The Breath Method as Described by Muttonchop Piper

[brut666]

Sooo ... are people really just going about with their pipe in their mouth the whole smoke through? Wouldn't you just end up unintentionally deep inhaling? Wouldn't it get, umm... what is the technical word for it... slobbery? ?

I guess all the talk about gurgling pipes, which I have yet to experience, makes alot more sense now hah!

Pretty much.
Once that pipe goes in my mouth, it doesn't come out until I taste ash or there's nothing left in the bowl to smoke/enjoy.
Don't really get much or any gurgling, then I do dry my tobacco before each bowl. Never really need to run a pipe cleaner halfway through a smoke either

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

I appreciate that Muttnchop posted the method instruction. However, I have to acknowledge Alan Karslake for his contribution. I found Alan almost 7 years ago. He greatly helped me through my Captain Black burnt tongue days early on...RIP ?️

 

[Grangerous]

Should you envy and emulate the clench through the entire smoke guys?

I do! Lol Rock Stars all! Authors and Jewelers, Watchmakers, Over the road Truckers, Outdoorsmen, Scientists and College Professors. Heroes of the Briar.

As ChasingEmbers says, you’ll get your aha moment when you’re not looking for it. Your rhythm and method will come to you.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

The more you write about it the less you enjoy it.

 

[pappymac]

Don't know how I missed this discussion until now. I had the "breathe" method explained to me a few years ago (after 40+ years of just putting the pipe in my mouth and smoking it) and found that it did indeed slow my cadence down and made a smoke last longer. Since then I won two long smoke competition and finished in the top four on two others.

I find that the slower I smoke, the more I enjoy it.

 

[TimeKiller]

I wouldn’t be a pipe smoker without help from this forum seven years ago.

Yea of course there is alot of truth to that, certainly true for me too, and history had it's own version of the forums and teaching methods, but they were more direct and personalized.

I can imagine a young kid somewhere in history, struggling with his first cheap pipe. Then an stately gentleman, watching in amusement, tells him, "you gotta tamp the ash, son", and demonstrates with his own princely pipe. Kid grabs an old nail, tries it, and of course his experience improves exponentially. That exchange might only have lasted for 15 seconds, quite different than reading forum reviews for hours, or watching your Nth youtube video, but he'll always be influenced by advice from the dude that can taste how cloudy it was the day his tobacco was harvested.

It is an esoteric craft, we can't pretend like the little bits and pieces are obvious or intuitive, and the information isn't handed down like it used to be. You know there are alot of things, recipes and such, from colonial, or pre-industrial period, where the few written instructions we have will say something like, "prepare in the usual manner". It was so obvious and widespread for them at the time, that they didn't bother writing it down, and now it's lost to history.

Maybe in modern times, some of the stuff suffers from "over-explaining" or beating the topic near to death, but where else would it come from? Sometimes I feel like I couldn't watch instructions on how to change a light bulb without someone trying to do a cost/benefit analysis of the different types of lighting.

But ahh that is the age we are living in, might as well laugh at it a little and be thankful it's a thing of abundance and not scarcity.

 

[pauls456]

One great thing about the breath method is that it incorporates a gentle retrohale with every exhalation.

One disadvantage I find is that the constant inhalation and exhalation through the pipe tends to heat up the bowl, moreso than just inhaling through the pipe. But this can be overcome by slowing down one's cadence, and ashing the bowl at least once.

 

[kgs]

Does the breath method cause you to inhale smoke? If I have smoke in my mouth and then I breathe into my lungs through my nose the smoke in my mouth travels into my lungs. It is for this reason I avoid using the breath method.

 

[BarrelProof]

Wait until the a-ha moment when you realize nearly any tobacco can be successfully and equally enjoyed in any well drilled pipe.

Many of us started smoking a pipe with no other smokers around several years before the arrival of the internet. You would have found your way.?

Yeah, but where's that video? Is that one of the ones that got deleted?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Does the breath method cause you to inhale smoke?

How would it do that? You're using your breath as a metronome for smoking, not drawing.

If I have smoke in my mouth and then I breathe into my lungs through my nose the smoke in my mouth travels into my lungs.

Can you breathe through your nose with a drink on your mouth? Same thing.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yeah, but where's that video? Is that one of the ones that got deleted?

Got compared too much to muttonhack so no more posting that one.

 

[BarrelProof]

Got compared too much to muttonhack so no more posting that one.

