Real Dumb New Guy Question

[perlasca]

Draw smoke into your mouth. With your mouth closed, exhale through your nose.
It is as easy as that. Good luck.

 

[jpmcwjr]

It's easier for me to exhale and then draw the smoke back through the nostrils. That's what I thought retrohaling was, but clearly I am clueless here.

 

[vink]

It's not very necessary to pipe smoking enjoyment and perhaps overrated.

But if you wish to persevere,sip some smoke, close your throat and exhale through your nose.

Keep in mind that your taste buds are not in your nose or lungs however.

I don't think it's overratted at all and you can really taste a lot more flavors that way. No taste buds in the nose but olfactive sensors yes. To me it's a real game changer!

 

[hawke]

I have a friend who tries to exhale out the nose as I have showed him several times. He just cant seem to get it. I wonder if some folks just don't have an open airway between the two maybe?

 

[newbroom]

Retrohale: or exhausting tobacco smoke via the nostrils without first inhaling it into the lungs may or may not enhance the taste aspects or the olfactory aspects but is also a way to extract some nicotine.

Wow! 5 months? We gotta skype!

 

[jaydublin]

If you practice without the smoke you will get it without having to worry about accidentally inhaling smoke. It is very easy to do. Worrying about the smoke choking you makes it seem unnatural. And I believe it greatly enhances flavor detection. My experience is that it enhances perique and Virginia blends the most and Latakia the least.

 

[shikano53]

Jaydublin, It makes sense to me now. I've tried it without smoke and I understand. I'll try it tomorrow (Sunday) with my morning smoke.
Jim, thanks, made me picture it in my minds eye.
Mike, First coffee in the morning I'll call you on Skype.

 

[sablebrush52]

It's not very necessary to pipe smoking enjoyment and perhaps overrated.

Well, as the culprit here, I respectfully disagree. Now mind you, my experience is somewhat limited. I've only been smoking a pipe for the better part of 40 years. But, despite that lack of practical experience and practice, I'm quite sure regarding what I am experiencing. Flavor is a product of both taste and aroma. Try plugging your nose and eating a food, then try the same food with when you have the ability to smell its aroma. The experience is quite different and generally you experience greater flavor. Anyone who has had a severe head cold knows that their sense of "taste" of the foods that they eat is diminished.
I am an outdoor smoker. The only time that I smoke indoors is at a pipe club meeting or when attending a show. So I'm not sitting in a room in an aromatic cloud of smoke. As an outdoor smoker I can't rely on the room to provide me with part of the flavor profile. Indoors, you are getting some of your flavor from that aromatic cloud of smoke around you. You're inhaling the smoke when you breathe in and smelling its aroma along with what you taste in your mouth.
Being an outdoor smoker also means that I've had to experiment with drying times and preparation to find out when a blend will provide me with the most intense taste. No help from the room and the cloud.
Outdoors, I get the aromatic part of the flavor profile from smelling the smoke as I expel it. No static smoke cloud to inhale through my schnoz. And even on those few occasions when I do smoke indoors, my experience of the flavors in the blend I'm smoking is further enhanced when I retrohale. I also get the occasional benefit of not having to smell some other guys choice of skunk weed.
Outdoors, the difference in the extent of what I experience in flavor when I expel the smoke through my nose is profound.

But if you wish to persevere,sip some smoke, close your throat and exhale through your nose.
Keep in mind that your taste buds are not in your nose or lungs however.

But your taste buds are only part of the receptors that allow you to sense flavor. Your olfactive sensors are in your nose and they contribute mightily to what you experience as flavor.

 

[shawnofthedead]

It's easy. Just take a sip, close your lips, and imagine you are pushing the air and smoke from you mouth into your nose. Breathe out through your nose.

 

[pitchfork]

I don't consciously retrohale and though I'm usually an outdoor smoker, I don't notice any benefit from it when I do. In other words, you might find you like it, but it does vary from person to person.

 

[bonehed]

I find this a good article on the subject.

 

[bigpond]

Shikano,
You're not crazy. Snorking is not a natural reflex and it takes a little practice. Once you've got it down it will become second nature and you'll be amongst those above that say it's easy. You don't need a pipe to practice the snork. The trick is to treat the smoke like soda, not air. You can suck soda through a straw without inhaling, right? Same deal
Take a small puff through your open mouth, hold it there for a beat, then close your mouth and exhale through your nose. It can help to press your tongue gently against the roof of your mouth on the exhale.

 

[shikano53]

First, thank you all who have responded and provided me with their comments. Well I just came in from the garage from smoking a bowl of Acadian Perique and the technique works beautifully. I don't know if Acadian Perique is the best blend to try this on first, but it was a new experience and now that I at least know how it works I am going to keep doing it. Sable, I smoke mostly in the garage and outdoors. I have found that smoking outdoors is exactly as you commented. Even the slightest breeze wafts the smoke away. As a new pipe smoker and having smoked through the summer and now into the fall and cooler temperatures, I have discovered another phase of smoking a pipe, at least in Canada where the temps change seasonally. The smoke from my pile no longer sinks to the garage floor and out the door. It rises quite quickly due to the much cooler temperatures now and there is much more condensation in the stem and bowl. Again, being a new guy I can only imagine what it will be like when the temps really bottom out. But it's all part of the curve. My wife thinks I'm crazy to crawl out of a warm bed, strip naked in the garage, shiver, and put on my smoking attire just to smoke a bowl of tobacco.

Anyway all, thank you so much for enabling me to cross another milestone on my adventure.

Kindly

Chris

 

[deathmetal]

A forum member who I highly respect suggested that I try, "pushing the smoke out through your nose."

Simple answer: shut mouth, blow gently through nose. This will draw the smoke up through the sinuses.
JimInks and I agree on this issue. Not only is it not necessary, but in my view, can mute your ability to taste flavors.
Unless you are smoking right behind the draw of a powerful fan -- blowing the other direction -- you will get some smoke floating around the nose, from behind or out the mouth. It's all you need.
I tend to prefer to taste with the mouth and ambient scent.
There needs to be a "transcendental meditation for pipe smokers" class that teaches meditative breathing. Breath control is the key to life after all.

 

[jpmcwjr]

If "retrohale" is expelling smoke out the nostrils, what the hell is inhaling it after expelling it from the mouth?
And is such a good practice? A waste of time? Only good for x type of mixtures? A joy? Work of Satan? Socially unacceptable? Irretrievably cool? Hipster?
Explain your answer, 250 words or less.

 

[shikano53]

Please let me clarify. I was curious about the technique. My preferred smoking method is to simply smoke, and once I have exhaled, enjoy the sensory feed from my nose as I lean into the smoke and taste.

 

[Chasing Embers]

If "retrohale" is expelling smoke out the nostrils, what the hell is inhaling it after expelling it from the mouth?

French inhaling.

 

[Chasing Embers]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta6M_g_X0D8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[fmgee]

Chris try it with Margate as the olfactory senses really enhance the orientals in this blend.

 

[tarheel1]

As is said earlier and as singembers said it is french inhale.