Guitar Nerds Anonymous

What are the current 'must haves' for cables these days?
I used to gig with a metal armoured thing which was bombproof, had a solid signal and despite being a bit heavy was completely supple. Like a twat, I gave it away when I stopped playing out. I can't see these for sale anywhere any more, why?
Recently got what I had left out and the guitar cables I have are horrible, stiff with loads of memory which means they are a pain to deal with.
For all my recording I've always made up my own leads on decent cable (sommer or whatever) makes sense to do the same for instrument cable unless anyone can recommend a cost effective OTFP lead which isn't like a spring and will last for a while?

Its all about old school unshielded cables for vintage mojo.