I bring it into my mouth to cool off, just for a second, then inhale into my lungs.
C'mon, it may seem like a stupid question, but if the guy doesn't know he doesn't know, and it's an innocent enough question. There's no need to bust his chops so hard.
Anyway, back to you, whulk. What I hate is taking a super-huge hit and then coughing my ass off. Yeah, lots of people say that's the way to do it you get more high so on and so forth. But, ya know what? I don't like coughing my brains out. I want to take my hit (tiny as it may be, but guess what! It makes my weed last longer, too!) and enjoy it. I want to get high, not wrung out. So, I am the queen of the tiny hit (maybe fdd or someone can give me that designation). When I burn bowl or bong I light the very edge of the bowl, then cap it so it doesn't burn off, don't like waste you see. Take my little hit, then come back again in a little while. This is also because I don't like to smoke it to my head, I like to catch a little buzz, not be completely blazed. But.. that's just me, and I'm a little "off" compared to others.