Retrohale: yes or no?

[Chasing Embers]

Constantly

 

[trouttimes]

I retrohale about 1/3 of the time. It is not something I think about.

 

[macaroon]

Only occasionally, maybe a few times per smoke. I don't like to do it too often, or else the aroma of smoke is stuck in my nose long after I've set down the pipe, which some folks may enjoy, but not I.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I consider retrohaling rather essential to cigar and pipe smoking.

 

[beefeater33]

^^ This. I couldn't imagine smoking a pipe or cigar without doing it............ ::

 

[artificialme]

I retrohale when I smoke. Retrohale gave me a better note tasting pleasure when smoke a pipe. Looks bad ass too :worship:

 

[okiepiper]

I do on almost every smoke. The only time I don't retrohale is when a tobacco produces a harsh burn on retrohale. Old Joe Krantz is one that burns my nasal cavity a little.

 

[unkleyoda]

I can't imagine smoking a pipe without retrohaling nearly every puff.

 

[rdavid]

I can't imagine smoking a pipe without retrohaling nearly every puff.

Definitely this^^^
Can’t even come close to tasting everything without retrohaling.

 

[redone]

I do it every few sips of the pipe and enjoy it with some blends more than others. Va/Pers seem to give more flavor to me than Burley blends. But I still enjoy it with burley blends.

 

[weezell]

I consider retrohaling rather essential to cigar and pipe smoking.

Yes...

 

[oldtoby]

Absolutely. I taste more with my nose than my mouth. :wink:

 

[georgebmcclelland]

I retro-hale because I love tobacco and, well, it's just a lovely thing to do. Hell, I'd blow the darn stuff out of my ears if I could.

 

[blackadderlxx]

I alternate between breath method and retrohaling. To me it really brings out the flavors.

 

[lawdawg]

I consider retrohaling rather essential to cigar and pipe smoking.

+1

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

I usually do, but not with every puff. I'll breathe smoke the majority of the time, and when I'm ready to expel what smoke I have in my mouth, I will retrohale it most of the time. Occasionally with a heavy latakia presence, I'll get that burn in my nose like eating a super healthy portion of wasabi. That'll get you going in the morning. Most aros don't burn too badly when retrohaled and I'll usually do it more with those than with a heavy latakia.

 

[luigi]

Yes for me. I do it automatically and would have to concentrate to only puff. A smoke coming out of my schnoz smells and tastes better.

 

[renfield]

Yes to retrohaling. Especially with subtle Virginias.
Interestingly on other forums retrohaling is referred to as snorking. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. . .

 

[DotAndBang’sPipes]

For some reason I didn’t learn to retrohale until I’d been smoking the pipe for over 15 years...a whole new dimension was added.

 

[economistandfisherman]

If you look at the ranking peer-reviewed research on pipe smoking and health complications over the past 15 or 20 years, many studies will break down pipe smokers by depth of inhaling...usually something like "none" "slight" and "deep". Since these studies are survey based, the standard sort of caveat applies that "none" usually means non-intentional inhaling...it doesn't mean that these people don't actually inhale, they just don't make a point of inhaling. As was mentioned in a post above, you can't taste the flavor (especially of an aromatic) without at least taking some smoke in--its simply biology. That said, slight (I think) would be those that intentionally either retro hale or french inhale (like I do...i.e., blow out the mouth and inhale a small portion of smoke through the nose); deep inhale would be what my grandfather did which was every 3 or 4 puffs, he would literally inhale through the mouth that last puff and take it in deeply.
All that said, there is an excellent study done back in 2004 that out of the pipe smokers in this study, 5243 of them responded "none", 1741 responded "slight", and 1091 responded "deep"...in percentage terms this would mean that roughly 36% consciously inhale, with roughly 22% of those being retro or french inhalers.
So, since this is a relatively large study, I would assume that the percentage of these in the population would be about the same.
(Note: of course there is sample bias going on here. I'm sure that some of those that responded "none" in fact do consciously inhale, they just aren't telling the survey taker that for whatever reason.)