# Smoke rings, hearts, etc. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-rings-hearts-etc/371581 "2006-09-06T01:43:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DuhCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@DuhCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DuhCow)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-rings-hearts-etc/371581/1 "2006-09-06T01:43:34Z")
I know the general idea about to how to make smoke rings, but how do people do things like hearts, french inhaling, and other cool smoking tricks? ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-rings-hearts-etc/371581/2 "2006-09-06T01:52:06Z")
French inhaling is not cool. I saw a dude with his nose lopped off (fresh after surgery) because of doing that often. Very, very disgusting. I’m gonna go smoke a cigarette and only exhale the smoke, durnit. ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-rings-hearts-etc/371581/3 "2006-09-06T01:52:53Z")
[QUOTE=DuhCow] french inhaling [/QUOTE] I believe that one is when you don’t inhale when you take a drag, but instead let the smoke flow out of your mouth and suck it up your nose. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-rings-hearts-etc/371581/4 "2006-09-06T01:53:15Z")
I used to smoke as a teenager. French inhaling is pretty easy. You basically fill your mouth with smoke. Next, you open your lips a little but you also close the back of your throat. Finally, you use your nose a little vacuum cleaner. Sucking through your nose at the right rate will pull a steady stream of smoke from your mouth into your nose and down into your lungs. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-rings-hearts-etc/371581/5 "2006-09-06T01:55:00Z")
[QUOTE=DuhCow] french inhaling [/QUOTE] Yup, it’s what I thought; learned that trick from my scoutmaster: [french inhaling](http://www.smokingsection.com/tricks.html). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-rings-hearts-etc/371581/6 "2006-09-06T02:01:16Z")
I used to do the common trick of filling my hand with lighter gas and setting it on fire. Lots of people do that but I carried it to the extreme and could fill it with enough gas to light three cigarettes with my hand. I did lots of manual labor in high school do the callouses helped but it wasn’t pure trickery. I really did burn the crap out my hand many times and it was always painful if I held it long enough to light a stubborn cigarette. The flame came out of a circle made between the thumb and index finger and that skin could really sizzle. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-rings-hearts-etc/371581/7 "2006-09-06T11:01:45Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] I used to do the common trick of filling my hand with lighter gas and setting it on fire. Lots of people do that but I carried it to the extreme and could fill it with enough gas to light three cigarettes with my hand. I did lots of manual labor in high school do the callouses helped but it wasn’t pure trickery. I really did burn the crap out my hand many times and it was always painful if I held it long enough to light a stubborn cigarette. The flame came out of a circle made between the thumb and index finger and that skin could really sizzle. [/QUOTE] A buddy of mine would do that, but instead of making a little lighter out of the gas like I think you do, once he got the flame going he would throw a ball of fire at his face and light the cigarette off that. Pretty impressive…dumb…but impressive.