No, I don't inhale. I do a lot of exhaling from the nose, though, because it tastes so much better that way.
You're retrohaling. The nicotine is getting absorbed by your sinuses epithelium whose surface area is larger than the mouth's. That may be a factor. Please, don't do that with a cigar.
I bought 1-Q because people said it was not goopy and very mildly flavored, and I have to agree. It's the driest aromatic I've had, and its flavoring lasts about 20 seconds.
1-Q.... dry? REALLY??? 1-Q has to be among the goopiest blends out there. Lane's blends are famous for their goopiness and for being nigh-impossible to dry, which is why they leave a soggy mess in the pipe afterwards. The amount of humectants the blenders add to the tobacco has a lot to do with this. These additives also tend to leave a chemical aftertaste on the tongue; that's why I say BCA doesn't stand for 'Black CAvendish' but for 'Big/Bad Chemical Aftertaste'! Propyleneglycol (PG) is one of those culprits: the chief one. Which brings me to your next question.
What is PG, and is it bad for you?
Propyleneglycol is a humectant. It's not toxic, but it makes the tobacco mighty goopy and some people can taste it and it ruins the experience for them; some other people might be sensitive to it and get some physical symptoms, such as nausa, methinks. It won't kill you or make you sick (unless you're sensitive or allergic to it), but your pipe will hate you for the sopping mess PC will leave in it.
I was being facetious in my previous comment about a 'PG hit': there's no such thing to my knowledge.
Also, bear in mind that the more moisture build up in the pipe during smoke, the hotter the smoke, and the greater the possibility of tongue burn.
The other day I had half a bowl of Plum Pudding and felt fine. Yesterday I had half a bowl of Carter Hall (a burley, as I'm sure every one of you knows) and felt fine. Granted, both of these pipes were preceded by lots of food. I think that must be my problem; I don't eat much, haha, but when my guest was over from out of town, we did a lot of grilling and stuff.
Yes, nicotine will hit harder on an empty stomach. You should always have something to eat before smoking. There's a reason why cigars are mostly a postprandial delicacy. Some of us can manage a bowl of a mild blend on an empty stomach, but we're not as intolerant to nicotine as you might be.
I'm having Captain Black Royal as I type this. About 2/3 of the way through half a bowl. This stuff is more flavored and more goopy than 1-Q, but I'm not feeling sick or anything.
???
Not being facetious this time.
At the risk of sounding like a jackass**: you're smoking bottom of the barrel stuff, mate. Craptain Black might be popular and ubiquitous but it's one of the most soggiest [sic, for emphasis] pipe tobacco wannabes out there. I think only Borkum Rippoff (Borkum Riff) is worse. Sticking with the likes of Lane's and Captain Bleak it's hardly good, my good man. You know, it's hard to soar with the eagles by hanging around with turkeys.
There are a plethora of aromatics out there that are not soggy, don't taste like naphta balls, have wonderful room note, and are very low in nicotine. Try some
MacBaren Original Choice, which is rated as Very Mild. Also from MacBaren, try the Seven Seas series (their counterstroke to Captain Black, which makes the Captain look like a deck swabbing boy). For classy aromatics try Vauen's Auenland series. Sillem's makes top notch stuff, but it might be a bit stronger.
Note that I'm recommending aromatics because they're normally lower in nicotine than other genres. And also because they rock. ?
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**Also, not trying to put you down for your current smoking choices. I'm really trying to help out here, otherwise I'd just laugh and not take the time to write (and subsequently proofread and correct) a long post. Nicotine doesn't like me either: except that my reaction to it is different: I either feel it or I don't, and when I finally feel it it's always unpleasant. Thankfully, I hardly ever get nicotine effects from a pipe, and I stick mostly to very mild or mild blends—mostly aromatics.
