I came across this article and thought it might be helpful to all of us. If anyone has tried any of these suggestions I am sure the boards would be interested to hear if any of them work.

THAT CIGAR AFTERTASTE

Some cigars leave an aftertaste in the mouth that could last for a day or two. Our approach to this problem focuses on eliminating the aftertaste layer by layer.

No single product or procedure will completely remove the taste of a cigar. By using several steps to successively reduce the amount of cigar residue in the mouth, any remaining taste can be almost totally eliminated. Try a three-step approach:

Cut most of the taste with citric acid:

This is extremely important. There’s a reason why so many mouthwashes and other products have a lemon, lime or orange taste. It’s the citric acid, which overpowers everything else in the mouth.

It’s hardly fashionable to follow your cigar with Listerine, but there are excellent – and tasty – alternatives. Stay away from the weaker citrus drinks such as sodas and go for more acidic tonics. Orange juice is good, but my favorite is Bitter Lemon.

If lemon extract can cut through grease in the bathroom, imagine what it can do to your mouth! Many manufacturers make this drink, including Canada Dry, but the best – if you can find it – is Schweppes Bitter Lemon in the 10 oz. bottle, served chilled over rocks in an Old Fashioned glass. The combination of lemon juice and bitter quinine is both sour and refreshing and will cut 80-90% of the taste of anything that was in your mouth.

Give your mouth something else to chew on:

After giving your mouth some time to recover from the Bitter Lemon, give your mouth something else to worry about. A couple of options:

> Cereal. If you’re at home, this can be a tasty follow-up to the Bitter Lemon or other citric acid drink. Try a couple of handfuls of Rice Krispies straight – no milk – and see if your mouth doesn’t respond with some glee. Any of the Chex cereals – except Bran Chex – are also good and Grape Nuts is also excellent.

> Cheese. If you are smoking on the outdoor patio of a restaurant with some friends and enjoy your cigar after the entree, follow up with a citric beverage and then enjoy dessert. A great choice to chase the cigar taste from the mouth is some sharp, hard cheese. Ordering a cheese plate for dessert is quite an impressive way to end any meal.

Give your cigar the brush-off:

Once you have been “citric acidified” and cheesed up, you can get out the toothbrush and be sure to brush that tongue. By then you should be cigar taste-free . . . or too exhausted to worry about it anymore.

Alternatively, there is a product on the U.S. market called “Close Call” which debuted at the 2005 RTDA and uses a patented process which suspends copper sulfate in liquid. It has a light citrus taste and is reported to be safe to “swish and swallow.”

A couple of final thoughts:

> Remember that eliminating the taste in your mouth does nothing about the smell on your clothes and in your hair (if you have any). You’ll need to take separate precautions for this; remember that the silk smoking jacket was invented to keep the smell of cigars off of noblemen. Silk is relatively resistant to the smell of cigars compared with most other fabrics.

> After-dinner peppermints such as Altoids, or special cigar mints (the best known brand is Henry Clay) are strong and can be helpful. Just as effective can be hard candy sour balls or hot cinnamon balls.

Good luck!

I've grown to enjoy the aftertaste of some cigars, but if I do want to get rid of it, I usually have a little something to eat, then brush my teeth.

Based on empirical data, I find the amount of aftertaste is directly proportional to the quality of the cigar smoked. Lower quality, more aftertaste remaining.

I do find that having a bit to eat and then flossing and brushing my teeth, inside of cheeks, gums, tongue, and roof of mouth, pretty well eliminates all after taste. If you inhale then there is not much you can do to cleanse the respiratory system. Maybe during the autopsy.

That's a bunch of hooey! I say, LIGHT UP ANOTHER CIGAR! Voila. No aftertaste. Just current-taste.

Mouth: Brush with toothpaste the teeth, gums, tongue & roof of the mouth.
Clothes: I put the clothes in the laundry hamper.

I prefer sand blasting, but maybe this will work too .

Buy a quality smoke!

I must agree with TSFoster, buy quality. I find I get that aftertaste most often if I smoke too quickly and it gets too hot.

A good brandy or cappuccino also does the trick.

Since I've started smoking more frequently I find that there is less after taste. This could be due to a better quality cigar or I could just be getting used to it. :-)

However, I recommend the following:

1. Lime Water - sometimes I drink it with my cigar. After every 4 or 5 draws it cleans the pallet a bit and allows me to enjoy the taste of my cigar again.

2. Eat a little. It's amazing how that "refreshes" the mouth.

3. Since I switched to an electric toothbrush my mouth definately feels cleaner, both in general and after a cigar.

4. Floss! Too many people forget this step. I don't floss regularly (bad Dave!) but it can help the "morning breath" from a particularly strong cigar.

Try smoking a Cuban. No aftertaste and much better. Done