Morning Granny and welcome to FTT. AS a newbie I think you'll find the FAQ's at the top of the page a good place to start.
There are a hundreds of different tobaccos. Finding out what you like is going to be a job. In my eyes it's not only worth it, it's fun. It's kinda like cooking. You take a basic recipe and mess with it till you get what YOU like. There's no guarentee that others will agree with you. That said, there are quite a lot of folks who agree the common cigs are a blend of approximately 60-70% virginia bright leaf, 10-12% burley and the rest oriental/Turkish. You should understand that are lots of different kinds of tobacco in each of the named groups. As with anything else there are lot's of liars who will tell you anything to sell what they have to sell. (Ever heard of "faster" yeast?) LOL Certainly growing your own is the cheapest way to go but Don (FmGrowit) and Larry (BigBonner) sell whole leaf at reasonable prices (check them both out) and that's not a bad way to get a feeling for what you like. Buying whole leaf and cig tubes you can have quality cigs for about $20/carton. You will need to invest in a cig stuffer of some kind and a shredder is a good investment. My best guess is that you will eventually invest about $400 in equipment. If you smoke a carton a month at $90/carton you will have your money back in less than a year and be smoking chemical free quality cigs.
Now let's mention the nasty. There is some work (yes, I said WORK) involved. Again it's like cooking. If you're willing to work at it a little you get really great eating. If not go to MacDonald's. Yeah, you get crap food for more money but it's easy. I cook most of my own and roll my own cigars so you know where I stand.
For me the fun and pride in success far out weighs the amount of work I do. First of all much of the work is fun. I have enough ego to like saying "I did it."
Finally, I don't smoke cigs but by buddy and his wife do. The "Marlboro" blend they both like is 70%VA bright leaf, 20% burley and 10% oriental. To change that to a more Camel taste bask off 1% on the oriental and add 1% fire cured (or a bit less, to taste.)
Good luck. Good growing. And confusion to Uncle's tax man.