TO INHALE OR NOT TO INHALE: THAT IS THE QUESTION

[cosmicfolklore]

Besides my own second-hand smoke, I do not directly suck it down into my lungs. My whole purpose for switching to the pipe was to try to save my lungs as much as possible from years of cigarette abuse. And, I have improved my breathing. I can run now, do yoga, and walk up a flight of stairs. Good stuff. That said, the slower I smoke, the more nicotine I take in through the smaller blood vessels in my mouth. This is why you wont see billowing clouds from me. That is such a waste of good Vitamin N. The slower you smoke and savor the flavor, the more nicotine you take in, and I can feel it continue to enter my blood stream for a while after smoking, as the flavors coating my mouth get absorbed.
Not inhaling is how I've managed to stay off the cigs. My mind has just created such an adversity to inhaling smoke, that I would cough my head off now if I tried to do it with either a cigarette or the pipe.
Yeh, yeh, yeh, I know that the second-hand smoke thing is still going into my lungs. To deny that is just silly. But, at least it is at a much smaller dose than directly inhaling.

 

[hierophant]

I don't inhale, unless it's by accident. I smoke a pipe for the relaxation value of the ritual and for the flavor, both of which I get without inhaling.

 

[grouchydog]

I'll occasionally do a French inhale to see if I get any different taste/aroma, kind of a retrohale in reverse. I get a lot more from a regular snork, so I need to just cut it out.

 

[brass]

I smoked cigarettes for over 40 years and put them down about 7 or 8 years ago. I don't inhale pipe smoke nor feel the temptation to do so - until I read these threads about inhaling. And I have little or know nicotaine addiction. I put the time down all day or even a couple of days, with no withdrawal symptoms.
You don't need to inhale to appreciate pipe smoking and doing so is probably as bad or worse than smoking cigarettes. If you choose to inhale pipe smoke to satisfy your nic jonses, you're free to do so but don't fool yourself into believing that it is healthier than cigarettes.
Of course, if I wanted to be a health freak, I would quit pipes, scotch, cokes, sweets, BBQ, coffee, etc, etc, etc.

 

[griffonwing]

I do not inhale. I will occasionally inhale some and start coughing.
Be that as it may, I can easily take deep breaths through my nose while drawing the pipe smoke into my mouth, and not get any smoke into my lungs. I know this, because if I did inhale it, I would begin to cough.

 

[okiescout]

It is reasonable that we breath in some smoke occasionally. But as griff said, when it happens it makes me cough, if it is any great amount. For me, it comes down to smoking in whatever way you enjoy it.

 

[iamn8]

I've been giving this a great deal of thought and consideration. I've experimented and made lists of pros v cons. I've discussed it with my friends and colleagues. I've done research to discover other people's thoughts.... wait, what was the question again?

 

[daimyo]

I never inhale cigars or pipes. Perhaps a small retroexhale through the nose but no inhale.

 

[drgmpilcher]

Some times I do...most of the time I do not.

 

[bulldogbriar89]

I never inhale I just don't find pleasure in inhaling my pipe smoke. actually I find if to be disgusting when I even accidentally inhale when I am smoking my pipe. Not to say that people who do it are wrong or anything I just personally don't like it.

 

[keith929]

I inhale every once in a while and have no issues with it.

+1

 

[melvinsunsmokedcastello]

Reformed cig smoker here..nonfilterds too. I dont inhale other then the incidental smoke in the room etc..
I find that it changes the taste of what I'm smoking, and not in a positive way. Also, mostly smoking ropes/twists if I accidentally inhale it hurts and I will cough. These, to me, were never meant to be inhaled. If one can their lungs must be roached pretty bad cause as I noted I smoked non-filters..
'Baccys like the Prince can be easily inhaled but I dont.

 

[geo3rge]

I inhale sometimes but consciously try to NOT inhale for most of the smoke. As smoking is an engrained habit with me, it is an issue and though I never smoked cigarettes to any kind of degree (although they were pleasant enough in some circumstances), the fact that when I started smoking nearly forty years ago, everybody seemed to inhale and said nothing about it, it was simply the norm and things have taken a long time to change with me!. I'd say that for about 80% of a pipe smoke I don't inhale, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't completely do so and the necessary hit that I get is part of of the whole thing. Sometimes, a good couple of inhales at the lighting up stage seem to get the smoking off to a good start and then I can settle down simply puffing away. Each to his/her own? I've no idea if pipe tobacco smoke contains any additives that shouldn't be there, so am I inhaling good clean smoke (though it is a carcinogen without doubt) or am I simply hoping that to be the case? A similar story with cigars, an area that I've only recently begun to explore and, again, most of the smoke (in this case about 95%) is inhale free, but occasionally I'll inhale and enjoy doing so. I noticed a young member of staff in my local tobacconist inhales deeply on his large cigars which he smokes as he serves customers. Is that something he shouldn't be doing too?

Hmmm, these questions are important, but I wonder if the sheer addictive characteristics of smoking have somehow outweighed my common sense? Thanks for raising the issue. By the way, my first smoke ever as a teenager was unfiltered cigarettes, ones that my parents smoked for decades here in the UK. They were called Park Drive and I can still smell and taste the Virginia flavour and aroma when I think of them. They are still around but usually only in tobacconists these days. Inhaling those was heavy stuff and got your body well and truly acclimatised to high Nic and tar levels. The things we do to our bodies...

Steve

 

[easterntraveler]

Never had a desire to inhale. To each their own.

 

[psychpipes]

I can't. I'll cough like a wuss. I do retro hale my pipe often though, as the smoke tends to hit the olfactory better and I can pick out more nuances.

 

[mso489]

Nine, nyet, no, non. The question isn't do you inhale some of your own ambient smoke when smoking

a pipe (you do). The question is, is it a good idea to intentionally draw the pipe smoke into your lungs,

a little or a lot, as you smoke. If you can avoid or break that bad habit, do so. It is not necessary to the

enjoyment of pipe smoking. Even the nicotine buzz is readily available without inhaling, even to the extent

of getting queasy. So if you don't intentionally inhale don't start, and if you do but can break the habit, do it.

 

[phred]

I only started smoking a pipe after doing a bunch of research about the link between tobacco smoke and lung cancer. My father died 19 years ago from a lung condition (probably exacerbated by the VOCs in the printer's inks he spent all day breathing), and my mother-in-law went into hospice with lung cancer right around the time I first considered getting a pipe, so I had some issues to work through...
So no, I don't actively inhale pipe smoke. It makes me cough, which is never particularly pleasant and can lead to blowing ash and dottle everywhere if it catches you at a particularly bad moment. :lol: