Do You Inhale Cigars?
Do you inhale cigars or don’t you inhale cigars?
It’s a debate as old as time. Alright, well, maybe not as only as time, but it’s a very old question within cigar circles across the globe. Do you inhale cigar smoke or do you not inhale cigar smoke?
And, after much discussion, the truth is, there really isn’t a right or wrong way. I’m not here to tell you how to smoke a cigar. Much like I’m not here to tell you how to drink a cup of coffee. I can only share my personal experiences and those of others.
The vast majority of the time, inhaling cigar smoke is not recommended or necessary for enjoying premium cigars. Especially for beginner cigar smokers. Cigars aren’t cigarettes or marijuana. They’re much bigger in size, and even the most mild cigars tend to produce hotter, thicker smoke when compared to cigarettes or even pipe tobacco.
Even if you’re thinking it’s a must to inhale cigars to enjoy the nicotine, that’s somewhat false. Normally, full-bodied cigars are blended with ligero tobacco, and this leaf will supply plenty of nicotine without inhaling.
Now, if you’re a seasoned cigar aficionado or if you’re new to cigars and trying to discover new flavors that you may experience by inhaling, I’d suggest the art of retrohaling.
Retrohaling cigar smoke.
Some of you may be asking, what’s retrohaling? Well, it’s the process of expelling smoke so that it passes through the nasal cavity and past the olfactory receptors on its way out of your body. To call it “exhaling” or “blowing” smoke out through the nose is not necessarily right because cigarette smokers also exhale smoke through the nose.
A good way to practice retrohaling is to gently pull the cigar smoke into your mouth, let your palate pick-up the nuances of flavor, and then slowly blow the smoke out of your mouth and/or nose. Retrohaling will allow you to enjoy and pick up certain flavor nuances that you’d probably not experience if you were to not inhale your cigars.