Review: Premier Supermatic II Cigarette Injector
Published by Joel March 13th, 2007 in Gadgets, Smoking. Share This
Smoking is a very bad habit and one I enjoy immensely. In an effort to mitigate the expense ($8-a-pack prices in New York are brutal) I bought a “Premier Supermatic II,” an automatic cigarette making machine. A step down from the top-end “Supermatic,” the primary difference is an open-bottom design (the Supermatic has an all-rubber pad), a plastic case instead of a metal one, and the ability to only make “King Size” cigarettes. Since I only ever smoke King Size, which are the default size of American cigarettes, I figured I’d save a few bucks and settle for the Supermatic II.
The Supermatic isn’t a cigarette rolling machine but instead an “injector.” Fill its tobacco hopper, mount a “slug” (an empty paper tube with a filter inside; a cigarette without the tobacco), and turn the crank. The first part of the turn compresses the tobacco and snips off any errant bits, while the follow through shoves the tobacco into the tube. The machine also has a rubber nub that grabs the tip of the slug to prevent it from being dislodged when the tobacco, guided by a serrated ovipositor, is injected inside with a spring-loaded clang.
It took a little practice to figure out the right amount of tobacco to put into the hopper and how much to tamp it down—too much and the cigarette is too tight to draw smoke through; too little and it won’t pack back to the filter, which makes for a fragile cigarette—but now I can crank out eight to fill my cigarette case in ten minutes or less. And if you ignore the little tuft of loose tobacco at the end (which can be snipped off with scissors if you like), they look, smoke, and taste just like store-bought American Spirits. (I am using a tin of American Spirit tobacco to load them.)
You can’t beat the price. (Even if you count in the cost to society of my eventual lung cancer.) The machine was $35. A thousand empty tubes—five cartons worth—were $12. And the tobacco, which I’m guessing will make about two-thirds or more of a carton’s worth of cigarettes, was $18. Price aside, I’m looking forward to blending my own tobaccos to fully explore what this carcinogen has to offer before I give it up entirely.
I purchased my Supermatic II at RYO Tobacco, who were not very helpful when I asked if they had any suggestions for tobaccos for a novice at blending.
$8 A PACK!?! Holy crap, that’s insane. The prices here have gone up from about $1.50 a pack when I was 18 or so to about $4.50 for a pack of name-brand cigs. I only smoke occasionally, but $8 a pack would be enough to keep me from even doing that.
i need one
Should have saved this for Addiction Week. Those things will kill you…
Or Money Week as 2 pack x $5.00 x 40 years = $20,000. There just might be some better way to spend 20 grand…
Or Investment Week, as that $10/week over 40 years at only 5% would be worth $61,261…
But Easter’s on it’s way so it would best fit in Dumb Bunny Week.
Eight bucks is damn harsh. I just quit last week because spending six and a quarter a pack across the river here in Jersey was starting to make me nauseous.
my roomate had 2, both broke within first 6 months. the tip breaks off and is impossible to reattach
Yeah, yeah. That all applies to my boozing, the rockclimbing, my libertarian fetish and the bibliophilia. To bad there isn’t a busybody out there to make derisive comments about those habits.
yeah the ciggys do seem to continue to rise in price, here in sydney they’ve doubled in price since i started in ‘94. my mates dad had the same (type of) machine & has been using it for years
Get a “conveyor belt” style hand roller, about 2 bucks. A bag of 200 filters is 2 bucks, too. The only thing it doesn’t do it trim the fuzzy end of the tobacco for you. Just as easy, cheaper, and totally mobile.
I’ve been making my own ciggies since I first heard about it when dethroner had a smoking theme, I use a rizla gun-cocking style injector, I’m hoping to upgrade to a supermatic pretty soon. I went looking online for recommendations for tobacco blends and found http://www.ryomagazine.com to be very helpful in figuring out what blends I would like. They turned me on to Peter Sokkeybe’s London Export blend which is my favorite so far. Another good store I’ve found is http://www.cigarettetobacco.com, they carry a lot of the blends featured in the mag. I can’t speak for their customer service ’cause I haven’t actually ordered anything from them yet - I’ve got to finish off my tin of export first - but the site seems fairly well laid out and they have a pretty helpful ‘helpful tips’ section.
I wanna see pics of the cigarettes…
Here’s a photo…
Cigarette injection results
Randy,
342,000 Americans die every year from lung disease (about half of those from lung cancer).
It’s a major preventable burden on the nation’s health care system that everyone has to pay for.
You are welcome to buy your books, go rockclimbing, and drink (but not drive), and Joel is welcome to continue biting his fingernails, but smoking effects everyone and should not be encouraged.
I’ve got a right to be pissed off because my health insurance has over doubled in the last 5 years, I have to clean up cigarette butts that are left in front of my home, and for years could not enjoy a bar or restaurant without coming out smelling like an ash tray.
Anyway, it’s “Spring Fashion” week, so how do you get that smell out of your clothes?
FagMachines are for super saddos, your hands are perfectly capable of rolling perfectly cylindrical smokes inc filters.. did you never learn how to make a spliff.. a cigarette is the same only smaller :-)
Eight dollars brutal? Cigarettes in Australia are 12-13 dollars for 25’s
Randy said, “Yeah, yeah. That all applies to my boozing, the rockclimbing, my libertarian fetish and the bibliophilia. To bad there isn’t a busybody out there to make derisive comments about those habits.”
Well Randy, since you asked…
Boozing? Slow motion legal suicide. Kills brain cells and turns your liver into New Jersey, ie a toxic waste dump.
Rock climbing? If you had only misspelled that as roc climbing I could pretend you were climbing on top of mythical birds, and then I’d know either your boozing had gone way too far or you were partaking of other illegal intoxicants.
Libertarian Fetish? Oh so you enjoy futile unrealistic and childish political viewpoints! Once again, we’ll tie this into your boozing habits. You must have destroyed too many brain cells to enjoy a good polictal viewpoint.
Bibliophilia. For pete’s sake Randy! Books are for reading, not fucking! Now you could combine all your habits and make a giant pile of libertarians and books and climb it drunk. That’d at least be interesting.
If you are going to roll you own you may as well grow your own..
The standard American diet causes strokes, heart attacks and digestive tract and other cancers…pretty much the same diseases as smoking. You might want to look into that before you start preaching about preventable burdens on the health care system.
How about a pack of Chewlies gum?
only thing more annoying than smoking? a rabid anti-smoker.
O.K. we can include the rabbit anti-smoker in Dumb Bunny Week too.
For those who want to join him here’s some helpful advice from the Dethroner tomb:
Smoking Cessation: Tips From a Quitter
And Bridgitte, as this is a web site for the “imperfect man”, welcome, but don’t tell the guys to pipe down.
Wow. You’re reading comprehension sucks. I didn’t tell anybody to pipe down, I merely suggested that you look into what else is a drain on the health care system before you bash people for smoking.
And I’m really, really sorry for being a girl. Thanks for putting me in my place :)
Apparently, my spelling also sucks, but…
nos*mo*king, please go troll elsewhere.
And good job getting shut out by a female on a for-males site.
Topic is smoking so “pipe down” is a bad pun.
Guys like bad puns.
You basically said “Don’t preach”, sounds like “pipe down” to me.
Busy Body said, “Libertarian Fetish? Oh so you enjoy futile unrealistic and childish political viewpoints!”
I advise familiarizing yourself with libertarianism before making comments like this. You sound like an ignorant boob.
joel, i’ve always been interested in a rolling device because of the ease and speed.. but rolled my own spirits instead. if if takes a minute per using the machine, that seems to be without advantage and the pride of doing it oneself. i’m jealous of the new gadget nevertheless
I know 8 bucks seems a lot but its about £5.80 for a 20 deck in england and in pubs around about £6.00 for 16 ciggarettes !!!!! thats about $12 !!!!! ridiculous
Oh, he said Libertarian; that’s not so bad.
I thought he said Librarian fetish; that’ll kill you so fast as hell….
The problem with a free country, is some people will make bad choices. I do not think it’s anyones business, how I live (or die). And no, I am not costing any of you money, I promise I pay more than my share of taxes and insurance premiums. I support all kinds of drunks and druggies too bty.
If there was a hermetically sealed building in the middle of the desert, where only smokers went, there would still be plenty of people wanting it shut down. Not because of second hand smoke, just because, my personal choices, offend them.
What do you people want me to die from ? OLD AGE?
There is a way to get people to pay only for exactly what they cost society, it is called no insurance for anyone. Sounds like a crappy idea. I do pay a higher premium from rock climbing accidents, drug overdoses, motorcycle wrecks etc. ad infinitum, and so do you, but the idea of telling all these people how to live is disgustingly anti American.
Just think you’re all lucky. We pay $40+ for American Standard here in NZ (and thats when Sante FE will supply it). Gotta keep teh politicians happy.
Muriel Sweets Sweet ‘n Mild filtered cigars. 100mmL X 7mmDia.
20 to the pack.
Buy one pack, get one free (that’s the only way they’re sold.)
US$1.58 for the twin pack, which includes the 6% sales tax here in Lancaster PA. Seventy-nine-cents-a-pack!
Haven’t smoked anything but in about 5 years.
Alpaca Marble Red Boxes are about US$4.35
Ridiculous!
I had the same supermatic II for almost 6 years. I found it to be almost indestructable. It was finally laid to rest after a 3 week trip in europe where it was beat to hell on a daily basis in my bag which also took a good deal of abuse. When I got used to it I could roll a whole pack (20 cigs) in less than ten minutes. I can never keep that rate up with a hand packer and i’ve never been good at actually rolling them by hand. I even have to use a little roller to make a J. I did not have a problem with over/under packing because you are not supposed to tamp it down (maybe just a teeny bit with your fingers). the supermatic usually tends to compensate for putting too much in the hopper. Plus I highly recommned slightly moist tobacco (the dry stuff crumbles and will easily jam the thing). As mentioned in the original post, the first part of the crank motion actually packs down the hopper lengthwise and the trimmer cuts off the extra that is squeezed out (it doesn’t trim the tip off like some other poster thought). After my cig comes of the supermatic, i tamp it on the table about 3 times (I can tamp 2 cigs in each hand). There is a about 1/4 inch of empty space at the lighting end that I fold over, so the tobacco stays in the cig while they are in my case.
I also recommend the Stokkebye’s tobacco. It’s damp when you first open the can. I take a little out and let it dry a bit over night, but try to keep some moisture in it before I pack it. Any other tobacco can be moistened by adding a teaspoon of water (sometimes a tablespoon or 5 in the case of american spirit) to your can of tobacco. Don’t get it too wet or it will mold and stick to your can.
Here is my cost add up:
I get almost 3 cartons from a can of stokkebye’s
1 can of stokkebye danish export (I do like the london export too) @ $17.50
3 cartons of zig zag tubes (rizla tubes are nice too) @ $1.99 each
Comes to $.80 a pack
if i get 2.5 cartons from a can that’s $.90 a pack
Take that you taxing government bastards!
The smokes taste way better than anything i’ve bought in the store (aside from Nat Sherman’s). Plus the stokkebye is pure leaf (I see 1 birdseye in about every 3-4 cans) and has absolutely no additives or fillers. I cannot smoke a camel or marlboro any more, they taste like some kind of buring plastic. I like the zig zag and rizlas because they have very little flavor unlike the buglers, gamblers and other brands. Most of those taste like i rolled my cig with a paper grocery bag. As to tobacco, I honestly recommend staying away from the american spirit because it is so dry when you get it and trying to rehydrate it is a lot of work.
I guarentee that anyone the tries the varieties of stokkebye will find one that they like and will never smoke another tobacco again with any kind of pleasure. I would start with the danish or london exports becuase the other kinds get darker and harsher from there. Just like beer though, some like light some like dark. I also recommend looking online for good stokkebye deals, or asking your tobacconist to order some for you.
I have to say too that there is an extreme difference between cigars (filtered or not) and cigarettes Vincent. If I smoke a cigar i get tary lingering aftertaste, and I still want a cigarette. Its a bit a shock to most smokers to switch from cigarettes to cigars. I put cigars on the same level as cloves, nice once in a while, but if i smoke too many, it kills my tastebuds for about a week. Plus you are not supposed to inhale a good cigar, so putting a filter on one is a little silly. It’s about quality really, I pack to save money, but I also get a much better smoke that anything else in the world of cigarettes. Filtered cigars are not exactly the the creme of the crop of cigars and you still pay way more than I.
I agree, with miller, who are you anti smokers to tell me how to live or die. As soon as everyone else stops running automobile and using electricity I will give up smoking. I would say my car and coal fired generated put off way more contaminants and pollutants than my 10 cigaretts a day.
Sorry for my long rant, but i really love my tobacco and i love my supermatic. It took me years to figure most of this stuff out, so hopefully it helps someone else out.
Try smokersoutletonline.com for good prices on golden harvest tobacco great taste. $11.95 a pound very quick standard shipping.