The cigar is done. It was a good one, and you smoked it slowly on the deck or in the lounge with the ash holding. Now you have to walk back into the house, get in the car, sit down in a meeting, or kiss someone who doesn't smoke. Your mouth feels heavy and dry, and the taste of the last inch is still sitting on your tongue. A breath spray for cigar smokers has one job in that moment: wake your mouth up fast, from your pocket, without a sink.
Dragon Breath does that with one or two sprays. Here is what cigar smokers usually try, what they say about it, and why a chilcuague spray is the one to carry.
Why cigar breath hangs around
In 2006, Russell Bazemore, an odour chemist at the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in Chicago, presented work on this exact problem at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco. C&EN reported that his team swabbed the tongues of two colleagues after they smoked cigars and also bubbled cigar smoke through artificial saliva. The strongest smells came from pyridines, pyrazines and a pyrrole. These compounds form when tobacco is fermented and dried, and again when it burns. They stick to the coating on the tongue and come back out of saliva slowly, which is why the stale note can still be there hours later. Bazemore himself said the "after aroma" could last a couple of days.
The other half of the complaint is the feel of the mouth. Cigar Inspector puts dry mouth on its list of causes, because smoke dries out the saliva that normally rinses the mouth. Holt's makes the same point and adds that a cigar smoked too fast, or down to the hot last inches, leaves a tarry film on the tongue. Cigar forum threads describe the same thing in plainer words: an ashtray taste that sits on the tongue long after the last puff.
What cigar smokers usually reach for
Read the cigar shop blogs and forum threads side by side and the same short list keeps coming up.
- Mints. JR Cigars suggests going stronger than a small mint. Holt's says gum and mints "do more to mask your cigar breath than eliminate it."
- Gum. Fine on a drive home, awkward in a meeting or at the dinner table.
- Mouthwash. JR Cigars and Holt's both suggest keeping a travel bottle, which means a rinse in the car park and somewhere to spit.
- Citrus drinks and tonic. Famous Smoke's Gary Korb wrote in 2013 that the citric acid in tonic style drinks like Bitter Lemon can cut up to 90% of the cigar taste.
- Brushing and a tongue scraper. Good at home, useless in a lounge.
Each of these works somewhere. Few of them work in the 30 seconds between stubbing out the cigar and opening the front door.
“Epic. Must buy”
One or two sprays on the walk back inside
Dragon Breath is chilcuague root extract in a 50 ml mouth spray. Chilcuague (Heliopsis longipes) is a root from Central Mexico, also called golden root. Ours is wild-harvested, from growth zones the Mara team selects with the help of local elders, and dual-extracted in organic solutions.
Spray once into your mouth. For a second you taste something earthy and a little peppery. Then a bright, electric buzz spreads across the tongue and mouth, and your mouth waters fast. That rush of saliva is the part cigar smokers notice first, because the mouth was so dry a moment ago. It washes over the tongue and the backs of the teeth, and when it settles you are left with a clean, fresh feeling that lingers.
The root's tingle comes from affinin, also called spilanthol. Lab work using HPLC measured 6.9 to 8.5 mg of it per gram of chilcuague root. That is why the buzz arrives in seconds. One customer, filming a first spray on camera, said only this: "Oh wow, the saliva flow."
Start with one spray. Once you know the feeling, you can go up to five. After a long, full-bodied cigar, try two.
A breath spray for cigar smokers should live in your pocket
The bottle fits in a shirt or jacket pocket next to your cutter and lighter, and it holds 250+ sprays. There is nothing to chew, nothing to unwrap and nothing to spit out, so you can use it walking to the car or standing at the bar. It is sugar free, as well as vegan, gluten free and non-GMO. A sugar mint or a sweetened spray adds a sweet layer over the tobacco; Dragon Breath gives you the buzz and the saliva and leaves your mouth clean.
The extract stays sealed in Miron violet glass. Miron keeps light off the extract and adds significant longevity to its quality and potency, and the spray top keeps air out. Loose root or powder in a bag gets neither.
Dragon Breath – Chilcuague Extract
50 ml mouth spray. Wild-harvested chilcuague root, dual-extracted. 250+ sprays.
Add to bagA pepper note that sits well next to tobacco
Mint fights a cigar. A mint after a Maduro tastes like toothpaste on top of leather. Chilcuague starts earthy and peppery, which is a lot closer to the flavours cigar people already talk about, and then the tingle takes over.
The root has a place at the table in Mexico too. In Tierra Blanca, Guanajuato, it goes into a local dish, nopales con chilcuague. A Guanajuato company makes an agave spirit called Chilcuague from blue agave and the root. Food and Pleasure describes it as the first distillate made from blue agave and this root, and The Food Tech writes that the root's best known trait is that it "opens the taste buds." If your cigar comes with a glass of tequila or mezcal, a spray before the sip puts that same root in your mouth.
Mouth spray after smoking, in order
- Finish the cigar and set it down. Take a drink of water if you have one.
- Spray once onto the tongue and close your mouth.
- Wait about ten seconds for the buzz and the rush of saliva. Move it around the mouth.
- Swallow. If the cigar was big and dark, give it a second spray.
- Walk back in.
For where the root grows, how it is harvested and how people in Mexico have used it, read our full guide to chilcuague root. For the other moments people reach for it, read how to feel more awake instantly.
Dragon Breath considerations
The product page recommendation: if you're pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or allergic to plants in the daisy family, ask your doctor before using it.
Questions people ask
How do I get rid of cigar breath fast?
Away from a sink, a mouth spray is the quickest option. One or two sprays of Dragon Breath gives a buzz across the tongue and mouth and a fast rush of saliva, then a clean, fresh feeling, in about ten seconds.
Why does cigar breath last so long?
Chemists at Wrigley found the strongest smelling compounds in cigar smoke were pyridines, pyrazines and a pyrrole. C&EN reported that they cling to the tongue and come out of saliva slowly.
Is breath spray for smokers better than mints?
For cigar smokers it is easier to carry and use. A spray is sugar free, needs no chewing and takes a few seconds, and Dragon Breath's earthy, peppery taste sits better after tobacco than a strong mint.
How many sprays should I use after a cigar?
Start with one. Once you know the feeling you can use up to five. After a full-bodied cigar, try two.