Understandable. But man, some chops might counterbalance the pipes!!

 

[Chasing Embers]

Understandable. But man, some chops might counterbalance the pipes!!

All I can do is a mustache.

 

[pauls456]

Inhaling smoke into the lungs is a valid concern, but in practice it does not occur. Shallow breathing is key to making this work, just the same as the other ways of pipe smoking. I've noticed that the correct way corresponds to 'abdominal breathing', also called diaphragmatic breathing.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Inhaling smoke into the lungs is a valid concern, but in practice it does not occur. Shallow breathing is key to making this work, just the same as the other ways of pipe smoking. I've noticed that the correct way corresponds to 'abdominal breathing', also called diaphragmatic breathing.

I just breath as I normally do and let the smoke follow my exhale out through my nose.

 

[bullet08]

One great thing about the breath method is that it incorporates a gentle retrohale with every exhalation.

One disadvantage I find is that the constant inhalation and exhalation through the pipe tends to heat up the bowl, moreso than just inhaling through the pipe. But this can be overcome by slowing down one's cadence, and ashing the bowl at least once.

You don't have to exhale through the pipe. Slow stream of smoke comes into mouth as you need it, but you can separate that from breathing through nose. It's like circular breathing.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Try this. Put the pipe in your mouth after lighting it. And, if you play a guitar, piano... or if you can juggle... or if you could just drive down a road with a lot of curves and pot holes that you have to miss... or do anything that keeps your hands busy and your brain focused on something else... just leave the pipe in your clench... and with your brain busy and you hands not able to remove the pipe... you are breath smoking... probably.

For some people it is smarter to think about this process, like learning in slow motion how to shift a stick shifter. Then later you will be able to just do it without thinking latter on.

But, for some people thinking isn't their strong points, and maybe these just need to learn on the go.

This is about the most simple damn thing there is to smoking, and it just blows some people's minds. If it freaks you out that you might inhale, don't inhale. If you are scared of blowing back through your pipe, then get over that stupid thought. If I can put on a suit and tie and carry a pipe in my clench all day without setting myself on fire, or coughing my head off inhaling pipe smoke, then just about any other idiot can do this as well.

If you have to hold your pipe in your hands, because you can't bring yourself to let go of it, then do what you got to do. It's really not worth this much thought.

Just keep your pipe in your clench, and mysteriously, it will smoke to the bottom, or go out. If it goes out... guess what you do... You relight it. YES!!! It's really that easy.

 

[canucklehead]

Try this. Put the pipe in your mouth after lighting it. And, if you play a guitar, piano... or if you can juggle... or if you could just drive down a road with a lot of curves and pot holes that you have to miss... or do anything that keeps your hands busy and your brain focused on something else... just leave the pipe in your clench... and with your brain busy and you hands not able to remove the pipe... you are breath smoking... probably.

For some people it is smarter to think about this process, like learning in slow motion how to shift a stick shifter. Then later you will be able to just do it without thinking latter on.

But, for some people thinking isn't their strong points, and maybe these just need to learn on the go.

This is about the most simple damn thing there is to smoking, and it just blows some people's minds. If it freaks you out that you might inhale, don't inhale. If you are scared of blowing back through your pipe, then get over that stupid thought. If I can put on a suit and tie and carry a pipe in my clench all day without setting myself on fire, or coughing my head off inhaling pipe smoke, then just about any other idiot can do this as well.

If you have to hold your pipe in your hands, because you can't bring yourself to let go of it, then do what you got to do. It's really not worth this much thought.

Just keep your pipe in your clench, and mysteriously, it will smoke to the bottom, or go out. If it goes out... guess what you do... You relight it. YES!!! It's really that easy.

I learned breath smoking one day when I had a cop driving right beside me in stop and go traffic for 10-15 minutes obviously watching me smoke. Distracted driving fines being pretty hefty here I just left the pipe in my mouth and ignored it, and it started smoking better and gave me more flavour than before.

 

[Worknman]

How would it do that? You're using your breath as a metronome for smoking, not drawing.





Can you breathe through your nose with a drink on your mouth? Same thing.

Water is heavier than smoke. I suspect if you have a smoke filled pipe in your mouth and breathe thru your nose some smoke will get pulled in via suction.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Water is heavier than smoke. I suspect if you have a smoke filled pipe in your mouth and breathe thru your nose some smoke will get pulled in via suction.

Can you not fill your mouth with air and breathe without drawing the air from your mouth?