Do You Smoke Primarily with Nose or Mouth or Both?

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Peter - CCB

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 26, 2019
238
927
45
Santa Barbara, CA
www.etsy.com
EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9)

While I would guess that most would say both, I tend to enjoy my va flakes with my nose. The mouth taste of a blend is not very important so long it isn’t outright offensive. The wisps and tendrils off the bowl are what I’m after. This could be why the OTC burleys seem boring to me. I also don’t inhale so perhaps my tastebuds at the back of my mouth aren’t stimulated. I would be interested in what others say.
I’ll exhale through my nose because it tastes better but then I worry about overdoing that and affecting my nasal senses and try to slow that down.
 

musicman

Lifer
Nov 12, 2019
1,119
6,052
Cincinnati, OH
95 percent mouth, and 5 percent nose. I'll retrohale maybe a handful of times through the bowl, and that seems to be the right amount to enjoy the benefits of the technique without over-cooking my nasal passages. One technique I do enjoy is letting the smoke roll around in my mouth a bit. I will sometimes smoke a bowl without doing this and wonder why it doesn't taste as good, and then I'll realize I'm not savoring the smoke enough. The tongue will reveal different flavors in different spots (I believe it's sweet on the tip, bitter in the back, and umami and sour on the sides).
 
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Ebarber

Can't Leave
Mar 11, 2020
377
1,250
Newark, Ohio
Both but I find if the blend is too spicy it can irritate. I still retrohale when it is spicy but cut it back. I think at least for me the retro is where I get most of the flavor from the blend. I really love heavy perique blends so I have to be extra careful on those.
 

B_Rock

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 11, 2020
891
16,810
65
San Jose, CA
I would say 60/40 mouth then nose. I tend to retrohale more with my Va/Pers - love the taste of the sweet Virginias and the tingle of the Perique...
 
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Worknman

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 23, 2019
968
2,820
My tongue doesn't really pick up much flavor. I rarely do an actual retrohale though, most of the flavor comes from the smoke sort of hitting the sinuses a little before it exits the mouth. The olfactory senses as a whole is what produces the flavor.
 

NookersTheCat

Lurker
Sep 10, 2020
45
115
Always always always retrohale... I couldn't imagine the point of pipe smoking without it... even when eating food a significant portion of the flavour you perceive comes from scent.
Now, with cigars, I still retrohale... but I make a point to do it much lighter... say, exhaling 90% of smoke from the mouth first and the last 10% or so from nose due to the much higher pungency. Whereas a pipe I do 50/50 all the way to near 100% retrohales.

When I smoked cigarettes, and the rare occasion I still do, I would always exhale primarily through the nose. And, believe it or not, I was never addicted; just a social/occasional smoker. But I enjoyed the flavour which is why I exhaled through the nose. I posit that you can tell those cig smokers who are solely addicted to the nicotine and don't appreciate the tobacco flavour by watching them solely exhaling through the mouth.
 
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