I Seem to be Inhaling

[phil67]

The idea that one cannot inhale some smoke while smoking a pipe is beyond absurd as it is bound to happen and unavoidable. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only trying to fool themselves. Personally, I intentionally do so, albeit very lightly when I clench the pipe, and also to a light extent while drawing on the pipe. Then again, I smoke cigarettes, much to my shame, but be that as it may.

 

[voorhees]

I do not inhale intentionally, but I do not have a cough either. I do retrohale often and never have had a problem.

 

[lochinvar]

I usually inhale on purpose once or twice a bowl, usually when I have it going good to see what other flavors I can unearth, otherwise its just the occasional wisp that gets in. From about April to August I have a horrible cough, due entirely to my new joy of allergies. No cough in Autumn or Winter.
Depending on where you are in the country, the culprit may be pollen not pipe.

 

[settersbrace]

An occasional, accidental inhale can and does happen but it is not something that goes past unnoticed. When it happens to me I can feel the smoke thumping my chest and it's not like when I smoked cigs, it's unpleasant. I clench and I guess it's my tongue that prevents me from huffing smoke into my lungs. I employ the "breathe smoking" technique but unfortunately, it's much easier for me to do than to describe. I'm sure there are some here that can articulate the method better than I.

 

[macattack]

Stress can mess you up more than some diseases. Hopfully it's just stress related because it's self induced and fixed.
Congrats on getting custody of the little one. Maybe now that you made it over that mountain you can relax a little.
Good luck sir!

 

[murf]

Hey clay pipe you might get some fluid in your ears from congestion. I get it with allergies. Or it could be from clenching.

 

[pipesinperu]

I tend to inhale intentionally a few times a bowl, yet I would say my lungs and throat are in better shape than when I smoked cigarettes. And I was never a heavy smoker.
@claypipes and murf, interesting about the ear stuff. I got some fairly severe fluid buildup behind my eardrum following a cold about three months ago (three months into pipe smoking, at that time). It would gradually get better after a few days, but latakia-based blends seemed to clog that one ear up again. After seeing a few ENT specialists, I found one who was fairly sympathetic to pipe smoking, and he said that if smoking was the cause, I would have problems in both ears. It has gotten to the point that it doesn't bother me too much, but I still have the "crackling" sound in the inner ear from time to time. I'm not a clencher, so I know that's not the problem, and I stay away from lat blends, but it's still lingering months later...

 

[condorlover1]

It happens. Having been a consumptive in my early twenties I cough and hack for a good ten minutes in the morning and then I am good to go for the day. I don't inhale pipe smoke given the sort of tobacco I am partial too. Apart from the odd pack of unfiltered Camel cigarettes a couple of times a year a small cough goes with the pipe smoking territory. It sounds more like a post nasal drip getting on your chest while you sleep. I drove my Quack insane with chest x-ray requests about twenty odd years ago until he figured I had a post nasal drip caused by inhaling other things in a rather sunny part of the world were they make certain stimulants!