How to Perform a French Inhale & Other Smoke Tricks

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Inhale smoke through your nose for a gravity-defying effect

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Last Updated: August 31, 2024 Fact Checked

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Performing the French Inhale

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Do French inhales get you higher?

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Are French inhales dangerous?

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Other Tricks

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You might have seen Snoop Dogg or ASAP Rocky pull off an impressive French inhale or two in a music video. The French Inhale, also known as the Irish Waterfall, is a basic smoking trick where a dense cloud of smoke leaves your mouth and rises up into your nose. We’ll show you how to pull it off, and also answer some of your burning questions about the trick itself. Then, we’ll show you how to do other simple smoking tricks to impress your friends during your next sesh.

Things You Should Know

Take a large pull of smoke and hold it in your mouth for a second, keeping your tongue at the back of your mouth.
Part your lips slowly and jut your lower jaw forward without exhaling to let the smoke escape.
While inhaling through your nose, move your tongue slowly forward to push smoke out of your mouth to complete the trick.

Section 1 of 4:

Performing the French Inhale

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1
Take a large puff of smoke and hold it in your mouth. Don’t inhale the smoke or vapor into your lungs, and bring your tongue to the back of your mouth and use it to trap the smoke.^{[1]
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Research source} Let the smoke sit in your mouth for a second or two to let the vapor settle.
- The larger the puff, the more smoke you’ll have to work with. Be careful not to overdo it, though, since coughing will interrupt the trick.
Part your lips and push your lower jaw forward without exhaling, so that the smoke has a direct route from your mouth to your nose.^{[2]
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Research source} Keep your tongue at the back of your mouth to avoid disturbing the smoke or pushing it out of your mouth too soon.

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Inhale through your nose to complete the trick. Now simply inhale through your nose as the smoke seeps out from your mouth to create that signature upwards waterfall.^{[3]
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Research source} Don’t inhale too quickly, or the effect may not be quite as impressive as the smoke disappears. Take a slow, measured inhale, instead.
- As you inhale, it may help to push the smoke forward out of your mouth with your tongue, slowly moving the tip of your tongue forward across the roof of your mouth.
- Practice in the mirror to see the effect for yourself, and tweak how wide you open your mouth or how quickly you inhale—find the right balance to make the trick more impressive.

Section 2 of 4:

Do French inhales get you higher?

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French inhales don't get you any higher than a usual toke. When you perform a French inhale, the smoke has more chances to disperse before it actually reaches your lungs or bloodstream. This means that the pull is actually a bit weaker than if you just took a normal drag. And since you're pulling the smoke, letting it go, then inhaling it again, it’s a bit closer to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is less likely to get you high.^{[4]
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- Note that while secondhand smoke results in a much weaker high, you’re still interacting with the smoke directly during a French pull, meaning that if you’re smoking cannabis, you’ll still feel the effects of THC fairly strongly.

Section 3 of 4:

Are French inhales dangerous?

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They aren’t much more dangerous than other forms of smoking. The fact is that smoking is smoking, and may have adverse effects on your lungs in any form, whether you pull smoke through your mouth or your nose. That said, recent studies suggest that smokers who frequently inhale or exhale smoke through their nostrils may be at greater risk of upper respiratory disease.^{[5]
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Research source} So maybe don’t do a French inhale for every pull—just once or twice to impress your friends.
- Always understand the risks of smoking before participating, and avoid smoking if you’re pregnant, have respiratory diseases or asthma, or are under the legal age.

Section 4 of 4:

Performing Other Smoke Tricks

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This trick is named after the infamous Batman villain, and gets its name from the mask he wears over his mouth. To do it, perform the French inhale as usual, but instead of jutting your lower jaw out, only jut your lower lip out. Keep your teeth clenched so the smoke exits between them in “bars” and inhale through your nose (which creates an effect that looks like Bane’s mask).^{[6]
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The Ghost Inhale This trick involves blowing a puff of smoke, then inhaling it back through your mouth, which looks like a retreating ghost. Start by taking a hefty pull from your vape or smoking rig. Then, part your lips slightly without exhaling so the smoke escapes, and slowly scrape the tip of your tongue forward across the roof of your mouth to push the smoke out. Let the smoke hover in front of you for a moment, then purse your lips and suck it back in.^{[7]
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- Pushing smoke out with your tongue takes a bit of practice, so repeat this trick a few times to get a feel for it.
- This trick forms the foundation for learning other smoking tricks, so mastering it early is a good idea.
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Smoke rings Smoke rings are a classic trick and a great addition to anyone’s arsenal. To do them, take a large pull and inhale the vapor into your throat. Then, open your mouth in an “O” shape while keeping your tongue at the back of your throat. Take a short exhalation and gently cough to push the vapor out of your throat and past your lips.^{[8]
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- Everyone’s mouth is different, so it may take some practice and adjustment to achieve those perfect Os. Try opening your mouth wider or smaller, or tapping on the side of your cheek with your tongue to expel smoke, rather than coughing.
This is a fun prop-based trick that creates soap bubbles full of smoke that disperse when they pop.^{[9]
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Research source} Just get a bubble blower and some bubble mix, or 2 US tbsp (30 mL) of dish soap mixed into 1 cup (240 mL) of warm water. Take a pull of smoke and hold it in your lungs. Then, dip the bubble blower into the soap mixture and blow a bubble, just like you did as a kid. The bubble will float away and pop, bursting in a cloud of smoke.

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Tips

Like the term “French kissing,” nobody’s really sure where the French inhale got its name, or even why it’s also called an “Irish waterfall.” The former name might be associated with smoking’s popularity in France.

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Warnings

Smoking tobacco or nicotine is addictive and a leading cause of cancer and other harmful diseases.^{[10]
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