How to Do Smoke Tricks

Getting Thick Smoke

Practice in a room with little air flow. Windy days will make it impossible for even the best smoke tricksters to conjure up a trick. You want as little outside wind as possible, so stay away from fans, close the windows, and choose a still, quiet room.

Work on keeping the smoke in your mouth. The smoke will start to dissipate in your lungs, making it thinner and weaker. Take short breaths in, puffing your cheeks out slightly, and work on keeping the smoke in your mouth. Think of taking 3-4 partial inhales instead of one big, long drag on your hookah or cigarette. You should feel the smoke towards your throat, especially if you take several quick breaths.

Exhale slowly. A long, slow exhalation keeps the smoke packed together, helping it appear as a thicker, more coherent cloud. Work on exhaling in a controlled, stream, almost letting the smoke eek out of you instead of forcing it.

Choose your smoking device wisely. Rolled smoking devices, like joints, cigarettes, and blunts have thick smoke because the paper is burning along with the contents. E-pens, with their high vapor content, are also good to smoke for tricks. But the easiest way to do tricks is with a hookah because the glycerin in shisha is vital to thick plumes of smoke. Water bongs and pipes are usually the hardest to use for smoke tricks.

Ghosting, or Double Inhalations

Take a drag, keeping the smoke in your mouth. Your tricks will be easier to pull off and look better if you don't drag the smoke into your lungs.

Open your mouth and exhale slowly. You don't want the smoke to get too far out of your mouth. Open you mouth halfway and slowly exhale the smoke from your mouth for 1-2 seconds. You are, in a way, simply letting the smoke escape on its own. You can tilt your head back to make it even easier.

Quickly inhale the smoke back into your mouth. When the smoke is still in a cloud, 2-4" from your face, quickly suck it back in. You might move your head towards it to get it all. Keep your lips somewhat close together as you inhale to make it easier to get powerful suction.

Try a "Snap Inhale" when you get more comfortable. The principles are the same -- you let the smoke out of your mouth and then suck it back in, but snap inhales are much quicker and more impressive. To do one: Take a 2-3 second drag, keeping the smoke in your mouth. Curl your tongue up to the roof of your mouth, with your lips still closed. As you open your mouth, snap your tongue down to force the smoke out with a short puff of air. Quickly purse your lips, like you were whistling, and suck back in the cloud of smoke.

Doing a French Inhale, or Waterfall

Take a drag for 2-3 seconds, keeping the smoke in your mouth. You may want to subtly puff your cheeks out to make this easier. You need to keep the smoke in your mouth, however. The more you can keep in your mouth, the better the trick will be.

Push your bottom lip out so that your mouth is open. Hold your bottom lip out, as if your had an underbite. Smoke should start to escape from your mouth, drifting upwards.

Inhale slowly through your nose. As the smoke escapes, drifting up from your bottom lip, inhale slowly as possible from your nose. You should get a reverse waterfall cascading across your upper lip and into your nostrils.

Adapt the French Inhale to other tricks. Can you blow a ring through your mouth and inhale it through your nose? How about a French Ghost, popping out a bit of smoke from your mouth and then grabbing it back through the nostrils. The French Inhale is a way to practice using both your nose and your mouth together for tricks.

Try ghost-facing. This trick involves little but patience. To do it, take a very big drag. As you open your mouth for the French Inhale, lightly and slowly exhale, pushing the smoke out and up as it hits your outstretched bottom lip. If you've inhaled enough smoke you should end with your face obscured in a thick, ghostly cloud.

Blowing Smoke Rings

Get a full mouth of smoke. A good, long drag is necessary, keeping the smoke in your mouth as much as possible.

Open your mouth in an O shape. You don't want to pucker your lips out, just open them in a natural shape, as if you were saying "Oh." Some people have more success pulling their lips back a bit, towards their teeth. What is most important, however, is having your mouth open and round.

Push the smoke out in quick bursts. This is the most challenging part of the trick, as you need to get control of your breath to pull it off. There are three ways to do it, each with slightly different results: Try short, quick exhalations. These take some practice, but it will feel like "reverse hiccups." A hiccup is little more than a sudden, brief inhalation, and you can feel this if you try to mimic a hiccup feeling. Instead of inhaling, though, push the air out. You can also think of making a "Huh, Huh, Huh," sound. Place your tongue behind the hole in your lips and "flick" out bits of airs. This is the best way to shoot the rings out far, but they will be thinner and weaker rings. Try the "cheerio" method. Push your lips out so that your cheeks are slightly concave (curving into your mouth). Tap your cheek with a finger, hitting it reasonably hard to force some air out of your mouth. This is a great way to get a ton of rings quickly.

Practice shaping your mouth to get different rings. The shape of your lips, along with the force you put behind your exhale, will all change the size and lifespan of the rings. The best way to learn how is to practice, as everyone's mouth is different and there is no recipe for certain rings. Hookahs, which produce thick smoke and burn for a long time, are often the best devices to practice on.

Make your rings into hearts. This cute little change of pace requires that you can already make solid rings. After you blow one out, snap the air 1-2" above the ring. The resulting burst of air will dent the top of the ring, making a heart appear.

Making Bubbles

Mix some dishwashing soap with water in a small dish. The more soap you have to water, the better. This is basically bubble fluid, so you want it to be liquidy but still full of soap. Start with 1/2 cup of water and a 2-second squirt of soap, then adjust accordingly.

Dip the end of a wide straw in the soap mixture. Again, this is similar to dipping a bubble wand in some children's bubble mix. Leave the end of the straw in the liquid as you inhale some smoke.

Take a big inhalation. Inhale as much smoke as you can from your chosen device. The more smoke, the bigger your bubble.

Exhale the smoke through the dry end of the straw. Make sure that you exhale slowly, building the bubble so it doesn't pop on you. Pull the straw off when you're done to close off your bubble. Don't inhale with the straw at your lips or you risk inhaling a big bunch of soap.