How "NOT" to Inhale Smoke?

[tjsgarden]

Greetings!
I am 66 years old and have a long history of smoking cigarettes. It is important to me to NOT inhale smoke into my windpipe or lungs. I am very careful to relax my breathing pace and sip (like sipping on a straw) a very small amount of smoke into my mouth. I exhale in a slow natural manner before taking another puff.

At the end of a smoking session, I sometimes feel a slight tightness in the windpipe area so I think a small amount of smoke did escape my mouth.
My question is have others had a similar issue or have additional suggestions on how to prevent smoke from entering my throat.

 

[BROBS]

Greetings!
I am 66 years old and have a long history of smoking cigarettes. It is important to me to NOT inhale smoke into my windpipe or lungs. I am very careful to relax my breathing pace and sip (like sipping on a straw) a very small amount of smoke into my mouth. I exhale in a slow natural manner before taking another puff.

At the end of a smoking session, I sometimes feel a slight tightness in the windpipe area so I think a small amount of smoke did escape my mouth.
My question is have others had a similar issue or have additional suggestions on how to prevent smoke from entering my throat.

Only use your cheeks to draw the smoke, not your tongue or gullet.

 

[tjsgarden]

Only use your cheeks to draw the smoke, not your tongue or gullet.

Exactly!
I have learned to control the sipping (using only my cheeks) specifically to the tip of the stem.
Thanks!

 

[sablebrush52]

To begin with, you'll need to smoke only outdoors. If you smoke indoors you're in a smoke filled room, inhaling your smoke. There's no way to avoid inhaling your smoke indoors, even if you equip your room with a ridder. I'll leave the other suggestions to others.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

It is not possible to avoid some smoke being inhaled when smoking a pipe or anything else for that matter. If that's a major issue for you, quit. The feeling in your throat could be any number of things. I doubt it is the result of a minute amount of smoke. But if it doesn't occur from any other stimulus, the pipe smoking is causing it either directly or indirectly.

 

[STP]

I agree w/above, while you’re carefully sipping... you’re still breathing. As such, you’re going to inhale some level of smoke.

 

[jttnk]

The feeling in your throat could be nicotine strength. I notice with strong blends I get a full or irritated feeling at The back of my throat. I do not inhale. It also happens at the tail end of a stronger cigar.

 

[Grangerous]

I personally, due to asthma, have developed a manner of enjoying my one bowl per day, usually a solid hour and I seldom, if ever cause myself any problem. In fact, I feel I breathe better for the other 23 hours of the day!

The biggest change for me is not clenching. Secondly, I focus on the taste, which doesn’t require anything but the smallest succession of puffs. I chew the smoke and allow it to slowly escape nose and mouth. But, I’m always sure to expel all residual smoke before I breath in again. It’s become a “good” habit.

I smoke in my car or garage and as Sablebrush52 points out, there is residual smoke. I enjoy that but I like to think I’m smelling tobacco as opposed to inhaling smoke. Room note.

I also feel that mild blends, like Granger, which have fewer adulterations make a big difference. Harsher blends, Latakia forward or even C&D’s plain Burley, like Pegasus, can cause me discomfort later. I’ve developed a real preference and appreciation for cool, mild easygoing but tasty blends. Hope that helps.

 

[olkofri]

The way I smoke is:

1. Take a breath, between normal and deep and hold the air in.
2. Bring the pipe to my mouth and sip/puff as if I were sipping a drink with a straw, whilst holding the pipe with my hand (I don't clench, and when I "clench" I don't draw from the mouthpiece: I'm just holding the pipe in my mouth whilst I shift gears or do something that requires both hands).
3. Sippuff till my mouth is filled with smoke, then take the pipe away from my mouth at the same time I exhale through my nose the air I inhaled in Step 1: this forces any smoke trying to come down out of my lower and middle airways.
4. Swirl the smoke around my mouth by making pumping motions with my cheeck muscles. Sometimes, this causes some smoke to go up to my nose via the upper airways: the famous 'retrohaling' or 'snorking'.
5. I blow the smoke out. After it's out I exhale again to make sure no smoke remains in my oral cavity or sinuses.
6. Repeat.

No inhalation that way, unless it happens accidentally. I can tell I've inhaled because I start feeling discomfort in my chest and/or a nicotine rush.

 

[saltedplug]

Smoking a pipe some smoke inevitably ends up in the lungs.I started to feel some respiratory distress after about 5 years. After 14 I sensed respiratory degradation to the extent that I knew I should quit. But I didn't know how. As far as I was concerned, I wanted to go out smoking a bowl of Dark Flake in a $25.00 Jobey estate that I adored. At 16 years I had a moment midway through a bowl that if I didn't'
stop smoking I would end up in the hospital.

