Retrohaling -- what's the trick?

[Benzadmiral]

I've been experimenting with, or attempting, retrohaling. As I understand it, you take a mouthful of smoke, press your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth, and exhale through your nose. I'm getting some sense of pepperiness in my nose that way, but no extra flavor. Usually, too, I end up exhaling the last tiny bit of smoke through my mouth. If I don't, I nearly inhale the stuff and cough.

Is there some method I'm missing? Or is it merely that my nose has the same undeveloped palate as my mouth does, and I'm just not getting the aroma/flavor people talk about?

 

[Alex Jr]

Cigar or pipe?

With a cigar, I don’t retrohale all of it as for me it ends up to spicy in my nose. I go 50/50, letting that first dense smoke out of my mouth first, then out the nose for the rest of it.

With a pipe a full retrohale is my SOP most of the time. The smoke is smoother, the puffs are shorter so there’s no discomfort through the nose. (Except for a heavy perique blend)

As for the flavor, try to do the other way around, like the cigar example. Let go most of it through the mouth, then retro the rest.

Don’t go full depressurization mode while doing it, let it go slowly.

Most of the flavor from tobacco (and food) comes from the nose, not the mouth.

I’m sure it’ll suddenly click for you.

If I was forbidden to retrohale my smoke I think I’d quit it altogether. Otherwise it would be like eating caviar with a Covid nose.

 

[Kentos]

I don’t think you need to “force it” per se, rather you hold the smoke in your mouth, and as you exhale through the nose you replace the area the smoke took up in your mouth with your tongue. The Venturi effect will grab the smoke from your mouth as you blow through your nose, but with your mouth closed there is a vacuum that won’t allow the smoke to be carried through the nose, and if you open your mouth the smoke will blow out past your lips. You can also try taking a puff with your jaws open, then closing them as you exhale. Kinda like how you eat.

As you get comfortable you will be able to do it in one motion and it won’t require much thought or even an exhale through the nose, which at the point I guess your ARE forcing the smoke up the palate, but just kinda.

 

[Benzadmiral]

. . . With a pipe a full retrohale is my SOP most of the time. The smoke is smoother, the puffs are shorter so there’s no discomfort through the nose. (Except for a heavy perique blend)

As for the flavor, try to do the other way around, like the cigar example. Let go most of it through the mouth, then retro the rest.

Don’t go full depressurization mode while doing it, let it go slowly.

Most of the flavor from tobacco (and food) comes from the nose, not the mouth.

I’m sure it’ll suddenly click for you.

If I was forbidden to retrohale my smoke I think I’d quit it altogether. Otherwise it would be like eating caviar with a Covid nose.

Alex, this is with my pipes. (The only cigars I've tried are some Romeo y Julieta cigarillos, and I don't plan to smoke those indoors -- which means I have to wait until cooler weather. That could be months away.) I'll try your technique in your fifth sentence above and see how that goes.

 

[Columbo]

For a pipe, just try to inhale the draw at the rate and pressure that you would normally breathe, and allow some of it to roll above your palate, up into your sinuses. How much to allow topside is a personal choice. It will rest there momentarily, until and mainly intensify during the exhale stroke of your cadence. A heavier draw, stronger than you might breathe, forces the 'retro' portion more towards the exhale stroke. So you can start enjoying a draw sooner with a much lighter draw, which allows a better 'drift' into the sinuses earlier. Slower and easier is better here. Better for the pipe and the load, too. For a steam engine puffer, you're not going to get anything topside until the exhale proper.

But it's not all that difficult a process.

Relaxing to it will make it easier, and cause you to relax even further. And that's the point of the whole thing, after all. Eventually, it becomes an automatic, almost autonomic, action.

Cigars can be a slightly different endeavor. I will mouth smoke those a little more than a pipe (and let it roll around a little longer), but still allowing some topside.

As mentioned, the olfactory system plays a significant role in the sense of taste and in discerning flavors. So that is why you can taste more effectively by allowing something into the sinuses.

 

[Njguy1977]

It took me awhile to get the hang of it. What works for me is put the smoke on the roof of your mouth and kind of use my tongue to press upwards and gently push out through my nose. It’s hard to explain but it works for me.

Larry

 

[DrStrange]

Next skill to acquire:

French Inhale