Suspicious of Retrohaling...

[pruss]

I taste for a living. Everything that goes into your mouth, or near enough to it, that has enough volatiles to create an aroma will enhance a tasting experience. Without the sensory receptors in your retro nasal chamber you would rely on taste buds on your tongue for discernment: essentially leaving you with sweet, sour, salt, bitter and umami. To graduate from tastes to flavour you’ll need the nose. You will get aromatic impression from smoking orally. You will also get aromatic impression from a retrohale. I often retrohale when smoking a pipe; I never do when smoking a cigar. No one has ever told me that I had to retrohale at all. It’s one of the many facets of this hobby that is entirely a personal choice.

— Pruss

 

[dcon]

Obviously, we should smoke in the manner we find most enjoyable. I will state that, I believe retrohaling definitely enhances the ability to discern flavor/aroma. I recently smoked SG Black Cherry. The tin note was a pronounced cherry. Smoking the tobacco, I initially only tasted a lovely strong tobacco flavor but, little to no cherry. On the retrohale, the cherry came forth in all of its glory. It may not be your cup of tea, but from my standpoint, the enhancement is inarguable.

 

[JohnMosesBrowning]

I retrohale and would say that I get so much more flavor from it that I do it on almost every sip. The point I wanted to respond to however is regarding the notion that we don't do it with wine or spirits. This is false. I "retrohale" for lack of a better term when I am tasting whiskies. If, after you swallow, close your mouth and slowly exhale through your nose, you will pick up all kinds of notes from the whisky that you didn't get from your mouth alone. So, is retrohaling necessary to taste? Seems like an obvious "no." But can or does it accentuate or heighten and further develop the tasting experience? Unequivocally, yes.

 

[ophiuchus]

I find nothing suspicious about retrohaling!

Seriously, though, I love how this topic becomes almost a denominational discussion. ?

I subscribe to the school of retrohaling for greater spectrum of flavor discrimination and nicotine absorption, and that overthought diminishes enjoyment. I do not, however, think that those that only sip are losing out or that overthinking ruins the experience for everyone.

I snork, therefore I ... hell, I use that joke too often.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Hell, they've even found tastebuds in the lungs.

 

[anotherbob]

Hell, they've even found tastebuds in the lungs.

ain't that wild?

 

[hextor]

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.

I do this alot, when I smoke my mm cob, especially with some English tobacco, like Cornell and Diehls Mountain Camp, you can taste all the flavors of the tobacco.

 

[bullet08]

retrohale doesn't do a thing for me. blowing smoke out of my nostrils is just something i did when i smoked cigarettes. so, i do it occasionally. but i don't pick up any specific scent from it at all. i get "tobacco". on the other hand, french smoke does tell somethings. but don't care to inhale now days. get plenty of flavor from my tongue.