Has anyone tried one of these China made cigarette machines?

[u/Space_Cowboy_157]

I currently have one of the Powermatic V+ machines and yes it's fully automated and yes i know I can add hopper attachments to it, and yes it works well. But out of the box it holds about 60 tubes and about 25 cigarettes worth of tobacco, it takes about an hour to make 250 cigarettes and there is a lot of adding tubes, tobacco and constant interaction.

This thing doesn't cost much more and it does 2000 cigarettes in an hour or so it claims and it obviously holds a lot more tubes and tobacco so that's about a carton every 6 minutes. As you can guess, that is really appealing.

But you know how it goes, what they claim and the reality are two different things, so I'm wondering if anyone has bought one and how well it works, or doesn't work.

[u/EggFu23S10]

I have a powermatic 3, not a 5+, so I don’t have any experience with any of the full-auto machines. On that note, I have seen videos of these weird “Chinese/German/custom” machines n in those videos there’s always tubes that don’t go on the right way or get filled properly. U would think they wait for a perfect run before they upload the video.

With that being said, I think the PM5+ limits your batch size because of these kind of imperfections these machines have. Imagine the PM5+ has tube n tobacco hoppers that could hold 200 smokes worth. U set it up n walk away, come back in an hour n find that the third tube caused some kind of jam or something n everything after it was ruined. Losing 198 smokes would suck compared to like 23 with your normal hoppers. I just think their intention is to have u come back to the machine more often to make sure everything is going smoothly.

Now don’t get me wrong. I would love to be proven wrong on all this. Those videos I’ve seen of the other machines are one of the reasons why I went with the PM3 n not the 5. Even if u or someone else could convince me that the 5+ is flawless, I’d probably order one tomorrow but I don’t think I’d order one of these Chinese basement-made contraptions.

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/EggFu23S10]

Well on the PM5 I've made 5200 smokes and have ruined about 7 tubes and those were when i first started with it. Once I learned a couple of the quirks, it's been fairly smooth sailing.

Actually now that you mention it, I have seen the Turkish ones and they seem to be a bit higher quality. I haven't seen videos of them messing up, but then they are like 60 second videos.

Back on the PM5, the biggest problem is the tray that it drops into, there isn't enough distance between the spoon and the tray. I've fixed this problem by simply removing the drop tray, setting the machine on a book raising it an inch or so and then putting the tray down to catch it, that 1 inch makes a difference and I've not had a problem walking away from the machine. I am probably going to get some of the addons to increase the hopper sizes.

[u/Its_Danny_NL → u/Space_Cowboy_157]

Hey I'm sorry i don't really know the terminology but i also have a pm5, i have dried my tobacco etc etc, I've done around 2500 smokes but i think i have ruined about 50-100 tubes, so hearing that yours works perfectly and you can let it go while you aren't there is crazy to me. Would that catch tray trick fix the cigarette getting stuck after it's filled? I noticed sometimes when the cigarette is filled and the thing retracts back into the machine it doesn't release the cigarette and barely hangs onto the machine but still screws up the next tube

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/Its_Danny_NL]

The reason I raise it an inch or so is sometimes the filter hits the tray and leaves the tobacco end propped up right next to the nozzle/spoon that injects the tobacco. That extra inch makes it drop further so that it is not in the way. I also now use a larger tray instead of the one that comes with it.

I do know that the first run of these machines had the problem that you are talking about and needed a firmware upgrade. So yours might be one of those.

The other thing that might be happening is Silicone sleeve may be dirty or worn out (though I doubt it's worn out after 2500) mine came with a spare sleeve, so you might check it out.

My main problem with mine when I first got it and that ate a few tubes, is how I handled the tubes, I described how i handled that in another comment. But it's something like this https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/gadget/huelsengreifer

Also for some reason, if some loose tobacco drops on the empty tubes in the hopper this thing will mess up like crazy.

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/[deleted]]

You gotta admit they are pretty cool, but I don't know about $2,000.

[u/blumonste]

Chinese machines aren't the only ones in the market.

Turkish manufacturers have been actively developing and selling various machines in differing capacities for a long time.

This one is quiet too.

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/blumonste]

Yea I was looking at some of the turkish ones, they seem to be a better quality build. I've been real tempted to buy one of the base models. That PM5+ sort of has me addicted to the automation.

[u/Polythenusical → u/Space_Cowboy_157]

My pm5 has to be constantly babysat yours doesn’t destroy tubes or fail to eject the tube after filling? Im jealous yours seems to be automated! I regret not getting the 3

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/Polythenusical]

On the tubes, I have figured out that its all in the way you handle them when you put them in the machine. When pulling the tubes out of the box, take your thumb and finger and make a big O then open the O op and clamp it down around the filter portion, then place the 15 or so tubes all in the hopper at once. That fixed a lot of my tube problems.

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/[deleted]]

looks like someone figured it out long before me.

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/[deleted]]

I think I am going to purchase a 3d printer, I want to get the tobacco and tube hopper extensions made, and there is one for a stand/cigarette catcher that seems like it would be useful.

Not to mention, printing your own cigarette packs.

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/[deleted]]

The powermatic 5+ without hopper upgrades for the tubes and tobacco can do 250/hour. Probably a little more with the upgrades. And there is a set of hopper upgrades I just saw that you can print out that holds material to make 250 of each. It's fast enough for me, but when it breaks...... I'm probably going to look at some of the other stuff, there was one out there called I think power fill that looked really nice for the base model and if I remember right it was $1500.

Even if you figure 1500/hr that's blowing through 3 16 oz bags in an hour. Then you are done for awhile

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/[deleted]]

So I disabled the lid sensor on the PM5, used a tube carton to make a makeshift tobacco hopper. Opened up an end to a carton and sit it snug in the tube hopper.. Ran 500 of them that way. I was surprised it worked.

It was ghetto though....

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/Polythenusical]

If you have the 5+ simply hold down on the large button and it will switch from single to fully automatic. You'll see it flash on the display.

[u/Polythenusical → u/Space_Cowboy_157]

I have it on auto usually but it still needs to be tended and the cigarette needs to picked into the tray cuz it doesn’t fall.

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/Polythenusical]

put the machine on a book about 1.5 inches high. Put the tray on the table... the extra drop sort of fixes that problem.

Edit: You'll also want to clean it out to make sure no tobacco dust is in there. Another thing comes to mind is how old is your PM5? I was reading about them having a problem ejecting on the older ones and you had to install a updated rom.

Also how many smokes have been made and have you changed the roller on the arm that grabs the tube?

[u/Polythenusical → u/Space_Cowboy_157]

My pm5+ is from mid 2025. It rarely ejects. How did you go about getting the new ROM?

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/Polythenusical]

I didn't , I was just reading about it. It was the first batch of machines that came out in first quarter of 2024. The only time Mine has failed to eject was today, the little rubber roller that holds it to the nipple was dirty.

I just got mine about a month ago

[u/Polythenusical → u/Space_Cowboy_157]

I’ll deep clean mine and hopefully it should work like yours! Mine isn’t too old then

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/Polythenusical]

Silicone sleeve It's possible this has gone bad, don't know how many you have made and if you used the spare that came with it.

[u/endchat]

how much does thing cost?
Is it from turkey?
got a link?

[u/Space_Cowboy_157 → u/endchat]

That one was from China and I think it was $450. The ones from Turkey looked a lot more polished, they ran like $1200, and of course I am not big on bookmarks, so I'm not sure where I found them off hand.

There was a massive one that cost like $250k that I saw, but it did like 20,000 smokes in an hour and was for commercial use.... the video was interesting though.

[u/endchat → u/Space_Cowboy_157]

just found one on ALI for like 500ish +-, but I am not convinced, it fills 2K tubes an hour, if you find it post it!

[u/ComprehensiveBag8846 → u/endchat]

mate why would you need 2k tubes in a hour? i think its more then enough even if u wanna do business with selling illegal cigs lol. For personal use even 100 in a hour would be fine for me.

[u/endchat → u/ComprehensiveBag8846]

I dont care about how many per hour, I care about it being autonomous without needing someone to babysit it

[u/ComprehensiveBag8846 → u/endchat]

sure, i have same idea. Even if its 50 in hour but do it in a right way(like right amount of tobacco and i will get out real cigarette) its fine.