Nicotine Absorption

[Sacred_summit]

Title edited for caps and brevity. Original:

"How long does it take for the nicotine from smoke to be absorbed in your mouth?"

BTW, Welcome! Please introduce yourself in thread for that purpose.

Hello everyone. I hope everybody is having a fabulous day I have been reading this forum for days and days, it has amazing information!
I'm incredibly grateful to say that 6 weeks ago, I was able to quit vaping nicotine and picked up pipe smoking instead (I had a SERIOUS addiction, I was vaping 24/7 and at a minimum 120+mg of nicotine daily) I suffered some MAJOR withdrawals for a long time as I eased into the pipe. Today I'm happily 100% pipe baby!
Now I have been researching forever... Including reading peer-reviewed studies from pub.md to try and find out how long it takes for all or most of the nicotine from smoke to be absorbed in the mouth/sinus cavity when pipe smoking. I have had no luck.
I've learned about PH levels, how the body will absorb the nicotine, how to smoke a pipe slowly etc., but not my huge question.

To summarize

If you hold pipe smoke in your mouth for 2 seconds, vs 5 seconds, vs 10 seconds, vs 20 seconds before exhaling.
Or, if you retrohale through your nose throughout say 2 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds ETC.
For holding it in your mouth. Does anybody really know how many seconds it takes to absorb the majority of the nicotine from the smoke in your mouth before your good to release it?
And the same question goes for how long it needs to stay in your sinuses as it slowly passes.
At the end of the day, I take a slow draw, hold my pipe with my mouth slightly open and let the smoke just kinda sit and linger as it slowly goes out of my mouth, eventually I finish with retrohale. I figure the longer the better period. Never the less, I'd actually like to get to the bottom of this. Thus I'd know that after 5 seconds? or 10 seconds? I've gotten as much nicotine as I can from the bit thats in my mouth and its now safe for me to release the smoke before bringing fresh smoke into my mouth.
Thanks guys! I really appreciate your help.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

Welcome from PA.

A lot has to do with the way you smoke and the tobacco you smoke. If you sip on Lane 1Q for an hour, you prob wouldn't feel the effects. But if you freight train HH Rustica or many of the G&H ropes for 15 mins, you might want to have a bucket and a bed handy...lol. Of course, a person's tolerance to nicotine would change some of this. Retrohaling definitely adds to the nic intake, but as for how long holding smoke in your mouth, I'm not sure if anyone has an answer for that.

I'm sure some of the more seasoned vets here might have a better take, but that's my 2 cents.

 

[fireground_piper]

Tobacco type will play a big factor. It's generally stated that types like Cavendish and Latakia have minimal nicotine to begin with due to the processing so it's good to keep that in mind.

 

[elvishrunes]

good question... For me it’s about 2 inches of tobacco or 3/4 of a medium cigar. So if I smoke a bowl that is one inch deep, I need to reload and smoke another before I catch a buzz. If I smoke a 2 inch deep bowl, near the bottom. Not as quick as you might think, and yes tobacco strength is important of course.

 

[upnorth1]

Maybe you’re smoking the wrong thing?

 

[warren]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate your help.

Wouldn't you think it depends on your physiology? Not mine?

 

[hoipolloiglasgow]

You don't need to hold the smoke in for multiple seconds. You can let it slowly escape you, but I wouldn't hold it in for "seconds". By taking sips, I start to feel the nicotine for a medium strength blend in 10-20 mins. By 25 mins I have peaked and it continues til the end of the bowl. For strong blends it takes about 10 mins to start really feeling it and it peaks at 15-20 mins. For light blends it may take as much as 30-35 mins for me to reach the peak of the buzz.

 

[Coreios]

If you use blending Ky. Fire Cured it WILL give you your nic fix. You will get sick if you smoke more than half of a bowl. Most people would prob get sick in a few puffs. I used to smoke 3 to 4 packs of full flavors a day now I'm down to 2 and I can assure you you'll get your nic fix.

 

[Auxsender]

I personally do not care for nicotine but I love pipe smoking. I suspect if you’re after nicotine in the pipe world, it’s more about blends you choose and less about technique used.
Research high nic blend components like Rustica Nicotiana.
Research high nic blends like Gawith Hoggarth and Co. Brown Rope Twist or HH Rustica.
Best of luck.

 

[bullet08]

I don't think any active pipe smoker has volunteered to get dissected a moment after first puff. We could use convicts waiting for the chair, but smoking pipe has this steep learning curve..

 

[canucklehead]

It can vary greatly day to day, even if you are smoking the same tobacco at the same speed from the same pipe. Your body's hydration levels and what you have recently eaten or drank can make significant differences, your mouth's PH levels changed from acidic drinks, mucus layer effected by alcohol, etc, etc. Far too many variables to be that specific.

After you smoke for a while (like a year) it becomes more automatic, and you figure out how to achieve the desired results without overthinking the details as much.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

We are getting way more nicotine from a pipe than a cigarette, but the fact that it is slower over a longer period of time kind of helps us not see the same addictive qualities as smoking cigarettes. Cigarettes are fast acting, acidic smoke taken quickly into the lungs. The actually relaxation we get from smoking is the long slow increase in nicotine we get over the hour or so that we smoke. And, the slower we smoke, the more time we give it to keep being absorbed.

As far as "how fast" that really depends on your personal smoking style.

 

[Servant King]

42.

 

[kcghost]

Bud, you are worried way too much about something that is really trivial. I think you might be better off pursuing some other hobby.

 

[anotherbob]

it's in your blood stream almost instantly. It just takes a while to get from your mouth to your brain compared to a cig or snuff which go into the blood stream about the same rate but head right for the brain. But guess what tons of variables. What you've eaten what your resting heart rate is etc... How long you are i.e. how long it has to travel to your brain.

 

[kola]

Never paid attention to it and don't care to. Inhale cigars if you want a good nic hit.

 

[King Bulldog]

Since the muscosal membranes absorb chemicals faster than anywhere else in the body, then I'd say it's near instantaneous. Now pipe tobacco usually has a lower nicotine content than other forms of consumption. So if you're looking for a buzz from nicotine you should try N. rustica. It had 9xs the amount of nicotine than most other tobaccos.

 

[sardonicus87]

Since the muscosal membranes absorb chemicals faster than anywhere else in the body, then I'd say it's near instantaneous. Now pipe tobacco usually has a lower nicotine content than other forms of consumption. So if you're looking for a buzz from nicotine you should try N. rustica. It had 9xs the amount of nicotine than most other tobaccos.

This isn't exactly the case. Pipe tobacco has a higher nicotine content than cigarettes for example, but absorption in the mouth and nose isn't as efficient as in the lungs.

And average 1-3 gram bowl of pipe tobacco contains an average of 30-50 mg of nicotine while a 1 gram cigarette contains 10-15 mg of nicotine. However, a cigarette usually results in absorbing about 1 mg of nicotine in 5-10 minutes, whereas a bowl of pipe tobacco results in about 0.5 mg of nicotine absorbed in the span of 45 minutes to an hour.

 

[OzPiper]

I don’t like Nic hits
I smoke for the flavour and not the “buzz”

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

What !
You’re saying that there’s money to be made with nicotine suppositories

Suddenly the expression "blow smoke up someone's ___" becomes clear!