Cigar or pipe smoke

[Acebird]

Has anyone tried a cigar or pipe smoke for a quick inspection.  I kinda like the looks of a german smoker I have seen on a u tube video.  It doesn't lend itself to a veil but you could wear grinding goggles.

[cao]

I think I've seen that video too.  I don't know how well it would work but I would not like getting my face that close and breathing on them.  I know they don't appreciate it when I blow on them to move them when I want to see in the cells.

[GeezLouise]

Nicotine was used for killing insects. It was painted on chicken roosts to kill lice on the birds. I would avoid using nicotine-containing products on honeybees.

Sunniest regards, -W

[Blacksheep]

I bought a Nuc in Nashville Tenn from a fellow who was from Jordan and a cigar smoke was all he used and he had thousands of bees flying around as we opened several hives .I had on a veil and jacket!Ha He didn't get stung even once!

[Acebird]

Nicotine was used for killing insects.

So is water ... There is no nicotine in smoker fuel?

[mtnb]

Both of my greatgrandpas in Germany were beekeepers. I remember them both. They both worked their bees with only a pipe in their mouths. They were never without a pipe. lol

[BeeMaster2]

Nicotine was used for killing insects. It was painted on chicken roosts to kill lice on the birds. I would avoid using nicotine-containing products on honeybees.

Sunniest regards, -W

Hence the name: Neonicotinoid.
Very toxic to bees.

[BeeMaster2]

If I remember the old videos of the beekeepers in Germany, the pipe they used was not for them to smoke with but was designed to blow smoke into the hive. They just kept it in their mouth and blew into the pipe to smoke a hive. I never remember seeing them take a puff like they were smoking it.
Jim

[Acebird]

No Jim you don't puff on it, I wonder if there is a check valve.  It does look like a pipe though.

[mtnb]

I know the German pipe smoker you're talking about. That's not what I meant. They smoked a real pipe. All the time. And when they worked the bees, they'd puff a little and keep on going. Like you're
asking, acebird...

Has anyone tried a cigar or pipe smoke for a quick inspection. 

Why yes, my greatgranfathers worked their bees with a pipe. I've personally tried with just a cigar but that didn't work well with the veil. lol

[Hops Brewster]

I've seen old photographs and film of European beeks using pipes through a veil.  I guess they just tuck the screen right in with the pipe stem.  I've seen a vid on youtube of an Eastern European beek using a cigarette to smoke the bees.

Nicotine as used on plants as an insecticide is in liquid form, and highly toxic that way because it is much more concentrated.  When in smoke, it is much less concentrated and requires accumulation over time.  The greatest harm from using tobacco as your smoke is to yourself.  You would be the one accumulating the poison.  The bees don't live long enough for it to do much damage to them.  There are a number of toxic molecules in any kind of smoke.

[Acebird]

The greatest harm from using tobacco as your smoke is to yourself.

I am not in favor of smoking but assuming the smoke was not drawn into your lungs the effect of smoking is greatly reduced.

[mtnb]

I wouldn't take it up, if I were you, if you don't already smoke. lol

[KeyLargoBees]

I just hum that Deep Purple tune "Smoke on the Water" as I am doing inspections....it calms them right down 

[Acebird]

I wouldn't take it up, if I were you,

I gave it up more than 40 years ago.  Best financial decision I ever made and I had no idea it was a financial decision.

[bwallace23350]

For those of us who garden where are bees are we need to be careful I have always heard of the tobacco mosaic virus getting into our plants from cigarettes.

[gww]

I smoke and ride in the car with the windows up.  I went and inspected some hives with my sorta mentor and he was getting lit up by the bees.  I am not saying when I am the actual one holding the frames that I won't get lit up but untill I do there is always hope.  I sit and watch the hives and when a bee comes close I just try to confuse her with cigerette smoke.

  I wonder how much honey has been eaten due to the wind blowing my smoke into the hive?
I was actually thinking about that question while watching them this morning.
Cheers
gww

[Hops Brewster]

The greatest harm from using tobacco as your smoke is to yourself.

I am not in favor of smoking but assuming the smoke was not drawn into your lungs the effect of smoking is greatly reduced.

No, you don't have to inhale the tobacco smoke for it to be harmful.  Many pipe and cigar smokers generally don't intentionally inhale (though some do), but are still subject to mouth and throat cancers.  And they're still inhaling a bit of second-hand smoke from the air.

[Caribou]

The greatest harm from using tobacco as your smoke is to yourself.

I am not in favor of smoking but assuming the smoke was not drawn into your lungs the effect of smoking is greatly reduced.

My uncle had his lips amputated due to years of cigars.  It made his eating rather unsightly.

[BeeMaster2]

I once met a older man that walked around with a cigar in his mouth. At one point he removed the cigar and he had a hole in his bottom lip that was the diameter of the cigar. Very gross.
Jim