Performance question 1 query with several tables, or several queries?

Question

Say I want to gather data from various tables, for instance.
1. big query like this....
Select col1, col2, col3, col4, col5
from tab1, tab2, tab3, tab4, tab5
where tab1 = tab2
and tab2 = tab3
and tab3 = tab4
and tab4 = tab5;
or
different queries in a cursor (to gather each column i need), like this...
cursor c_1 Is
select col1
from tab1
where col1 = :param
cursor c_2 Is
select col2
from tab2
where col2 = :param
cursor c_3 Is
select col3
from tab3
where col3 = :param
cursor c_4 Is
select col4
from tab4
where col4 = :param
Efficiently, what's better, faster and resources saver?
Gracias a lot.

Answer 1

Truthfully, the only way you will know or sure is to run both queries and compare timing results and resource demands. The phrase "your mileage may vary" applies here. Anything else anyone tells you is a rule of thumb which is most often going to be correct but may have exceptions to that rule.
Cheers,
Brian