The title pretty much says it all. Smoke rings are cool and I wanna learn how to make them. What’s your method?
Purse your lips as if to whistle and push out a quick, short puff of air by closing off your throat and lungs with the back of your tongue and pushing the air out.
On a mission into Holland a flak shell burst about 100 yds ahead of us and blew the most beautiful smoke ring you could ever want to see.
Maybe so, but these smoke rings put out by mount Etna are pretty nice too.
With regard to blowing rings yourself, you want to shape the puff in the back of your throat, so it comes out smoothly, rather than shaping it into a stream with your lips or cheeks. Turbulence in the air stream is the enemy of smoke rings.
Slowly expel most of the smoke through your mouth, making a large “O” with your lips, and then (making a smaller “O”) quickly draw some of it back in. You’re creating a big puff with the first action, and then poking a hole in it with the second.
I’ve tried for years to blow smoke rings, but all that come out are smoke ships which I blow away from me in embarassment.
Purse your lips, exhale and stab with your tongue.
Some people just like to see the smoke ring without having to perfect the technique. You can usually get a decent ring if you hold you lit cigarette vertically and make a quick up-down motion. Not nearly as cool as blowing one, but non-smokers can do this one as well.
I’ve heard that a significant portion of the skill is in choosing the right cigar. Something to do with the smoke produced by the leaf. No cite to back that up.
Posting before reading QED’s post, so take it as you will. The cardinal rule is to not inhale on the puffs you want to make rings with. If you’re desperate to make rings do this. Move the cellophane of the pack down till about 1/2" is still on the pack. Use a lit cig to burn a hole into it. Take a drag lightly blow it into the hole. Gently tap the bottom side of the cellophane.
One more cheater way is to make sure the air is still. You’ll have to find the rhythm for this. Light a smoke, hold it vertical so the lit end is up, and raise it straight up then down. Keep in mind, even a slight draft will make this all ut impossible.
I smoked occasionally in college in the late 60s. I could make smoke rings equally well with cigarettes, cigars, and a pipe.
you do make better rings if you do not first inhale the smoke. Hold it in your mouth make an “o” with your lips and simulataneously puff a very short puff along with a stabbing action with your tongue. Essentially the stabbing action should cause or be simultaneous with the “puff”.
(i’ve quit since then)… David Simmons has one crucial part right: you do not actually “blow” the smoke rings. you are pushing the smokey air out of your mouth with the action of your throat. exhalation is closed off by your tongue in the back of your mouth… also i had better results with a slightly wider “o” shape of the mouth than whistling… like this… :o
good luck!
My method: take smoke into the mouth, but not the lungs. Open my jaw while pursing my lips into an “o”. Pull my tongue back in my mouth, using the back of the tongue to close off the airway. “Click” my jaw upwards very quickly. Voila.
I had a friend who was like Gandalf in this. He could make huge rings that would float across the table and lassoo your beer, travel down the glass and hit the table. I have no idea how he did it. Practice I guess.
I’ve had great success with the method that a lot of posters have mentioned–the O shape of the lips, and pushing with the tongue. But I’ve enjoyed pipes and cigars for years, and have had a lot of practice.
But another method is possible too, especially if you haven’t had much practice and want some kind of immediate success–take a puff (don’t inhale), make the O shape, and hold your tongue so that the tip is just behind the O. Then, with the tip of your finger, gently tap your cheek repeatedly. You’ll produce a number of little smoke “Cheerios.”
Great fun, and even if you can’t get smoke rings any other way, you can usually get them this way. Even my wife, who enjoys an occasional cigar, can get these little “Smokey-Os” without much practice.
When I was a smoker, I used the jaw technique that jjimm describes.
it really isn’t all that hard to blow smoke rings - it is just a case of rapidly expelling a little smoke from a container (in most cases, your mouth) while keeping the opening constant.
You can do it with an empty tin can - drill or punch a hole in the bottom, put in something that makes smoke (a lighted cigarette butt perhaps), cover the open end tightly with a sheet of cling film and secure it with a rubber band. now flick the clingfilm and smoke rings will be emitted from the hole in the other end.
I’ve noticed that a room with warm and calm air works MUCH better than most other settings. After a bit of practice it can be done under most conditions.