"The Gizeh Golden Tip Producter"

   While there are a number of manufacturers of injection machines, and we have made it quite clear from our debut issue a year ago that, in our opinion, the crank style injectors, specifically the Supermatic line from CTC, are the single most important ingredient to a successful conversion to RYO smoking. It remains remarkable to us that no other company has endeavored to make a competing machine along the robust lines of these formidable injectors. We have learned to use the smaller hand injectors in the course of our investigations and they all work pretty well and after practice one can USUALLY create a reasonable looking cigarette, most of the time. The small ones are certainly less expensive and in that context they do offer a great way to introduce oneself to the advantages and pleasures of RYO/MYO (make your own). However, many of our readers still express frustration at the production they are able to achieve with these smaller devices and complain frequently of the inconsistency of their injections. Until recently, we were pretty much resigned to the fact that once someone got serious about RYO smoking, they would eventually seek out the Supermatic and, for the most part, we still feel that way.

  But, there is a new kid on the block. It is manufactured by Gizeh with the auspicious name of the Golden Tip Producter. While it offers only moderate competition to the Supermatics, it has proven itself to us as far and away the superior of any of the other small hand injectors. This superiority comes at a price, somewhere between $14 and $20 but it does have its rewards at that price. First, there is a storage compartment that can hold a dozen or more tubes or finished smokes. The fact that it can hold tubes, albeit a fairly small number, helps to solve one of the most annoying characteristics of all tube injections methods and that is how to transport the tubes with you safely. Boxes of tubes are very delicate and can be squashed easily if great care is not taken. They are also bulky, albeit light in weight. The Gizeh Producter allows you to carry an injector and tubes in one hard container so all you need is a bag of tobacco. This is a definite improvement in portability over the larger Supermatics and the smaller hand-helds. The base has strips of tacky rubber to hold the injector in place while injecting. Most importantly, however, is the injector itself. Instead of building a base and slipping an injector into it like the Pressta and Escort deluxe machines, Gizeh has actually built the injector into the base. It is part of the structure as if the base was built around the injector. The difference this simple transposition of engineering makes to the injection process is nothing short of spectacular. Even though the actual injection process is identical in every way to the small hand-held (i.e., open the top slider, put in tobacco, close the slider, inject) the way this injector handles each operation is improved. For instance, the cutter (when you close the slider down on the tobacco) is far more forgiving as to excess tobacco and actually crunches down audibly, thus cutting away the excess fill. The subsequent sliding motion after cutting is accomplished much more easily as the mechanism that slides is a built-in part of the whole apparatus. It moves not only more smoothly, but because of the width of the base, you have a much better grip on things as the sliding motion is performed.

   We received several samples of this machine and took them around to the folks who join us in our testing. These folks, as you must know by now, are friends and acquaintances who have become interested in the RYO method and use packaged cigarettes infrequently. Among the thirty or so people who tried this machine, every single one was able to inject perfect cigarettes at a rate of at least eight out ten tries. By perfect, we mean a finished stick that is evenly and tightly filled from end to filter, the tobacco doesn't fall out, and where little or no tamping is required to pack the finished product.

   Anyway you look at it, this machine is perfect for everyone including those who have a Supermatic at home and need a smaller injector for the office or the car and want to be able to take some tubes along too. Our hats off to Gizeh once again for a very innovative concept. - RYO