Thanks to reader J.S. for this one, a question which comes up again and again. 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 a favorite is Schweppes 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 an excellent choice.

·       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!