Feeling Some Kind of Full in the Chest When Smoking Pipe

artificialme · Mar 22, 2018

Hi guys,
Might I ask you guys something? I started pipe smoking almost a month ago. I got some tobacco sampler from my friend and bought some. When I smoke, I usually use those breathing method and some puffing to keep those baccy lit. For your information, I always clenched my pipe while smoking. My Question is, after 1 bowl, in some blend that I smoked, I felt heavy (or maybe full) in my chest. Although it wouldn't happen in every kind of tobacco that I smoked.
What was wrong with it? or maybe is it because of the high nicotine content? It seems it usually go this way when I Smoked a dark fire cured type of tobacco.
Finally, sorry for the bad english guys

pruss · Mar 22, 2018

Are you inhaling the smoke into your lungs while smoking your pipe?
If so, you’ll want to review your technique and work on sipping the smoke from the bowl into your mouth before exhaling or retrohaling the smoke and then expelling it from the mouth and nose.
Tightness, or weight, in the lungs is an unpleasant sensation and could be caused by many things. I’d take that kind of discomfort seriously and change my behaviours to avoid having it occur again.
Good luck and keep us posted.
— Pat

mikethompson · Mar 22, 2018

I'm with Pat, pipe smoke is not meant to be taken into the lungs. Were you a cigarette smoker by chance?

artificialme · Mar 22, 2018

Thanks pruss and mike.

It seems i got my technique wrong. Let's change it before it's to late

so, any tips for my breathing method?

any article and videos will help

mikethompson · Mar 22, 2018

Generally, you don't suck the smoke out like a straw. You take light sips from the stem. If you have a little mouthful of smoke, I roll it around my mouth and exhale.
Some 'retohale', which is essentially the same thing, drawing a little sip of smoke in, and letting it naturally go out your nose. Some folks say they can taste more of the flavours of the tobacco that way.
Everyone has their own little way, but I prefer to keep the smoke just in my mouth.
You can YouTube for 'retrohale' and see what I mean. Hope this helps!

derekflint · Mar 22, 2018

I would put the breathing method on hold for a bit till you get more experience...Slowly sip, savor and exhale....

midwestpipesmoker70 · Mar 22, 2018

As with cigars I do not inhale pipe smoke. I would check out a video on retrohaling. Pipe tobacco is mostly about flavor and not a quick nicotine hit like a cigarette. Plenty of good youtube videos out there for smoking methods.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 22, 2018

Breathing technique, breathsmoking, breathe smoking, etc... are a little misleading in their names. You don't actually breath in the smoke. You merely use your natural breathing through your nose to regulate the pushing and pulling of your gullet in your throat to keep a passive stream of smoke moving through the pipe and into your mouth, very slowly. You do not breath in the smoke. Air should be moving up and down your nose, not your throat, nor smoke through your nose. However, some guys like to push some smoke across their sinuses by pushing it out their nose. But, that's a whole different technique.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 22, 2018

Also, keep in mind that starting out, you have to think about the whole process. And, you don't want to develop any bad habits during this training period. Think of it as like having to learn to shift gears in a car, with a manual transmission. You have to consciously think about clutch, accelerator, shift, ease up and you push down, carefully, don't grind them, don't let off too fast... etc... In the beginning it's all a conscious thing, and you wonder how on earth anyone every gets anywhere with all of this thinking about what you are doing. But, then in a few weeks or months, you get in your car and next thing you know you are where you were going, and you didn't have to think about anything at all, except maybe what music to listen to as you drive.
But, as with driving, be careful not to develop bad habits, like skipping gears, or grinding the gears, or inhaling down your nose. Let the tricks happen after you develop good technique.

Chasing Embers · Mar 22, 2018

Cue the video!
https://youtu.be/Jw8R7mxECvY

cosmicfolklore · Mar 22, 2018

I have thought about making a video, except when I breath smoke, there's nothing to see. The smoke is so thin and slow that it doesn't show up on video. I look like I am just holding a pipe in my teeth. The important stuff is invisible to the naked eye.

Chasing Embers · Mar 22, 2018

I over did it in that video just so the smoke was visible.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 22, 2018

I know, and you did a great job. Very helpful too.

Chasing Embers · Mar 22, 2018

Thanks! When I do it in the house, my wife never knows that I'm smoking except for occasional whiffs of the blend. No clouds.

warren · Mar 22, 2018

Where in the chest? Near the diaphragm? If so, see a doctor.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 22, 2018

Yeh, pains in your shoulder or arms, and a feeling like something is setting on your chest is an indicator that you should stop messing around and see a dr right away. You should dick around with that stuff. I had symptoms once, and it turned out that I had pulled my chest muscles riding my bike, but you can never be too careful. It's better to have a false alarm than be dead.

mso489 · Mar 22, 2018

You shouldn't be breathing or puffing to keep the pipe lit. With proper technique (I hate the way that sounds) you can puff now and then with a slow cadence and stay lit, with a little tamping and a little more practice. I think you are gulping air and this is cramping your stomach and chest, the way indigestion can feel like a heart throb, and then you belch and feel fine. Pardon that, but let's stay real. On the other hand, you need to know what's going on. Quit the pipe for a week or two. See how your heart does, and if all is well ... you are likely gulping air and giving yourself faux chest pains. If in doubt, see a good doctor.

warren · Mar 22, 2018

Heart disease, a "wide" term, is insidious. An enlarged, over working heart may only be manifested by a "fullness" or pressure in the area of the diaphragm, very similar to an ulcer, gas, etc. If it seems to be triggered by tobacco, your autonomic (fight or flight) reflexes may be causing your heart to react needlessly, triggered by adrenalin. Nicotine can certainly cause the heart to overwork.
Probably nothing, might be something easily treatable, the discomfort is certainly indicative of something.
I'm writing from the perspective of one recently diagnosed with "heart disease" which was originally diagnosed as gas, then an ulcer, followed by a lung problem. Now, definitely an enlarged, over worked heart. 70 plus years of living large and the piper is now demanding payment. More or less under control with some meds, no orders to quit smoking (my doctor simply provides the odds/information and lets one make the right or wrong decision, Love the guy!) or, major lifestyle changes.

jpmcwjr · Mar 22, 2018

All good advice. And yes, some tobaccos have much more nicotine than others. And it may be an ingredient other than nicotine that gives you a problem. (some tobaccos themselves have toppings that can cause grief, and some tobacco types react badly with some smokers)
But the lung thing is a different kettle, and potentially serious. Do check that out!!
And, Warren, go in good health!

warren · Mar 22, 2018

Thank you sir. It's a matter of choosing what to do with respect to quality of life desired. My cardiologist and I both agree on that approach. So far, as many will have surmised, I'm leaning to the selfish or, more politically correct, self-indulgent choices. I'm a weak, weak human! I'm reasonably comfortable with that perspective though. :crazy:
I need to point out, tobacco is certainly only one of my "problems" but, the extra fifteen pounds I've carried around most of my adult life is another, my self-indulgent diet was/is not particularly conducive to great health, and a rather sedentary lifestyle in the winter are also contributors to my current situation. Lots of blame to go around and all of it points back at me and my various choices. C'est la vie!

Feeling Some Kind of Full in the Chest When Smoking Pipe

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