Roll your own
Roll your own (shag) is a pure natural product, that is manufactured exclusively from specially grown varieties of tobacco. The tobacco types are bought in several countries, the most important countries are Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Brazil, India, Indonesia, United States and, in Europe, France and Italy.

Several varieties of plants are processed with as a result a large variety of basic sorts of  tobacco. These can diverge from dark colours with strong tastes and smells (for example the so called Kentuck) to very light types with little taste and characteristic fragrances (for example the so called Virginia).

The typical taste is obtained by a precise assembly of the mixture of these tobacco types (the so called blend). The assembly of the blend is continuously adapted to the varieties which can occur in the qualities of the different tobacco types, so that the consumer experiences a product that is as constant as possible. The special points of interest are the colour and the fragrance, the aroma, the taste, the fire properties and the moisture level of the hand rolling tobacco.

Moreover it is taken into account that while assembling the blends the level of nicotine is maintained as much as possible. In principle no flavourings, fragrances or colour will be added to the tobacco.

Tobacco
Tobacco is grown in the free fields of tropical or subtropical countries. The different plant varieties, the divergent climates, but also different types of soil on which the tobacco is grown, ensure that a large variety of types tobacco are available.

At the end of the growth the leaves of the tobacco plant will be harvested on a regular basis, from the bottom to the top of the stem of the plant. The leaves are still green then. For hand rolling tobacco it is important that the leaves have a minimum size, damaged as little as possible by rain, hail, insects or other influences, and have a minimum firmness. For hand rolling tobacco therefore the middle and upper leaves of the plant will be selected. Leaves are sorted on length, breadth, colour and quality, tied up in bundles of 15 to 20 leaves, and dried afterwards.

Drying is very important for the final quality of the hand rolling tobacco. The first phase of drying is generally done on or nearby the cultivation company. The applied techniques vary from the simple use of the sun and wind as natural sources, to artificial dehydration by way of hot air. This treatment gives its eventual colour to raw tobacco, fragrance, taste and aroma. Also dehydration over a smouldering wood fire is applied, this is particularly applied to the darker tobacco types because it gives them their special, slightly stronger aroma. As soon as the tobacco is ready it transported to the processing companies.

Now a second phase of sorting, mixing and drying is started. The first measurements of the qualities of sugar, nicotine and other working substances take place here and also the different classes are determined. By wish of the purchasers the correct "grading" is composed by means of these data and the other quality properties. The following dehydrating is important for the durability of raw tobacco during transport and storage. Raw tobacco can be kept for several years in this form. The tobacco is sorted after the dehydrating and after a last quality control, packed in boxes pack or large bales and made ready for shipping to Europe.

Processing of tobacco
At first all the dried moisture is added at the processing of raw tobacco to hand rolling tobacco, to avoid damaging of the tobacco leaves as much as possible. Furthermore the different leaves of raw tobacco are mixed with each other and the preservatives are added. At this stage in fact the eventual taste and aroma arises which is determines the enjoyment of the consumer. After this cultivation the tobacco is laid to rest for approximately 24 hours, to use the effect of the added moisture to full advantage.

After this the cutting process starts. With this it is tried to position the leaves crosswise as much as possible to cut these into the well-known extremely thin strings of tobacco. It is important to cut the grains in the length direction, so that in the final product as less as possible of it can be found again (the so called stems). The grains on the one hand are very determent for the taste and smell of the final product; on the other hand the consumer experiences these as unpleasant, because during the rolling of the cigarette these stems often damage the cigarette paper.

If necessary the redundant moisture is cut and the hand rolling tobacco is dried again. The consumer in Western-Europe is used to a moisture level of hand rolling tobacco of approximately 18 to 19%. Then the hand rolling tobacco is filtered and laid to rest again for another 24 hours.

Packing shag
The shag is weighed with extremely modern weighing machinery and is packed in the well-known plastic pouches of 50 grams. These pouches are of such a material proposition and construction that the moisture level of tobacco can be maintained optimally during a period of  4 - 5 months at least, where nevertheless sufficient ventilation is present, to stimulate the after-effect of the aromatic substances in tobacco. Because of that the consumer will always have the pleasant experience by opening the pouch of his own delicious tobacco fragrance, which is so characteristic, is for "his" hand rolling tobacco.

In spite of the fact that the production process has hardly changed over the past 150 years and is still a really old-fashioned working method, much has changed however to the installations and to the control of the process of course. All modern control techniques and guarantees for quality surround the production process, to make sure that to all modern requirements in the field of security and health of the product are lived up to and that all legal regulations are met.

Beside the hand rolling tobacco to roll a "fag", there is also tobacco which is cut especially to fill fabricated tubes by means of a so called tube filling machine. They have a filter and look precisely the same. As a rule these are made in big amounts and packaged into a cigarette packing.