Kissing a smoker is the moment a lot of smokers think about on a date and never say out loud. You step outside for a cigarette, or half a cigar between drinks, then walk back in and the person across the table leans close. The first thing they meet is the last thing you smoked. You can change that taste in the few minutes between the smoke break and the table, and the change is something you feel on your own tongue before they ever notice it.
What kissing a smoker tastes like to the other person
People who don't smoke reach for the same word, and they have for close to a century. The word historian at Word Histories found "ash-tray breath" in an Old Gold cigarette advert in the New York Daily News of 13 July 1931, with a tobacco company pitching its own brand as the one that avoided it. Barry Popik traced the kissing version to a 1936 column in the Charlotte News, where a non-smoker compared kissing a smoker to "rubbing your nose in an ash tray." By the 1970s the line had become a slogan, and in 1994 it turned up in the title of a Randy Powell book, Is Kissing a Girl Who Smokes Like Licking an Ashtray?
The taste is also what partners notice first. In a February 2011 YouGov poll of 4,010 British adults, run for the charity No Smoking Day, 57% said a smoker's breath would put them off kissing. Morning breath was the only thing that scored higher, at 59%. The same poll found 38% of people liked a minty kiss best.
Read it from the smoker's side and the poll is useful. People object to the taste, and the taste is the part you control on the walk back from the smoke break.
Kissing a smoker taste, and where gum falls short
Gum and mints lay sugar and peppermint over the smoke. The ash is still under it, so the kiss tastes of mint and ashtray at once. Chew long enough and the gum goes flat while the smoke stays.
What you want before a kiss is a mouth that feels wet and clean, with nothing sweet or roasted left on the tongue.
“Oh wow, the saliva flow.”
A palate cleanser after smoking
Cigar smokers have worked on this problem for a long time, though for a different reason. JR Cigars lists four palate cleansers its smokers use between cigars: coffee, bitter lemon soda, dark chocolate and plain water crackers. They reset your palate so the next cigar tastes like itself.
Each one leaves a taste of its own. Coffee breath on a date is a second problem stacked on the first, and chocolate and crackers are not things you carry in a shirt pocket. A palate cleanser for a kiss has to fit in a pocket and leave freshness behind.
One spray of Dragon Breath, second by second
Dragon Breath is chilcuague root extract in a 50 ml mouth spray. Chilcuague (Heliopsis longipes), also called golden root or raíz de oro, is a root from Central Mexico. Mara's root is wild-harvested from growth zones the Mara team selects with the help of local elders, then dual-extracted in organic solutions. Lab work on the root has measured affinin (also called spilanthol) at 6.9 to 8.5 mg per gram. The full story of the plant is in our guide to chilcuague.
Here is what one spray does, in order. For about a second it tastes earthy and a little peppery. Then a bright electric buzz spreads across the tongue and mouth. Your mouth waters fast, a rush of saliva that washes over everything. When the buzz settles, a clean fresh feeling stays and lingers.
One customer, filmed taking a first spray, said it in four words: "Oh wow, the saliva flow."
On a smoke break the order works for you. Smoke is the last taste before the spray, and the fresh feeling is what you carry back to the table.
Why a spray beats a root in your pocket
People in Mexico have chewed chilcuague root for generations. Cilia-López and colleagues recorded it chewed and used as a spice. A dried root in a jacket on a date is another matter. You can't chew it at the bar, and loose root or powder sits open to air and light every time the bag is opened.
Dragon Breath fits in a pocket next to your lighter. A few sprays is all it takes, and one bottle holds 250+ sprays, enough for a lot of smoke breaks. The extract stays sealed in Miron violet glass, which keeps light off it and adds a lot of longevity to the quality of the extract. It is vegan, gluten free and sugar free, so there is no sugar left on the tongue the way gum leaves it.
Dragon Breath – Chilcuague Extract
50 ml mouth spray. Wild-harvested chilcuague root, dual-extracted. 250+ sprays.
Add to bagHow to kiss after smoking
This is the routine, start to finish. It takes about five minutes and fits inside the walk back.
- Finish the cigarette a few minutes before you head back in. Give a cigar a little longer.
- Drink a glass of water and swish it around before you swallow, to rinse ash off the tongue.
- Take one spray of Dragon Breath three to five minutes before you sit down. Once you know the feeling, go up to five.
- Let the buzz run and the saliva come. Wait a minute before your next drink so the fresh feeling has your mouth to itself.
- Wash your hands. Smoke stays on the fingers, and fingers end up near a face during a kiss.
Then you walk back in. Your tongue still hums a little, your mouth is wet and cool, and the last taste in it is fresh instead of the cigarette. You sit down knowing what they'll taste, which takes the hesitation out of leaning in.
A cigar is a longer, heavier smoke than a cigarette, and the routine stretches to match. Two or three sprays is a fair place to start. Our post on breath spray for cigar smokers covers the cigar lounge in more detail.
If you're the one doing the kissing
Some people searching "kissing a smoker" are the partner, the person who noticed the ashtray and doesn't know how to bring it up. Handing over a bottle is easier than a conversation. Give it as a gift, something for the walk back from the smoke break, and leave it there.
The spray is also fun to share. The first buzz across the tongue is a surprise, and it gives you both something to laugh about at the table. Keep a second one in your own bag and you both arrive at the kiss tasting the same.
Questions people ask about kissing a smoker
Can you taste cigarettes when you kiss a smoker?
Usually, yes. Non-smokers have been comparing it to an ashtray in print since at least 1936.
How long before a kiss should I use Dragon Breath?
Three to five minutes before is a good window. The buzz and the saliva rush come first, then the clean fresh feeling lingers.
How many sprays should I use after a cigar?
Start with one spray, and go up to five once you know the feeling. After a long cigar, two or three is a fair place to begin.
What does Dragon Breath taste like?
Earthy and a little peppery for a second, then the tingle takes over across the tongue and mouth.
