Suspicious of Retrohaling...

[tobefrank]

I have never worked out how to snork/retrohale. I just use my lower lip to direct the smoke towards my nose and sniff it as it comes past.

This is not always easy when it is windy outside. It is necessary to get the most flavour out of the smoke though.

 

[travellersczech]

Without question your (my) sinuses add significantly to your (my) ability to taste. Having eaten extremely spicy foods for a very long time, without retro-haling I may as well smoke cardboard. Those who have had tonsillectomies have an advantage for retro-haling in my opinion and personal experience. I personally don't think there is a doubt that it imparts much more of a favorable flavor experience. The only downside to it I've ever experienced in the past was not only a scorched tongue with a poor smoke, but a minute sore throat as well. I don't think there are set rules on how to smoke correctly. If you don't need a piece of ice after your smoke and decide to return to it, by all means it works for you.

 

[warren]

zod: You can make the pipe as simple or as complicated as you wish. There are no hard and fast rules. All you need to do is ask someone who has lost their sense of smell or had it surgically removed. Without the nose, the ability to taste is seriously impaired.

It's a matter of personal satisfaction. I get sufficient enjoyment from my pipe simply smoking it. I've never felt the need to do the so-called "retrohale."

 

[warren]

The chemosensory system doesn't involve the sinuses. The sinuses are simply air filled cavities, nothing to do with taste that I'm aware of.

 

[sablebrush52]

What I'm trying to appreciate is, why is this standard process of tasting, as you just described it, sufficient for food, wines and spirits, but yet tobacco needs to be retrohaled to be fully appreciated (as some would suggest)?

Well, smoke IS a different substance. It's a vapor, not a solid, so that may have something to do with it. I snork to get the flavor notes that I don't pick up by mouth. And, moisture content of the blend has an effect for me as well. I get the best flavors when I'm keeping the tobacco simmering at the edge of going out. Drier tobacco helps me do that.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

This topic comes up often among cigar smokers, and not surprisingly I'm seeing it popping up in the pipe world. What I find odd is, every discussion about retrohaling's benefits begins by talking about how we "taste with our nose" and how "you can't taste anything if you hold your nose closed". Both of these arguments seem fairly suspicious. To follow that analogy forward, we don't push food, fine wines or aged spirits through our nose, yet no one questions whether or not we're testing them fully. Further, unlike food, wine and spirits, the nose is constantly surrounded by the smoke; both externally and internally, in a way nothing else is. So I'm curious as to why tasting tobacco fully is dependent on a deliberate action that no other substance is dependent on. I feel like there must be a part of this process I'm simply not appreciating. Thanks.

You seem to have significant misunderstandings about how the human body "tastes" things: your ears, nose, and mouth work together as a single "system", if you will. Trying to avoid the risk of being wrong and spewing misinformation (looks like you have enough of those replies), I'll just suggest you take a look into the relevant anatomy texts.

 

[logs]

I tend to agree. Retrohaling never seems to provide any extra scent or flavor for me personally. It mostly just irritates my nasal passage and makes me want to sneeze.

 

[augiebd]

This is an interesting discussion. My Dad was a heavy smoker, mainly cigarettes, occasionally cigars. He regularly would retrohale and I always thought of it as something I would not enjoy. Recently, I have tried the retrohale by accident a few times. The experience has been more pleasant than expected. Now I need to learn to retrohale on purpose more consistently. Even then, I would probably only do it 2-3 times a bowl.

 

[anotherbob]

Forgetting for a moment that all the points you made had already been offered and discussed (I take it you never had a reading class?), it's interesting you feel it necessary to answer a genuine question, asked in a Beginner's Forum, with snark and sarcasm. But hey man, you do you. Cheers.

sorry wasn't trying to be a jerk. Trying to be a little funny yes and missing the mark very widely. But my point is there is a lot of anatomical basis in theory that would really explain why a retrohale would increase the perception of certain flavors. It's really basic for a small segment of the population. Also I am from central PA and trust me they put something in the water here that over stimulates the undiscovered snark centers in the brain (that's my theory and I am sticking with it). Cheers.

 

[anotherbob]

The nose is closely integrated with our sense of taste. Does food taste the same with a stuffed up nose? Have you ever pinched your nostrils in order to down something that tastes bad? You don't necessarily have to do a traditional retrohale but if even if you sort of open your sinuses while puffing you'll extract more flavor.

