Retrohale: yes or no?

[timt]

To me, there's a large leap between french inhaling and retrohaling. I won't french inhale at all but will constantly retrohale.

 

[economistandfisherman]

To me, there's a large leap between french inhaling and retrohaling

I think there is a misconception that french inhalers take a large amount of smoke into the lungs, and thats simply not true for most of us. In fact, I probably inhale far less smoke than you do overall, even though I take a small amount of it into my lungs which you don't. French inhaling is more like second hand smoking...

 

[jpmcwjr]

Tim- Could you expand on that? Not understanding the (major) differences.

 

[timt]

French inhaling is pulling smoke into the lungs, retrohaling isn't.

 

[5star]

I sometimes ‘snork’ (a term I’ve seen used by pipesmokers for retrohaling) a couple of times during the bowl. This will usually be done when smoking a blend new to me. It helps intensify flavors that I might not notice otherwise.

 

[bullet08]

i thought retrohale was exhaling the smoke through nose. french is inhaling smoke through nose. i retrohale cigar/vape/cigarette fine and enjoy it. but for some reason, pipe smoke isn't as enjoyable.

 

[economistandfisherman]

i thought retrohale was exhaling the smoke through nose. french is inhaling smoke through nose

Retrohale is when you take in a puff and push it out through your nose via your upper air passages thereby bypassing your lower respiratory system that leads to your lungs, etc. French inhaling is when you take the same puff but immediately blow it back out your mouth in such a way that as the smoke travels upward, you breath in through your nose thereby taking in some of the smoke you just blew out; this process does lead to some smoke going into your upper lung area. That said, with regard to how much smoke is touching respiratory membranes in general, retrohaling is far worse as the entire puff touches part of the lining of your upper airways, while with french inhaling, in general, only a small portion get ingested (unless, that is, you really focus your efforts on taking in as much as the puff as possible like people who vape do, but with pipe smokers, we generally just want to take in enough to taste the aroma so to speak, so it's very little of the puff that gets inhaled through the nose). Some may argue that the former is better for you because the smoke doesn't go into the lungs, I would argue that it depends where you live. If you live in a big city and/or a city with a lot of pollution, you probably don't want more chemicals going into your lungs so if that was a concern to you, you should probably retrohale, but if you live in an area like I do which has very clean air, I would much rather come into less contact with the smoke overall by french inhaling (regardless of whether it goes into the lungs) than more by retrohaling; plus, to me, I get a more complete flavor profile than I do by retrohale. But that's just my take on it, everyone has their own opinion of course.

 

[mikethompson]

You guys have got me so confused I don't know what I do anymore! :D
But I roll around the smoke in my mouth and get what I need.

 

[jrenko]

I say yes to both retro and french.

 

[macaroon]

I imagine many of us (myself included) french inhale to some degree unintentionally just by breathing through the nose as we exhale a puff of smoke. But that could arguably be stretching the definition of french inhaling and might be closer to simply inhaling your own second hand smoke.

 

[sablebrush52]

For those who don't, I couldn't recommend it. Why add a wider array of mucosal tissue to your smoke exposure, if you're enjoying your pipe without that?

If you're smoking indoors without a system to vent the smoke, assuming you're still breathing, then you're inhaling the smoke into your lungs through your mouth or nose. So, I'm not sure retrohaling much matters in that instance.
One thing I experience is that after a day at a pipe show, or even a few hours smoking indoors at a pipe club meeting, my lungs feel it and not in a good way.
Had a recent CT scan of my lungs as part of a standard procedure for people in my age group and all was excellent.
I smoke outdoors only, so yes, I enjoy a good snork.

 

[dethmutt]

Grats on the CT. but cmon really? you think by smoking outside your good? Your Smoking!!!! LOL.

 

[sablebrush52]

Grats on the CT. but cmon really? you think by smoking outside your good? Your Smoking!!!! LOL.

Oh hell no. Anyone who thinks smoking is a healthy habit is 52 cards short of a full deck.

 

[dethmutt]

AHHAHHAHAHAHAAHAA Cheers!

 

[bigflo]

I was a cigarette smoker for many years retrohaling is kinda like second nature for me I don’t inhale my pipe but the natural movement of smoke is what I’ve always done

 

[dethmutt]

I just don't see pipe smoking without the retro-hale.. Youll miss so much flavor.