If it hurts, stop.
The bottom line is that smoke will hurt everything it touches, it doesn't matter where, how or why. There is nothing you can do to stop that, the less exposure the better.
But, I still think moderation exists, it's just hard to define.
Too much exposure to water will kill you too, it's just natural for us to maintain a correct balance. The puzzle for the beginning pipe smoker is to define that balance.
After a year and a half at this, I've pretty much concluded that if I'm going to stay healthy, one puff per minute is about right. That's probably slow even for the veterans but I'm also probably more sensitive than most.
However, the puzzle cranks up in difficulty at this point. Saying "puff once a minute" is all fine and dandy, but making a pipe stay lit at that pace is another thing.
Dry your tobacco, dry it good.
Right now I'm experimenting with packing a pipe the day before I smoke it just to have something convenient and ready to go without going through all the extra steps and hoopla required if you want to smoke something that just came out of a tin.
It should be noted that not all blends need excessive drying though, some blends seem to burn quite well right out of the tin, it's probably one of the characteristics that defines the "Old Codger Blend" for example.
And if for whatever reason my tobacco isn't burning well enough (which is most of the time, and usually my fault, but some blends won't burn easily no matter the moisture content), what I've been doing recently in order to keep my pipe lit but keep my mouth healthy is to puff in reverse.
It's not "blowing" into your pipe (moisture from your lungs will soak everything in the pipe pretty quickly) but almost exactly the same motions as taking a puff, except in reverse. Basically when I take a puff all I do is lower my tongue in my mouth and let the vacuum draw the smoke in. You can actually change the volume of your mouth by quite a lot with just moving your tongue (which is all basically the same mechanism as when sucking on something).
To "puff in reverse" I put the button in my lips and raise my tongue, and I see a puff of smoke come out of the pipe.
This will still raise moisture content in your pipe so be prepared for gurgle, but I can almost smoke an entire bowl this way without coming into contact with smoke, turning the entire process into an almost wholly aesthetic exercise.
Lighting is still my bane though, unfortunately I can't accomplish that without drawing. I'm still trying to figure out how to get around that. Dry tobacco is good.
I do like my high temperature Butane torches but pipe collectors scream in agony any time jet torches are mentioned in the same sentence with pipes.
