How Much Do You Inhale? (Accidentally)

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

This question, how much do you inhale, refers to smoking properly.. The breathe method, or a variation. I'm not talking about out and out taking a lung full of pipe tobacco smoke. how much do you think you inhale accidentally while smoking? Do you have any pointers on how to avoid it?

Backstory:

I ask this because the reason I bought a pipe in the first place, was to save my lungs from the cigarettes, and the inhalation of smoke that goes along with that. As I do not wish to stop smoking, I only wish to stop inhaling smoke. But as I go along (it's been a year), cutting back on cigarettes hasn't done much for my crappy breathing. (I've been smoking since age 14, I'm now 30) In fact I feel very tight chested after smoking a couple of bowls.. almost like I have been smoking a cigarette for the hour and a half it took to smoke a pipe. While I still smoke cigarettes, because.. no matter what blends you smoke it's just not the same thing, I've cut back from 2 packs down to maybe a half a pack per day.

 

[Old School 3319]

I do so more in the mornings for some reason but probably every bowl at least once

 

[lawdawg]

I'm pretty sure my pipe inhalation is very minimal. I'm a former cigarette smoker myself, and over time, the sensation of inhaling smoke becomes less pleasant, and certainly less automatic, than it once was. At least that's been my experience, and hopefully one that you could look forward to as well.

As to the tightness in your chest, I'm obviously no doctor, but I wonder if it might have to do with nicotine since nicotine is indeed a stimulant and presumably could increase bodily tension.

 

[briarbuck]

Bite a pencil for a couple of days and quit the butts.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Bite a pencil for a couple of days and quit the butts.

Thats the tough truth.. then I'd know how much the pipes were responsible. I'd probably have to eat, not chew, a couple of boxes.. but after a couple of shitty days I'd have em whooped.

 

[haparnold]

For me? Effectively (if not literally) zero. I'm sure somebody like Sable or Warren will hop on here and explain that whether you intentionally inhale or not, some smoke is getting into your lungs. That's all well and good, but I'm confident the only smoke inhalation happening for me is from residual smoke in the air I'm breathing, and not from any being sucked straight from the pipe into my lungs.

 

[lawdawg]

My one tip is that whenever you find yourself wanting a cigarette, have a pipe instead. Sometimes you'll still have a cigarette, but hopefully over time it will be increasingly more pipes than cigarettes until you find yourself preferring pipes all the time and losing interest in cigarettes. To make this work, you'll need the right pipe and tobacco combo that works for you. For me, it was cobs and burley blends. That's all just my experience with it, so of course your miles may vary.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

For me? Effectively (if not literally) zero. I'm sure somebody like Sable or Warren will hop on here and explain that whether you intentionally inhale or not, some smoke is getting into your lungs. That's all well and good, but I'm confident the only smoke inhalation happening for me is from residual smoke in the air I'm breathing, and not from any being sucked straight from the pipe into my lungs.

What I've been suspicious of is smoke leaking into your lungs while breathing through your nose.

*pipes in your mouth
*you breathe through your nose
*smoke collects in your mouth
* you blow smoke and air out of either/both nose and mouth

I guess I'm wondering if theres an amount of smoke slipping by and entering your lungs, while completing the above process. I'm aware that we breathe our own second hand smoke, and it the wrong situation that can choke you.. but you'll usually crack the window of the car or reposition the pipe, ect.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

My one tip is that whenever you find yourself wanting a cigarette, have a pipe instead. Sometimes you'll still have a cigarette, but hopefully over time it will be increasingly more pipes than cigarettes until you find yourself preferring pipes all the time and losing interest in cigarettes. To make this work, you'll need the right pipe and tobacco combo that works for you. For me, it was cobs and burley blends. That's all just my experience with it, so of course your miles may vary.

Burley and cobs are as close as you'll get IMO.

 

[peregrinus]

Anyone who smokes indoors is inhaling. Repeatedly.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I just want to be clear for the sake of this discussion.. yes, it is a valid point that pipe smokers inhale smoke from the air around our pipes. No one would argue against that. I'm referring to inhaling from the smoke entering your mouth from the pipe directly.

 

[peregrinus]

I just want to be clear for the sake of this discussion.

Understand. Just me pointing out the bleeding obvious.

 

[bullet08]

I wouldn't think there would be any. Smoke going into your lung would be noticable. Accidentally while retrohaling maybe.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Accidentally while retrohaling maybe.

This may be where it happens.. I wonder if there is an ear nose and throat specialist in the house? To explain how that works. haha

 

[peregrinus]

it's just not the same thing, I've cut back from 2 packs down to maybe a half a pack per day.

I smoked cigarettes till my 30’s.
It is a cliched I say so, but quitting was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself and my family.
Respectfully, after reading your post, I encourage you to quit cigarettes. ?

 

[BROBS]

Could be you’re holding some smoke in the back of your throat then when you inhale from your nose it goes in your lungs. To combat this I sometimes breathe smoke... but then breathe out very completely from my lungs and mouth... then inhale in my nose after I’ve cleared it all out. If that makes sense? Because I was having this happen too.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I smoked cigarettes till my 30’s.
It is a cliched I say so, but quitting was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself and my family.
Respectfully, after reading your post, I encourage you to quit cigarettes. ?

Thanks for your encouragement. It's the truth, not cliche in the slightest. It does suck though.. There have been many concessions made, along the way to becoming the middle aged chubby family man I am today. Those concessions were made with love and understanding.. but shit, now I can't smoke cigarettes! haha

Could be you’re holding some smoke in the back of your throat then when you inhale from your nose it goes in your lungs. To combat this I sometimes breathe smoke... but then breathe out very completely from my lungs and mouth... then inhale in my nose after I’ve cleared it all out. If that makes sense? Because I was having this happen too.

You're all over it. I bet its some leftover smoke in the throat, or possibly sinuses. That's something I've been trying to do, clearing all the smoke before my next breath.

 

[cigrmaster]

I don't purposely inhale my pipe tobacco. If I am blowing it through my note one a retrohale it is no where near sucking it into my lungs like a cigarette. Do I get some second hand smoke, sure but I don't believe in the second hand smoke being dangerous.

I smoke my pipes for flavor and for oral gratification and if I get some smoke in my nose or even a tad in my lungs, I don't care. I knew from the get go smoking a pipe is more dangerous than drinking a glass of water. If you are worried about dying early, then find a bubble and park your ass in it, lots of things out there will kill you including a nasty virus called Covid 19. Your odds of dying from that are a thousand times greater than smoking a pipe, count in it.

 

[Simplicity]

tl;dr - Every once in a while, I notice slight inhaling when first lighting and sometimes on a retrohale. Not a lung full, by any means, but noticeable.

I was a heavy smoker and quit cigarettes on May 13th this year. Similar to you, I started when I was 14. I am 37 now and the cigarettes had taken a toll on me, wheezing/chest pressure/worsening allergies/trouble breathing in cold weather/etc. I quit by telling myself no more cigarettes, but as many pipes per day as I please. I might have 2 pipes a day now and the results have been fairly dramatic. My allergies are almost non-existent, my morning cough is gone, I no longer feel chest pressure while laying on my back and I am not hacking due to clogged sinuses. I don't crave smoking a pipe and can easily go a couple days with out one.

 

[trubka2]

Yeah, your lungs ain't going to get better until you ditch the cigs. I recommend a week in the ICU - worked like a charm for me, haven't wanted a cig since. I smoke a ton of pipe tobacco, 12+ bowls on a light day, and I "accidentally" inhale all the damn time, but my lungs are so much better now. I will say they actually got a little worse before they got better while I was still hacking up 30 years of chain smoking, so be prepared for that. But now I can charge up the 8 flights of stairs to my office without sucking air, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Pipes are just better for you, no comparison, even if you inhale a bit here and there.