So I did.

If it is mandatory that no smoke get in your lungs, my opinion is that you should quit. Maybe chew?

 

[mso489]

Great advice from sable and hoosier and others. Habits from the cigarettes are hard to break; I know this not from personal experience but from close association. You have to bring a special presence of mind to smoking a pipe, being careful not to synchronize your intake with your sipping the smoke, and keep the action all in your mouth and letting your windpipe keep out the smoke, a little as you would do swimming but not as prolonged. You'll have to think about it for a while until you get it down. It's decidedly different from cigarettes and must be submitted to muscle memory. You have to actively "do" it, not just hope it happens. I know many Forums members like to retrohale, exhaling the smoke though their nasal passages for extra flavor, but in your case, I'd avoid this habit or you'll tend to inhale too, I'd guess. Myself, I don't retrohale; I get plenty of flavor without it.

 

[gamzultovah]

The feeling in your throat could be nicotine strength. I notice with strong blends I get a full or irritated feeling at The back of my throat. I do not inhale. It also happens at the tail end of a stronger cigar.

+1 Strong nicotine blends (especially Burley blends) will light my throat up, that is why I’m very cautious when smoking Burley. Dunhill had noted this phenomenon when touting Royal Yacht. They wrote: “Pure shade grown Virginias, very soft smoking, particularly recommended in cases of delicate throat.” -1917

 

[PipeIT]

Only use your cheeks to draw the smoke, not your tongue or gullet.

I guess said another way. I Draw with the Mouth, not the Lungs.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I guess said another way. I Draw with the Mouth, not the Lungs.

I just use the same method as drinking from a straw and not how I smoke a cigarette.

 

[STP]

I was thinking about this thread while smoking tonight. As mentioned, inhaling some smoke is inevitable while breathing, but I noticed that I place my tongue in the tip/bore when taking deeper breaths. Perhaps that might help?

 

[tjsgarden]

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE. You guys are great. I am reflecting on what has been shared.
I have smoked a pipe on and off (mostly off) since the mid 1970s. I truly want to smoke and enjoy pipe smoking and minimize the risk to my lungs at the same time. I haven't smoked a cigarette in four days. I am going to earnestly put these valuable ideas to use and share as I progress.

 

[wayneman]

So, this thread has produced some questions for me. I’ve smoked a pipe for years. Normally just one bowl every morning. I love a huge cup of coffee and a bowl of nightcap first thing. I have always let the smoke sort of hang around me so I can purposely breath in a little. Or breath in a tiny bit with my nose until I feel the first little sting in my nose and then exhale. I am never actually inhaling like I would a cigarette (which I quit 25 years ago), but I am inhaling very small amounts either accidentally or on purpose.
I thought all pipe smokers did this until reading this thread. I guess I was wrong?

 

[BROBS]

So, this thread has produced some questions for me. I’ve smoked a pipe for years. Normally just one bowl every morning. I love a huge cup of coffee and a bowl of nightcap first thing. I have always let the smoke sort of hang around me so I can purposely breath in a little. Or breath in a tiny bit with my nose until I feel the first little sting in my nose and then exhale. I am never actually inhaling like I would a cigarette (which I quit 25 years ago), but I am inhaling very small amounts either accidentally or on purpose.
I thought all pipe smokers did this until reading this thread. I guess I was wrong?

Yeah, nope. You’re inhaling.

 

[Sloopjohnbee]

i think in summation - almost nearly impossible not to inhale a bit of smoke while 'smoking'

 

[cosmicfolklore]

When I am deep in the thralls of clenching and breath smoking, someone will inevitably walk up to me and ask me a question. I notice that when I remove my pipe and talk, that I release a lot of smoke as I talk. My wife accused me of inhaling early in my piping. But, It is merely using the gullet to keep air flowing slowly though the pipe and into my mouth when smoking. As I breath naturally, my gullet in my throat will naturally expand and contract as I breath through my nose. This acts as a passive pump that keeps the pipe lit and the smoking happening.

Great blues singers and even the great opera singer Pavaratti used pipe smoking as a way of keeping vocal chords relaxed this way.

But, I am not taking the smoke deeper into my lungs. Just my gullet in my neck fills with smoke to keep the pipe regulated. So that, when I talk just after removing my pipe, I seem to exhale smoke.

If this is a problem for someone, they may want to concider... uggg... holding the pipe. I'm not a pipe holding fan. It feels "dainty" and contrived to me. But, I can see the appeal for other smokers. YMMV