The Breath Method as Described by Muttonchop Piper
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I too have had my mouth left beaten up. I've been using a hybrid of the breathing method and sipping. I'm enjoying my third bowl today without beating my mouth up.
I have just started using this method and it didn’t take me long to catch on, nor to realize how it can be confusing. I think part of the issue is the name “breath technique” is somewhat problematic even though it IS descriptive. I have found the secret for me to opening up the whole thing was someone who wrote that you are using your throat and mouth as a sort of bellows such as one would use to keep a fire lit. That’s when I GOT IT. You are tending the bowl/ember. How you actually go about using the technique can be variable, but it’s an amazing tool for cadence and just as an alternative to puffing away freely which for beginners can lead to overheating and all of the other attendant issues that “stem” from it. The only issues I had with this technique was a tendency at first to sip too hard on the stem and either swallow smoke or have too much smoke build up in my mouth. The key (for me) was taking very deliberate but small sips at the pipe. The only other issue which happens to also be a strength is that with this method you might end up with smoke in your mouth for longer than by just puffing away. What this tends to do is accentuate all of the flavors in a particular tobacco. So, for instance, if you have allot of perique, you might tend to get allot of spice. Same with all other aspects of a blend, such as smokiness from Latakia. But overall , it’s a game changer !
The other aspect of the breath method is that it’s an entire new wholistic way of viewing pipe smoking. You start to view the entire system (pipe, mouth, nose, gullet, throat) as a whole. The pipe truly becomes an extension of one’s mouth and nose and you begin to understand the way pressure and air flow interact. Once you master the technique or rather once it becomes instinct, you can play with it by altering any one variable to serve your desired smoking method at the moment. Furthermore, you can alter these things on the fly, instantaneously.
He butchered it, surprised he hasn't burned holes in his pipes the way he smokes. Check out this fellow.
the breath method results in “sips”, keeping the temp down and the smoke cooler.
From a “perception” perspective, taste is perceived in the tastebuds, but also through what smokers would call a “retrohale”. Smells can be perceived by inhaling in through the nose, but tastes (internal tastes) are perceived with this retro nasal olfaction as coming from inside the mouth, and can accentuate gustation in the mouth (aka taste and mouth feel).
Muttonchop has some good gouge on the breath method. It’s a way, not the way.
From a “perception” perspective, taste is perceived in the tastebuds, but also through what smokers would call a “retrohale”. Smells can be perceived by inhaling in through the nose, but tastes (internal tastes) are perceived with this retro nasal olfaction as coming from inside the mouth, and can accentuate gustation in the mouth (aka taste and mouth feel).
Muttonchop has some good gouge on the breath method. It’s a way, not the way.
I AGREE 100% it’s just ONE method. And it’s not perfect. It’s just another tool in the arsenal. Maybe I got carried away saying it’s a “game changer.” Believe me, there are MANY aspects to pipe smoking. I do NOT think I will use the breathe method exclusively. I just find it’s good way to keep pipe lit and cool.
I struggled early to find a cadence that would keep everything cool and still burning. My Peterson 303 9mm P-Lip really taught me how to sip and smoke slow. The P-Lip pipes just ooze smoke into your mouth without any effort at all. (I have three Systems and two Dublin Filters.)
One other thing that helps keep it cool and slow is to understand that you don't have to have the entire surface of the bowl lit. Esp with flakes, you can get a couple of little chunks burning, maybe not even 25% of the bowl, and sip on that until they go out. A few gentle puffs and a soft flame get it going again.
Shane Ireland wrote a post here about (for the most part) avoiding the tamper. That has been a real game-changer for me in keeping the bowl going slow and cool and minimizing relights.
One other thing that helps keep it cool and slow is to understand that you don't have to have the entire surface of the bowl lit. Esp with flakes, you can get a couple of little chunks burning, maybe not even 25% of the bowl, and sip on that until they go out. A few gentle puffs and a soft flame get it going again.
