I'm trying to translate this term from Chinese:
包口烟 bāo kǒu yān [pau⁵⁵ kʰou̯⁵²³ i̯εn⁵⁵]
(名) 抽烟不吸进肺里。 ▷ 抽包口烟。
(n.) Mouthful of smoke that is not inhaled into the lungs. ▷ Smoke a bāo kǒu yān.
So a 包口烟 is basically what you draw into your mouth when you smoke without inhaling. It’s a mouthful of smoke that you blow out instead of letting it go into your lungs.
包口烟 is a noun describing the smoke itself; the verb 吸 xī or 抽 chōu is used to indicate the action, just like with the regular expression meaning ‘to smoke’: 吸烟 xī yān or 抽烟 chōu yān, literally ‘draw/pull smoke’. Here you just ‘draw/pull mouthful-of-non-inhaled-smoke’ instead.
Is there a noun that means mouthful of non-inhaled smoke in English? Or a verb that refers to drawing smoke from a cigarette (or similar) without letting it enter your lungs? Or a term for someone who smokes in this way, for that matter?
Best Answer
I often hear this referred to as "puffing," as in "Puffing on a cigar," or "Puffing a cigar." However, "puffing" is still vague enough that it doesn't always convey that the smoke isn't being inhaled to the lungs. More often than not, it's just slang for smoking.