To blow smoke rings or not to blow smoke rings?

RockyMountainBriar

     One of my favorite pastimes while smoking, is practicing blowing smoke rings.  My dad use to entertain us when my siblings and I were children by blowing smoke rings, they bring back those old memories. He had to tap the side of his cheek to blows the smoke rings.  I have been perfecting making them without the “cheek tap”, actually pretty easy to do.  I think my dad might have spit out his upper denture plate trying it this way?  Which he also use to do to entertain us....pop his top plate out partially...strange to see a set of teeth hanging out part way protruding through a big smile.  He would suck them back in and pop them out again.....great fun for all.  I think it use to scare the bejesus out of some neighbor kids though😂😂😂😂.
     I have been trying to blow a small smoke ring through a previous larger smoke ring.  No luck yet, not sure if it is even possible?  It seems I have seen it done somewhere before though?  If I ever accomplish this trick, I am going to move on to the Smoke Dragon that Gandalf blows.   Now THAT would be an accomplishment.  Anyone out there in pipe land have such lofty smoke ring accomplishments/goals? 😁

jfreedy

I’m just happy to have a wind still day in Oklahoma to even attempt smoke rings. 

ghostsofpompeii

I can blow smoke rings indoors - but have a Hell of a time outdoors even with the slightest breeze.

riobrusa

This is a thing that never was able to do.

jfreedy

The trick for me is to make your tongue big (inflate your tongue) and  then quickly thrust the tongue forward pushing out small bursts of smoke through your O-shaped mouth. Sounds kinda weird now that I read this, but hey, it works. 

AnantaAndroscoggin

I've never managed to blow a smoke ring on purpose, but if I'm just smoking my pipe without thinking about it, more often than not I get at least one unintentional smoke ring per bowlful.

buflosab

You gentlemen are a whole lot more talented than myself, if I get a smoke ring it's purely by accident.

riobrusa

buflosab, I make my yours words.

mapletop

As an ex cigarette smoker who started at age 13, it was one of the first things I learned to do, sort of like a kid smoker peer pressure thing.

In any case its a bit of experimentation and then practice.

My technique is the same as @jfreedy's however there are others.

Watchmaker61

Smoke rings remind me of my late Uncle Fred, a great man, very funny, never drove a car and he could make prefect smoke rings all day long. Unfortunately he smoked cigarettes.... and died at 62.

DerekJ

I love blowing smoke rings. As I watched LOTR, I was thinking how awesome it would be if you could blow smoke in shapes. @jfreedy

KA9FFJ

Or, in the case of dwarves, blowing rings in colors!  💨

mapletop

Coolest smoke rings I ever saw came out of the conductors baton while he was three stories in the air on a small pedestal  riser at the 1977 Emerson Lake and Palmer Works show in Chicago.

As the rings moved over the stage they changed colors as they passed under the different color lights. Was a very cool effect, just one of many of what might be the greatest musical show ever performed.

DerekJ

@mapletop That's cool. Is there a pic of this??
@KA9FFJ  Dwarves blow smoke rings in color? That's not in the movies is it or did I completely space out and miss that part?  If it is in the movies, I'll say in my defense they are LOOOOONG and I was watching the special extended cut with bonus features.  It effectively turns a 2.5 hour movie to a almost 5 hour. 

mapletop

@DerekJ I have looked on a couple of occasions to see if anyone had ever posted a picture of the conductor but to no avail, it may be partly because the tour was so expensive they only played three shows.

It was such a large production that it took 80 tractor trailers to move all the equipment

KA9FFJ

@DerekJ You are correct. Colored rings blown by dwarves is NOT in the movie, but to can READ about it in "The Fellowship..," when the dwarves dine at Bilbo's home that first meeting. If I remember correctly, either Bilbo or Gandalf was envious of their ability to do so...