You may wonder whether rolling your own cigarettes is a way to cut back on smoking and avoid the harmful chemicals that are in regular filtered cigarettes. While there may be slight advantages, they are not a healthy choice.

Roll your own (RYO) cigarettes are hand-rolled cigarettes made with loose tobacco. Other names for RYO cigarettes include rollies, roll-ups, burns, and rolls. There are a few ways to make hand-rolled cigarettes. Smokers can simply use cigarette papers and loose tobacco to hand roll a cigarette. Rolling machines are also a common way to make a uniform and more tightly packed cigarette.

While it is true that RYO cigarettes don't contain the many thousands of chemical compounds regular cigarettes do, they do still contain additives and dangerous chemicals. RYO cigarette smokers inhale enough toxins to be concerned about.

Researchers have studied TSNAs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the urine of both traditional cigarette smokers and RYO smokers.These two groups of chemicals are highly carcinogenic byproducts of cigarette smoking and appear to be present in virtually the same quantities regardless of the type of cigarette smoked.Scientists and doctors widely believe that the risks to a smoker's health are the same regardless of whether you're smoking commercially produced cigarettes or rolling your own.  

People still roll their own cigarettes.These are common reasons given for making own cigarettes:

Cost: A pouch of rolling tobacco and cigarette papers is much cheaper than buying brand name or generic cigarettes.

To Smoke Less: Because smoking a hand-rolled cigarette involves rolling it first, smokers tend to light up less often than with traditional filtered cigarettes.

Image: There is a perception in some circles that people who roll their own cigarettes are edgy and non-traditional.

An Inaccurate Belief That It's Healthier: Research has shown that RYO cigarettes are at least as risky to a smoker's health as regular cigarettes. More on that below.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the U.S. anti-smoking organization ASH, puts the differences between RYO and regular cigarettes in perspective, "A useful analogy that has been used is that arguing over the difference between roll-ups and straights is like arguing whether it’s safer to jump out of the 20th or 15th floor of a building—either way you’re going to hit the ground and die."

It's difficult to assess the overall risk because each hand-rolled cigarette is unique. The amount of tobacco will vary as will how the cigarette is smoked. Some smokers used filtered tubes for their RYO tobacco and some don't. 

It is safe to say, however, that RYO cigarettes are nothing remotely close to a healthy (or healthier) smoking choice. RYO cigarettes endanger the health of anyone who smokes them—or breathes in the secondhand smoke they produce, for that matter.

If you're still smoking, consider quitting sooner rather than later. It never gets easier to stop the longer you smoke. Learn how to quit smoking—and make it stick.

The Only "Safe" Cigarette is an Unlit Cigarette.