When smoking, you kind of do inhale cigars, but you also kind of don’t. Allow me to clarify.
After cutting and lighting a cigar you “draw” or pull in the smoke into your mouth. This could technically be described as inhaling. But you don’t actually inhale the smoke into your lungs, or you really shouldn’t. Unlike cigarettes, which are made to be inhaled, cigar smoke is way too strong and plentiful.
Are you supposed to inhale cigars or not?
To enjoy a cigar, what you’re really supposed to be doing is rolling the smoke around your tongue and retrohaling — this brings out the nuanced flavors of the tobacco blend. But, you’d be surprised how many people don’t retrohale.
What you should not be doing is drawing or pulling that smoke into your lungs. That’s a recipe for disaster. Cigar smoke can and will make you sick and throw up and it will likely burn or hurt your lungs. Yes, I’ve inhaled cigar smoke before and it was not pleasant. Every once in a while I’ll swallow the smoke by accident.
I’m sure there are a few hardasses out there who will claim to inhale. More power to them but it’s definitely not the way to go.
So what is retrohaling?
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
Retrohaling is when you draw the smoke through your nasal cavity and out of your nostrils without actually swallowing or inhaling into your lungs. It takes some practice especially if you’ve never done it before. But there’s a very clear reason why retrohaling offers the best tasting experience.
You see, your tongue only picks up five distinct flavors. Nothing else. Those are sweet, in the front, sour on the sides, salty on the tips of the front, bitter in the very back, and umami across most of the surface area.
When you retrohale, the smoke interacts with your olfactory senses allowing you to taste much, much more. That’s precisely why cigar reviews mention some incredibly nuanced flavors like raspberry, floral notes, or something very specific, such as licorice or fresh dough. You may not always pick up the same flavors but you certainly have a much better chance if you’re retrohaling.
Still, the biggest takeaway here, especially if you’re a newbie, is that you shouldn’t be inhaling cigar smoke into your lungs. That’s true of any cigar, from mild to full-bodied, and any size from a cigarillo to a biggun’ 60+ ring gauge.
If you don’t want to retrohale, then you’re just drawing that smoke into your mouth, rolling it around a bit to pick up the flavor, and then exhaling.
Briley has over 16 years in the publishing and content marketing business. He's been writing about cigars for nearly half that in various forms. What makes him a tour de force is he also smokes them.
Source: Briley Kenney / The BS Lounge
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