I don't retrohale it seems gross, but if I have a cold pipe tobacco taste really bland and flat.

 

[Epip Oc'Cabot]

That's an interesting way to think about it. Two follow-up questions

1. Wouldn't you get all of those aromas through the internal connection between mouth and nose, without the deliberate action of retrohaling?
2. Wouldn't you also get those aromas on the exhale?

Thanks again.


On this point, I'm clear. I fully appreciate that I'm tasting the nuances of my food with my nose. However, that doesn't fully explain why I can taste everything else on the planet, using both my mouth and my nose, without additionally retrohaling it. It strikes me as odd that the only substance on the planet that needs to be physically pushed through the nose, in order to engage the nose, is tobacco smoke. It's this last point I'm hung up on. Cheers.

To my manner of thinking, your thought that we do NOT inhale aromas is false. When most of us smell something we call “good” (say fresh baked bread), we will very frequently inhale deeply that aroma.

When folks “retrohale” through their nose it is simply getting the smoke to pass more directly across the nasal epithelial layer containing the receptors for smell.... it is the exact same patch folks who inhale deeply the smell of fresh baked bread do.

“Retrohaling” just moves the odors across that layer in the reverse direction because the odor is in our mouth. Many folks “retrohale” other odorants as well because they are more available when in the mouth.... wine for example.... the oral cavity warms the volatiles in the wine and “retrohaling” wine vapor in the mouth imparts more odors than just the wine at external room temperature. Same with whiskey. And, I would bet many “chef” types could attest to other foods that would impart more odorants via “retrohaling”.

 

[renfield]

The receptors in the “nose” aren’t the same as the taste buds on your tongue. They compliment each other in their sensitivities. Getting a bit of the smoke stream into the olfactory organs will allow you to experience more of what’s going on in the bowl. Whether you do so intentionally and whether you enjoy it is up to you.

Personally, I find some blends boring unless I more actively retrohale them. Others are unpleasant when retrohaled.

 

[Frozenoak]

I just discovered I can do this. It burnt my nose. It’s not on my list of things to try again.

 

[smokiespipesmoker123]

I’ve tried, I can’t do it

 

[logs]

I just discovered I can do this. It burnt my nose. It’s not on my list of things to try again.

Yup. I've been there. I've learned to do it with more ease and less drama but even so it feels like a parlor trick more than anything else.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I just discovered I can do this. It burnt my nose. It’s not on my list of things to try again.

Perhaps you blew out too much smoke too quickly. My nose burns as well if I do that. If I sip and exhale slowly, no burn.

 

[sablebrush52]

I'm finding it very interesting to see the validity of snorking being questioned, first because it's a widespread and long time practice and secondly because there's really no way to legitimately say that the practice is either valid or invalid.

From my personal experience snorking provides me with a much wider range of flavors because I'm using a group of senses. I've never experienced any difficulty in doing it, never experienced the slightest discomfort from doing it, so it's a valid practice - for me.

For others who find no benefit from it, can't manage to do it, don't know how to do it, and/or experience discomfort from doing it, snorking is an invalid practice - for them.

Nobody is in a position to declare one way or another as an absolute.

 

[brian64]

I'm definitely in the retrohaling enhances flavor camp...but I'll go a step further and say that I think all of our senses work together in ways that are not really understood.

We've had discussions here before, for example, regarding how seeing the smoke is somehow related to fully tasting it. Just as with the current discussion, not everyone agrees, but many do. I know that when I've tried closing my eyes while smoking I often notice a reduction in taste perception.

 

[unkleyoda]

For me, I get the best flavor when I retrohale. I do it on nearly every puff.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'm definitely in the retrohaling enhances flavor camp...but I'll go a step further and say that I think all of our senses work together in ways that are not really understood.

We've had discussions here before, for example, regarding how seeing the smoke is somehow related to fully tasting it. Just as with the current discussion, not everyone agrees, but many do. I know that when I've tried closing my eyes while smoking I often notice a reduction in taste perception.

If not occupied with something else while smoking, I'll be reclined in my chair smoking with my eyes closed. I can put more focus on smoking and the taste intensifies.