Oh dear, that raises some fond memories

There's an inconsistency of tense there...

I had always been convinced that kissing someone after they'd just finished a cigarette would be a horrible experience, but following a favourable experience to the contrary I can share with the gathered multitude that it in fact is not a horrible experience. Quite the contrary actually, but that was less to do with the cigarette and more to do with the person concerned.

Ah.  I can understand you now.  And I agree.  I wouldn't want it all the time, but a couple now and then can be not at all unpleasant. 

I imagine in the time before mouthwash it might have been an effective mask for bad breath.

Up till now, no.

This is accurate, although the procedure can be a little startling (the startlement only slightly offset by the state of mind its practitioners normally find themselves in). There is however an alternative, more often practised with tobacco, which simply involves the pressing together of lips as one person exhales and the other inhales.