk of Having a Neurological Disease
Some studies have shown that long-term smokers are immune from neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease when compared to non-smokers and short-term smokers.
Cigarettes in any form are used to alleviate tension and stress at work or in any area of life. Some people smoke to stimulate their brains. Others smoke while studying or while they’re trying to calm themselves from a certain situation. RYO cigarettes may seem to have better benefits because it’s cheaper and a better alternative than commercial cigarettes.
However, even though cigarettes can give you a feeling of euphoria, you must be aware of the harmful effects of cigarettes in general. That feeling of happiness while smoking is just short-term. In the long run, your body will likely suffer from fatal diseases like tuberculosis and cancer.
