So the "you don't inhale it" part of that has absolutely nothing to do with the properties of the pipe/cigar. You can easily inhale on both and you can also choose not to inhale with a cigarette.
For what its worth, I literally know no one who inhales cigar smoke. A strong cigar is quite capable of making you feel very ill just from absorption via the mouth (too much nicotine), inhaling would quite likely have you throwing up.
There is a fairly big practical difference between cigars and cigarettes. Cigars (like pipes) aren't traditionally inhaled into the lungs, so if you have genuinely gone from cigarettes to cigars and you aren't inhaling you're probably a lot better off.
You are supposed to puff a tobacco pipe, as in you don't inhale just hold it in your mouth. Same with cigars. Treating either like cigarettes or marijuana is a sickening experience even for many nicotine addicts.
That and you don't inhale cigar/pipe tobacco plus for whatever reason they don't appear to be addictive in the same way cigarettes are. In an ideal world I wish all tobacco wasn't lumped together with cigarettes because while I'm sure smoking a pipe/cigar has its risks my impression is those risks are no where as bad as with cigarettes. Unfortunately I've never been able to find any real studies on cigars/pipes in isolation.
I used to be a smoker and what I previously said holds true both for cigars and pipes. Off course no one's stopping you from swallowing the smoke if you so please, but the way of smoking cigars and pipes is to inhale without swallowing. The reason for doing that is because the amount of smoke produced from one cigar is at least ten times more than from one cigarette so if you swallow it's like smoking a pack of cigarettes. Plus the flavor is much much heavier.
As for the technique it's quite easy. Inhale, keep it in your mouth for as long as you please then exhale. Swallowing is a conscious effort so you can easily avoid it. Not that this won't cause you health issues though, from mouth cancers to poorly teeth health and what not.
Some people inhale, most don't. People shouldn't, but you know an interesting factoid is that the average US woman will consume (eat) 4lbs of lipstick in her lifetime without intentionally doing so. So too, cigar smokers invariably will be inhaling more cigar smoke by virtue of being around it and having it in their mouth than someone not smoking a cigar. Is the amount material to your health? That's the gamble you get to decide on.
I don't know much about cigars, but I was always under the impression that cigar smokers do not inhale. Is the nicotine absorption in the mouth sufficiently efficient that smoking a cigar can make grown men nauseous?
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