How to get rid of and avoid weed breath

If you enjoy a little marijuana from time to time, then chances are you have at some point experienced the unpleasant stench of weed breath. Even if you don’t notice it your friends, colleagues, family members, and strangers will, and no one enjoys terrible breath no matter what the cause. This is especially important if you have children or a spouse who doesn’t smoke as their sense of smell and taste will be more sensitive than yours. There are a few different things that you can do to help get rid of a nasty case of weed breath, as well as others that can work as an aid to prevent it from ever occurring at all. To help follow marijuana lovers and haters alike, we have compiled a list of ten helpful tips to either avoid or get rid of skunky breath caused by cannabis.

1. Brush your teeth - A rigorous oral health care routine is going to be the most effective tool in your arsenal for battling bad weed breath. Especially as a smoker, teeth should be brushed, flossed, and rinsed at least twice a day to prevent plaque, tartar, and bacteria build up all of which will cause bad breath even if you don’t smoke marijuana.

2. Gum - Though it’s more of a bandaid type solution if you get stuck in a pinch, chewing gum can help to keep teeth clean. Gum will also help to stimulate the salivary glands which will eliminate cottonmouth and fight off lousy weed breath. Stronger flavors like mint, peppermint, and cinnamon are much more effective at stimulating the production of saliva than sweet and sugar filled brands, so try to stick to sticks that dentists recommend for the best results.

3. Vaping - Unfortunately, weed breath will always be something you battle with as long as you smoke marijuana. One of the few ways to avoid it entirely is to switch to vaping. Although vapes do also dry out the mouth which can encourage other contributors to bad breath, THC and CBD juices can be made with absolutely no colors or flavors which will leave no stink behind at all.

4. Clean your marijuana smoking accessories - Most marijuana smokers know that cleaning our devices is an essential part of owning a smoking tool and that the taste of our bud is negatively affected if we go too long between rinses and refreshing the water if necessary. What they don’t realize is that the build-up can contribute to weed breath as well. When you heat all the ages resins within the bong and inhale them that gross aftertaste is also a smell of its own that will linger. To avoid this awful smell, it can be helpful to maintain a regular piece cleaning regime.

5. Stay hydrated - When you smoke marijuana the heat that enters your mouth will dry it out causing the infamous cottonmouth symptoms. This can be uncomfortable as well as detrimental to both your oral health and the state of your breath. If the mouth is dry too often, it leads to an increase in bacteria, plaque buildup, cavities, and resins clinging to the tongue which can all negatively affect smells that contribute to bad weed breath. When you are actively smoking, try to keep a tall glass of water handy, and take generous sips in between tokes for the best results.

6. Breath mints - Another quick fix is the ever-popular breath mints. Mints will act similar to gum only tend to be much stronger with additives that are designed to linger for fresher smelling breath that lasts. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of breath mints lasts onlyas long as the juice remains in the mouth which is at most an hour. The best breath mints to battle weed breath will have strongflavors that make your mouth water as they stimulate the salivary glands like cinnamon, spearmint, or peppermint.

7. Edibles - Though edibles do tend to come with an earthy cannabis taste and even a slight smell, once they are eaten the scent is completely gone. Making the switch to edibles can save your lung and oral health while making bad weed breath a thing of the past. For the least amount of smell try using scent and flavor free tinctures and oils when you make edibles, as they will produce the least amount of odor.

8. Don’t use tobacco - All smoking habits come paired with some sort of bad odor. This is for a few reasons. The first being the oils that are produced by the plants that are usedincluding terpenes and resins. The second is caused by the dry mouth factor that will happen when the mouth receives exposure to so much heat. Tobacco is filled with hundreds of noxious chemicals that stink terribly when burnt, so mixing tobacco with your weed is likely going to result in the worst case of weed breath possible. If you must have the tobacco leaf taste than try to choose a milder alternative such as rolling a blunt filled with pure marijuana using a cigar casing.  

9. Snack on fruit - Using fruit juice as a weed breath neutralizer is incredibly effective, almost as much as brushing your teeth. Citrus fruits are the best due to their high levels of polyphenols which are a compound that reliably mask many bad smells. They also help to encourage saliva production which naturally rinses and cleans the mouth of all odors. The best fruits to mask weed breath are apples, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, clementines, and pineapple.

10. Enzyme oral rinse - Regular mouthwash is one of the first things that many marijuana smokers will reach for to mask the odor in their mouths, but they aren’t all that effective on their own. Some popular brands will even cause dry mouth themselves due to their alcohol content which in the end will leave you smelling and tasting worse than before you used it. Find an enzyme oral rinse like TherBreath that is designed specifically to mimic the proteins found naturally in saliva that help to clean the mouth. Use it immediately after smoking for a fast and easy solution to stinky breath.