How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I have seen a few questions on Snorking or Retrohaling...

I found this video... I don't know if its anyone on this site or not but it was informitive...

Hope it Helps out someone else!!!

RON


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMcDOSypco8

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Nice video Ron.
I could not imagine enjoying a cigar without snorking/retrohaling.
For example take your favorite food in your mouth and chew and plug your nose, you can't taste nothin. Same concept for cigars.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Thanks Ron!!! :tu

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Great Explanation! Thanks, Ron!:)

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Nice video, it has some good explanations on why and how to do it. Thanks!

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Excellent Video. Doc (from Stogie Fresh) did a great job on research & presentation.

Also view his page on You-Tube. Lots of fine cigar videos!

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I think I am starting to finally figure out how to retrohale. This video didn't help, but my buddies kept giving me suggestions on how to.

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I'm still trying to master this. :D

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I think I got it, but it burns?...
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Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Dude! You don't get the true taste without retrohaling.

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I find that I only need to retrohale a small amount of the smoke to get the aromas, too much and yes, it burns like hell. I think it varies from person to person just how much of the smoke to blow through your sinus.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Yeah, it burns like a MF'er if you put too much through. I think right now I am putting 95% out through my mouth and 5% through my honker ;)

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im 95 nose 5 mouth... thats why it burns!
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Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Thanks for the video!! :tu

:tpd: I've found I have better control at the end of exhaling. I've almost brought myself to tears when I snorked at the beginning...I looked like a big crying dragon. :r

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Im around the same maybe even around 90% mouth to 10% nose depending on the strength and it works for me.

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I'm an ex-cigarette smoker so it's not something I had to learn. I'm about 70% mouth 30% nose, although it really depends on the cigar.

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Nice vid and good idea for post.

I concur with the others here, if you're not doing it, you're cheating yourself and wasting some cash. I make concentrated effort on doing it at least once in each 1/3 of the cigar. I agree with akumushi on doing it with a nice little amount of smoke. Check the machismo at the door, no need for dragon puffing (although it looks pretty sweet). For me, it's akin to when sampling/tasting wine with the mouth swish and air draw across the palate. Only want to do it a couple of times to wake the senses up (plus doing it too much kills the experience and overloads the sample). I also try to concentrate on doing it after a liberal/hearty puff, release some of the initial smoke through the mouth, then close and retro the remainder. Little cooler smoke and I feel the aromas have then been fully oxygenated and opened up for full effect.

I also have seen some review vids. by some on the Internet and for me if they don't retro during the review...:rolleyes:

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Also, one thing I find myself forgetting to do when the nose exhale is really good on a cigar, is to swish the smoke a little and blow out with just my mouth on occasion in order to concentrate on the taste/mouthfeel. I find that alot of NCs fair better with this treatment, while CCs are richer in the nose.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Would you not get some of the aroma in your nose by just being around the smoke?

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

A little, but not the same as when you snork. The sensation is actually pretty deep in your sinus because you're pushing smoke up the back of your throat and into your sinus (think shooting milk out your nose when you laugh while drinking). Because the smoke is less dilute than when you're sniffing it out of the air, and because it is hitting the sense receptors directly rather than going in through the nose first, you get a much more nuanced aroma when snorking.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Yes definitly. Eventual saturation of the whole entire mouth cavity and nose is my ultimate goal. The whole interplay between the smoke mixing with fresh air as it sweeps the plate is the idea I try to concentrate on. Nothing better than just getting that whole mouth full, leaning back in the garden/pool chair, letting a good thick portion of freshly drawn smoke drift towards the heavens then ferme la bouche and snork the rest. ;)

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

OK - I watched that 5 minute video and while is explained the process, it didn't give me any advice on how to actually do it.

I figure this is like riding a bike, once you figure it out you can do it again. My wife used to smoke cigarettes, so it is easy for her.

I try this every time I smoke a cigar and nothing. Anyone have some real advice? :D

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Nice video for sure! :tu

This was the video that taught me how to retrohale. I do it with every cigar and it really depends on the stick when it comes to how much smoke I blow through my nose. Some of them are too harsh to push more than 5-10% of the smoke from any given puff through the sinuses but there are sticks you can do it on every puff with a full mouth of smoke.

The only NC I can think of off the top of my head right now is the OR El Triunfador. Every other stick I can think of are CCs which, from my limited experience, seem to be much smoother than NCs.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

For starters, while you're reading this, try snorting air out of your nose like a bull, your nose should crinkle up and your nostrils will pinch up a bit. Once you have that feeling, blow some air into your mouth so that your cheeks puff out (think Louis Armstrong) then keep your lips sealed and snort out of your nose while deflating your cheeks like emptying a bellows. The only place for the air to go is out up and out your sinus. Try it a few times until it's a smooth motion. Now, forget all of that crap, go light up a mild cigar and experiment with that feeling until you get it right. The first time you get some through, you'll feel a burst of spice in your nasal cavity. I tend to blow half of the smoke out before closing my mouth and snorting the remainder through my nose as it's too much to do 100% like the guy in the video. The trick is pinching your nose muscles to open up the airway, using your mouth to force the smoke through, and breathing some air out (exhale) at the same time, which will push the smoke through and dilute it a bit so it doesn't fry your sinus tissue.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Swallow. Remember the action of your tongue. When you smoke, do the same action but without swallowing. Like you are tasting food and chewing food or gum. I retrohale much like I am chewing food or gum and the smoke will leave through the nose.