Shane Ireland wrote a post here about (for the most part) avoiding the tamper. That has been a real game-changer for me in keeping the bowl going slow and cool and minimizing relights.
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Ludwig, I know you are fairly new to the forum here but obviously have much pipe-smoking experience. I have really enjoyed your posts.
Thank you SO MUCH. I just tonight discovered another use for the breath/bellows method. If you pick up your resting pipe and you think it’s out, you might actually be able to revive it (without a relight). There is actually often still a small ember somewhere in the bowl, and by using the breath-as-bellows, quite often relights the pipe bowl.
Y
You’re ready for a Danish Pipe Smokin Contest! And Yes. You’re right. Slow and Gentle is better.
I'm a music nut. There's a particular record label that employs a particular rock star to "remix" and/or "remaster" old classics so they can advertise this rock star touched this new version. This guy is a rock star, not a studio or engineering craftsman. It's a totally different set of skills, and while they might write the greatest songs and not be a complete greenhorn at the mixing console, this is an insult to all those who honed their craft. I got sidetracked there, but there's this funny quote about his presence on these remasters that goes a little something like this:
"I love this classic music, so I really hope this guy, and this label, can rescue all my potential favorite records from sounding how they did when they originally blew everyone's fucking mind." All this convoluted nonsense in hobbies today almost always makes me think of that quote.
Use the Rustie Pyles method. It’s very simple.
1. Scoop tobacco into pipe.
2. Using a flame, light tobacco.
3. Smoke pipe.
4. (The most important step!) DO NOT OVERTHINK IT! It’s just a pipe.
1. Scoop tobacco into pipe.
2. Using a flame, light tobacco.
3. Smoke pipe.
4. (The most important step!) DO NOT OVERTHINK IT! It’s just a pipe.
Forgot all about Muttonchop. Well, if you are breathing and you are smoking, you are technically breath smoking. Don't think too hard. Nothing about smoking pipe is as hard as people trying to make it harder than it is.
Some of those utube films on how to drink a glass of water were real game changers.
I use it at times, mostly I done even realize I’m using the method, I’m just smoking a pipe nothing complicated just enjoy it your own way
I find it strange how much crap Muttonchop and similar YT contributors take on the forums. His breath smoking video has 200K views. So he's clearly providing a service to the community and helping novice smokers along their journey. vBulletin forums like this have become antiquated and younger smokers are less likely to gravitate towards them. I think it's great that there are people like him, that a younger generation, who often have no one in their life who smokes a pipe, to help them along their inquisitive path. Cheers.
I don't think youtube mentorship is where people take issue. It's that young smokers want/need someone to hold their hand through even the most mundane, self-explanatory tasks. "what's the best way to light a match?" "do you guys walk at the same time as smoking a pipe?" "When you open a tin, do you put the pull tab at 12 o'clock or at 6?" and what ultimately happens with this helpless and dependent pedantry is a void of their own exploration and building their own experiences and mythos.
This was years ago, but I read a few articles on young workers and employees. What drove the upper teams nuts wasn't that they couldn't get young people to work. Actually, they said they were very hard workers. The problem was that when they were finished with their work, they couldn't navigate working on their own. And it wasn't because they were lazy and finding a way to avoid working. It was that they couldn't function and improvise into the next task or estimate what they should do next. They need to be constantly told what to do, for they couldn't figure that out on their own. It was like a computer hit the end of the program, and it sat there with the cursor blinking until instructed what to do next.
This was years ago, but I read a few articles on young workers and employees. What drove the upper teams nuts wasn't that they couldn't get young people to work. Actually, they said they were very hard workers. The problem was that when they were finished with their work, they couldn't navigate working on their own. And it wasn't because they were lazy and finding a way to avoid working. It was that they couldn't function and improvise into the next task or estimate what they should do next. They need to be constantly told what to do, for they couldn't figure that out on their own. It was like a computer hit the end of the program, and it sat there with the cursor blinking until instructed what to do next.
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