How do you maximize your smoking pleasure ?

[laficion]

Hi everyone,

To start things off, here is my question, do you retro-hale while you're

smoking your favorite cigar ? In other words, you would be moving the

smoke from the back of your mouth so as to exhale half the smoke intake

through the nose.

I would like to have your thoughts on this exercise. I for one, enjoy the fact

of retro-haling after each draw on my cigar,I find that with retro-haling, I get a

more precise perception of the different complexe flavors from each third of my cigar

then just exhaling through my mouth.

Another reason is because of the many flavor detectors found in our nose, many

more then on our tongue which will only detect the basic notes of flavors.

I would like to get your comments on this practice. Thanks

[Habanos2000]

I don't have the coordination to do it! But then I'm not a fan of exhaling smoke through my nose either.

[SandmanTR]

I am a retro-haler. I also find that I can detect way more of the subtle flavors when exhaling a bit of smoke thru the nose. It makes the smoking experience a lot more enjoyable for me.

[thechenman]

I've tried it, but sometimes I just end up having a coughing fit...especially with many NCs that tend to be harsher. These days I just avoid it.

[perfectform]

I do it quite often. More so when I'm trying to get a handle on a cigar in the beginning, I'll exhale mostly through the nose. After the first third or so, I'll scale it back a bit, but I find it really does help me to gauge a cigar better, and get something that wasn't there on pure mouth exhaling.

[Nedule]

I'll do it maybe once or twice per cig, it doesn't really seem to do anything for me, I find that my taste buds work fine with the ambient smoke & a complimenting drink.

[LeafLover]

I retrohale each and everytime. The flavors are more pronounced for me when I smoke in this fashion for me.

I also inhale every now and then to get a sense of how strong the tobacco is.

[gmoney]

I try retro-haling for the for the first time the other night as I stumbled upon a you tube video of a gentleman explaning it.

I did definitly detect more flavours and tastes when I retro-haled.......I did so on every 3rd or 4th puff. I first expelled about 50 -75% of the smoke through my mouth and the rest through my nose.

I never did inhale through this process.

[AlexOk]

I does it also maybe once or twice per cigar. But not in any cases. Only to get most of the flavor while testing a cigar. Not in case of an simple after job smoke.

[Colt45]

I do it from time to time, but to be honest, I don't get much benefit in the way of flavor. Spiciness, perhaps a bit.

[mkz]

I don't have the coordination to do it! But then I'm not a fan of exhaling smoke through my nose either.

X2

[habone]

I do it but at a minimum it makes my nose stuff up...sometimes it burns other times its smoothe depending on the cigar I guess.

[mazolaman]

I do this,and also exhale through the nose,and get more taste and flavour....

[semery74]

If the smoke doesn't go through your nose it is wasted in my opinion.

[kjellfrick]

Never could figure why people would NOT exhale through the nose. Makes all the difference to me...

Maximizing the smoking pleasure involves quite a few things more though.

[Trimble]

I for one, enjoy the fact of retro-haling after each draw on my cigar, I find that with retro-haling,

I get a more precise perception of the different complexe flavors from each third of my cigar

then just exhaling through my mouth.

+1.....I couldn't agree more. However, I do not retro-hale after every draw, more like every 3rd.

[anacostiakat]

No I dont do it. I do exhale through my nose.

[lemmycaution]

I end up retro-haling on almost every puff. I let most of the smoke out of my mouth and then the rest through my nose. I find that I don't even need a lot of smoke through the nose to get the benefit of tasting the cigar better. A small amount adds to the flavor and experience, too much just burns my nose.

[tsolomon]

Sometimes, but it's something I have to remember to do. It does seem to enhance the flavors and add to the experience.

[khomeinist]

I exhale through my nose. Flavors are enhanced. I first did this as a self-test of machismo. For better or worst, I passed.

[Wicky]

I did'nt even know what retrohale was till I saw it on a video. I been smoking like that for ever. It's natural to me. Maybe learned early on when I smoked dirty cigarettes. In any case, it helps me to get much more flavor out of the tobacco. And quite a longer finish.

[dicko]

When I first started I actually couldnt do the physical act of retro-haling. but though it looked cool when people did. then i watched some video by some american guy called "doc" on youtube and he explains how to do it. I now think retrohaling is a big part of the smoking experience to gte all flavours. I do it nearly every puff or at least 2 out of 3.

[Habanakane21]

I've been doing this since I started smoking the leaf, about 16 years ago. I wouldn't say I do it throughout the whole cigar but about 50/50. It's the only way I can find those different aromas and taste....like cooked carrots and stone fruit !!!

[mbrody]

I do this through the majority of the smoke and find much more flavor/complexity. It hieghtens my smoking experience. My only problem is that I fear it may cause some sinus flare ups every now and then.

[samb]

When I first started I actually couldnt do the physical act of retro-haling. but though it looked cool when people did. then i watched some video by some american guy called "doc" on youtube and he explains how to do it. I now think retrohaling is a big part of the smoking experience to gte all flavours. I do it nearly every puff or at least 2 out of 3.

Lol, he taught me how to do it as well. Took quite a bit of practice, but now that I have it down, I do it 2-3 times per 3rd. Will definitely say that it enhances the experience.