Tips, Advice, & Suggestions Sought

[Marc L]

I've begun my fourth rolling session (2 at a time) and find I'm doing better but still having issues. I felt as though rolling the filler withing the filler leaves has helped a fair amount in producing a more even roll, but the foot ends are always splayed. I figured I'd begin a bit further back on the binder leaf (maybe an inch or so) thinking it would give a bit of leaf to help roll tighter, but I'm now thinking that I'll go back twice that and probably beginning on these with the wrapper in hopes I can create a better foot.

Besides getting an even pack, I'm not sure what you mean by "splayed" but, after googling it I'm thinking your looking forward to getting you foot like a commercial stick.
You might remember me mentioning that a softer bunch at assembly will firm up wen left to dry. typically, the foot area will be built past where it will be tuck cut. you will notice a mold that is full will have tobacco sticking out of the bottom. after a pressing they will take there knife and slice it flush with the molds edge.
you could trim the leaf down to size before you bunch. this also eliminates the scrap developed with tuck cutting.

I'm also still having issues creating a nice head for my smokes. Snugging them up tightly in the mold feels as though it's helping but I'd prefer it beginning better. I've been laying the leaves stem to tip back and forth and cutting that in half and placing the straight sides along each other for the head. I'm then cutting the stranglers from the foot end and using that to help fill in the foot better, which seems to be working fairly well.

About a round head, build past it so it can be tuck cut, ( now you can use almost anything here because the last bit wont be smoked. also, in this area be sure to be using enough binding for stability. you would take some end/scrap binder/wrapper pieces and lay them down in the shoulder/head area to do this. also, imagine coming up into the shoulder/head area and, lacking density, following through with the RG size to close with a dab of glue, tuck cut, then, open it up to fill in the density and re-close. ) then trim down the binder and filler at a 45˚ angle with scissors or, your knife against the board.
This does two things. It exposes the filler to uniform draw across and, keeps us from squishing the filler into the rounded area which could inhibit the draw.
Something I like to try to do is set draw in the shoulder. I found that the optimal burn density is less then the optimal draw density.

I'm guessing it's just going to take a bit more experience before I can feel whether or not the filler is adequate for the ring size I'm attempting to achieve. My results vary each time despite using the same number of leaves.

If the leaves were the same, it would be the same. that's where sorting comes in. that can get arduous. think build longer. You can do this.