Doing this will burn in the beginning but the more you do it, you get used to the burn and will not bother you anymore. I couldn't imagine smoking a cigar without doing it. It's pretty much involuntary at this point. I don't think about doing it, it just happens.

Most of your taste is in the olfactory system. If you don't do it, you are simply missing out on alot of flavors.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I agree with the first part, but the second part about snorking isn't absolutely needed to gain these flavors. Take for example wine tasting. Would one try to shoot wine through their nose retronasally? There is also the research showing how orthonasal plays a large factor as well. I say another method if one can't 'retrohale' is to gain more mental connections to flavors. If that is your goal, more flavor.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

The smell of the wine is a part of what you taste, as is food. The tongue can only taste sweet, sour, salt and bitter. If you could not smell, you could not taste much.

http://www.sedl.org/scimath/pasopart...ses/tongue.gif

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I agree with your statement. But you don't HAVE to snork/retrohale to get these "other" flavors was my point.

BTW, that tongue taste map has been proven wrong:

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/sourtaste.asp

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I disagree. Everyone, that I have seen, that does it for the first time can't believe the bombardment of flavors that hit them that they have never tasted before. Including me.

I know the map is wrong but the tastes are not. I know the Japanese have said there is one more..savory. http://www.livescience.com/health/06...ad_tongue.html

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

So how then do wine tasters get those flavors without shooting wine through their nose retronasally?

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

The smells that go along with what the tongue tastes. That's how we taste almost everything. How do we liken cigars to woody, spicy or leathery when out tongue can't taste that. It's the smell. The olfactory system.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1222104909.htm

It's also the reason cigars and food don't taste "right" when we are sick. The olfactory system can't function properly when we are all stopped up and congested.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I have failed to put it properly. I agree that olfactory senses are a very large percentage of what we call "taste". However, I disagree that snorking or blowing smoke out through your nose is the only way or even the best way in some cases to acheive this "taste". Are you holding your nose when you smoke a cigar? No, so by proxy some of the smoke "taste" already enters your olfactory senses. Just as it does with food and drink. If you are looking for more flavor and don't want to, or can't retrohale there are other ways of gaining more flavor.

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Agreed, some does. But you are not getting the "full effect", as it were. The subtle nuances are lost. But, of course, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a cigar.

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I think it's DEFINITELY dependent on the cigar.

I wouldn't dream of snorking a Tat Black, but can't smoke a QdO or a pipe without snorking a large percentage out of my nose.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Think of it this way, when you're smelling the cigar from the wisps of smoke coming off the cigar or out of your mouth, the smoke is quickly mixing with the air and puffing out in a big, diffuse cloud, the smoke is just a faint "whiff" of the draw you took into your mouth, like putting a few drops of wine in a glass of water and then drinking it. It can say from experience that some of the more subtle flavors are lost when only using this method. When you're snorking, the smoke is mainlined straight to your olfactory receptors, and an experienced nose-smoker can modulate the dilution and control how much of the smoke, or how intense of a flavor it is that he gets, by what ratio of smoke to air he pushes through his nose. If you look at the drawing of the nose in the video from the OP (did you watch it?) you'll see that the path from the back of the throat hits the olfactory senses more directly and with less dilution of the smoke. That's why you get more flavor. I can tell you as a former mouth smoker who used to think he got plenty of flavor just from sniffing a little bit of an exhale, that the retrohale is a competely different beast. When you do it right, you'll know what we're talking about.:2

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I personally retrohale quite often, and yes I watched the video. That diagram is not the most accurate but does well to prove and show his point in the video. The research has shown that orthonasal actually stimulates more and different brain activity/areas. But that is not my point either. My point is as I stated above: "If you are looking for more flavor and don't want to, or can't retrohale there are other ways of gaining more flavor."

On an aside note, I doubt very highly that stogiefresh coined the term "retrohale". Stoners use that term and probably even before I was born. I don't want to seem like I am bashing the video. It was very well done and I think it will help many people out.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I tried snorking this afternoon (tried it before, but took in too much smoke) and I decided that it takes a lot of practice :) (practice that I am more than willing to do :D)

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

As with cigars, if you are drinking wine and not using your nose or your eyes, you are missing out on a good part of the experience. Try drinking the same wine out of several different style glasses. Same as champagne, you see people drinking champagne out of those short flat glasses but to fully experience a good champagne a tall narrow glass concentrates both the bubbles and the aromas. :2

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

Agreed, that was pretty cocky of him to say he invented the word:)
As for other options to increasing flavor in lieu of the retrohale, I'd be interested in hearing them, it's always nice to add a technique to the repertoire:tu

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

(i realize this was 3 yrs ago)


tried this with an e-cig first.. think im gonna keep going with the fake smoke until THAT stops burning lol

glad to have read this thread tho and watched the video !

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I am sure it was said somewhere in this thread, but much of the burn comes from the prigin of you cigar. Cuban and Dominicans will less harsh on your nose than Nicaraguan or Honduran.

Re: How To Snork / Retrohale
 

I have never heard of this, but it makes perfect sense. I am going to try that tonight. Thank you for the advice!!!

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And I always thought that champagne flutes were just an affectation; sorta like putting cheap-ass whiskey in a crystal decanter. I still feel weird holding one.