Half And Half Pipe Tobacco

$4.38 for 1 1/2 oz.  Made appx. 30 cigarettes.  Avoid.

Largo Pipe Tobacco (Gold)

This is the best tobacco I've ever smoked (I found it on the sidewalk and it cost me nothing).  The bag was opened but nearly full.  Package states 0.75 oz.  I got 17 smokes out of it.  I was expecting more of the familiar/dislikeable Top/Largo/Dean's flavor from this but was taken aback that it tasted (and looked) like Gambler red.  This one wasn't bad.  I'll probably revisit sometime.  Sorry - no image available - all I can find is a bag that says "Mellow" rather than "Gold".

Norwegian Shag

It's shag time!  $8.95 for 1.23 oz. (about 35 gm.).  Was able to wrangle 37 cigarettes from this bag.  Comes with a pack of 50 rolling papers.  Package states "Virginia tobaccos, some air-cured Burley and fine Oriental tobaccos."  Tobacco was very light colored.  Product was torn to small pieces and tamped lightly to fill chamber level - cigarette was hand packed 5 times after ejection yet burnt way too fast.  Smooth light taste - a hint of acridness  Acrid taste mellowed overnight as tobacco taste strengthened - taste came to resemble Winston.  Not bad - but at $4+ per pack I will only repurchase as a treat to myself.

Tubes - Is There A Difference?

I dunno.  I've used 4 at this time:  Smoker's Best, Gambler (both Red and Tube Cut), and Zig-Zag.  The first brand I tried was Smoker's Best and they seemed to be a bit tight of my machine but it also may have been due to my inexperience at the time.  However they were the least expensive option at the time. The Gambler's were $0.25 cheaper than the ZZ and come with a coupon good toward the purchase of a medium/large bag of tobacco.  The Gambler filter seems to be more dense than the Zig Zag filter.  Shrug.  Whatever.  I have no idea if tubes really make a difference - one brand is as good as another as far as I'm concerned.  I guess it depends on what you want your final product to look like and what you want to have written above the corkline.
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Update 20 Sept., 2012

Smokers Palace 100s Red Premium Tubes are $3.25 after tax.  The filter is shorter than the three aforementioned brands and seems to be a bit more dense than the Gamblers.

Red Cap Pipe Tobacco (Regular)

Welllllll - I'm at the bottom of my bag of Gambler pounder.  Thought I'd shoot in and try something different.  I twisted up a bag of this last winter (too) and thought I'd see how it fared in a tube.  Notbadnotbadatall.  $1.75 after tax yielded 21 smokes from a .75 oz. bag of tastes very much like Gambler but this tobacco has a slightly longer cut.  I'd have given a slight edge to Red Cap for flavor had it not been for the fact that I'm at the bottom of my Gambler bag and built a Red Cap straight from the top of the new bag.  But I'm liking this very much nevertheless.  Will definitely purchase again.

Top Premium Cigarette Tobacco (Regular)

 $2.38 after tax for 4/10s of an ounce.  Tobacco is light colored and moist yet dry enough not to gum up my machine.  Package came with 40 papers.  Yielded 24 100mm cigarettes.  Back of bag proclaims that this is "America's #1 Selling Full Line R-Y-O Brand".  I dunno why.  First taste to hit me was similar to Largo/Dean's but not as overwhelming.  In spite of being firmly packed tobacco burnt fast.  I won't be purchasing this again.

Zig Zag Cigarette Tobacco (Original)

Robust yet smooth.  Tobacco was almost a shag, similar to the brown bag Euro imports (but I didn't have to tear it apart into bite sized bits while loading the machine).  Fresh, but not moist enough to jam up my machine.  Came with 25 rolling papers.  Very nice albeit a tad expensive - $3.80 for .75 oz/21.3 g. yielded 27 cigarettes.  Will definitely treat myself to more of this sometime in the future.