Inhaling question

[jxr182]

Hey guys. I'm maybe 10 bowls into my new hobby and loving it. Former cigarette smoker (although not too recent) so I have that natural desire to inhale, so I'm consciously monitoring my draws, trying to teach myself not to inhale.

I guess my question is about technique, and I know everyone's going to have a different opinion, but I guess that's what I'm looking for. Short of inhaling into the lungs, there is a point where I can move the smoke from my mouth just to the back of my throat, maybe down a little bit? That's the point I can't tell what's going on. I feel a throat hit (which I enjoy) but I don't feel like the smoke is going down. Am I fooling myself? Is this a cheating way to say I'm not inhaling? It shouldn't matter much, but given my lengthy cig history, and what I foresee as many years of pipe smoking, I just want to be limiting my exposure. Since I'm still learning, it should be easy to train any technique I decide to go with.

Thanks

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Work on retrohaling, that is, taking the smoke in to your mouth and expelling it through your nose.
That technique will deliver the fullest flavor and quite a bit of satisfaction.

 

[PaulRVA]

In through your mouth and occasionally out through the nose.
You’ll get the same effect / fix
as with cigs but without the inhalation.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

If I feel a “throat hit” it’s a signal I’m puffing away for some reason. Sipping and retrohale and the not drawing too far “down” has become pretty much second nature. You may just need to be more intentional until you don’t need to be, IMO.

 

[proteus]

My take is to breathe in through your nose with your mouth closed around the stem. Venturi effect brings in smoke with your inhale. Hold it a half second and slowly exhale through open mouth. I rarely retrohale but do a half retrohale perhaps inhaling a bit of the last exhaled smoke through nose when I am inhaling for the next puff. You might say I'm playing with the smoke a bit. I pick up on small flavor nuances this way.

 

[Auxsender]

Hey guys. I'm maybe 10 bowls into my new hobby and loving it. Former cigarette smoker (although not too recent) so I have that natural desire to inhale, so I'm consciously monitoring my draws, trying to teach myself not to inhale.

I guess my question is about technique, and I know everyone's going to have a different opinion, but I guess that's what I'm looking for. Short of inhaling into the lungs, there is a point where I can move the smoke from my mouth just to the back of my throat, maybe down a little bit? That's the point I can't tell what's going on. I feel a throat hit (which I enjoy) but I don't feel like the smoke is going down. Am I fooling myself? Is this a cheating way to say I'm not inhaling? It shouldn't matter much, but given my lengthy cig history, and what I foresee as many years of pipe smoking, I just want to be limiting my exposure. Since I'm still learning, it should be easy to train any technique I decide to go with.

Thanks

Welcome to the hobby and to this forum! We’re glad you’re here.

None of us could possibly know what’s really going on in your mouth/throat/lungs/sinuses.
People will tell you what they like to do which is absolutely valid and useful but whether or not you’re inhaling or not is, in my opinion, unknowable by anyone but you.

 

[nathaniel]

My take is to breathe in through your nose with your mouth closed around the stem. Venturi effect brings in smoke with your inhale. Hold it a half second and slowly exhale through open mouth. I rarely retrohale but do a half retrohale perhaps inhaling a bit of the last exhaled smoke through nose when I am inhaling for the next puff. You might say I'm playing with the smoke a bit. I pick up on small flavor nuances this way.

This is exactly how i smoke. Retrohale (out through nose) is a far more distorted taste than a wafting and subtle French inhale as described here. Sure, it inhales a bit into the lungs probably, but the taste is unbeatable.

 

[proteus]

@nathaniel so that's what's it called! French inhale. It happened by accident for me and I noticed flavors I did not know before. So I kept doing it.

 

[nathaniel]

@nathaniel so that's what's it called! French inhale. It happened by accident for me and I noticed flavors I did not know before. So I kept doing it.

French inhale is the trick name for when one sharply inhales all smoke exhaled through the mouth into the nose. It looks cool. But what i (and yourself i assume) do, is much more subtle. There's no real exhalation from the mouth by the lungs of course but more of just allowing the smoke to gently waft out of the mouth by the slow displacement of tongue to roof movement i think. And rather than inhaling through the nose, per se, its more just kinda smelling the smoke as it wafts out.

It's the gentleman's way. Far superior to other more barbarous so-called "methods".

 

[El Capitán]

I happen to agree with everyone here. Both the French Inhale and the retrohaling technique both limit the complete intake of smoke into the lungs.