Fellatio, when given with skill and enthusiasm, is wonderful to get — virtually any man will attest to this fact. Just the same, the reverse can be true; giving head can be incredibly arousing for the person going down. But for the giver, fellatio has a multitude of factors that can conspire to make the experience either a turn-on or a dud. One of those factors is a question of taste — is he, or will he be, your favorite flavor?
Chemistry has a lot to do with the way you interpret your lover’s taste and scent. In the realm of your senses, taste and smell are intertwined like Siamese twins that require one another to live; you inhale your lover as you lick and get a complete taste, and your sense of taste enhances your ability to interpret smells.
But it’s the chemistry between the two of you that determines whether the other person comes up on your body’s radar as yummy or not — and you can usually tell within the first nuzzle or kiss.
Your chemistry may “click” with that of your partner some of the time, but not all the time. He can smell and taste different at different times depending on stress, diet, smoking, not bathing for a few days, taking vitamins or overall health changes. Nowhere are these changes more noticeable than when you go down on him. His genitals, though not usually overwhelmingly scented, are where his very essence is broadcast, scent- and taste-wise.
But what does a man’s genitals smell and taste like? They’ll smell and taste exactly like him — his skin, actually, but more intense. In our genital areas, we have a high concentration of apocrine sweat glands, glands that are present in association with hair follicles. They are found mainly in areas where there is obvious body hair such as in the armpits and around the genital area.
These glands are under hormonal control, and a large part of the way our bodies smell can be traced to the apocrine glands. By themselves, the secretions of these glands are odorless, but bacteria act on the secretions to produce our individual scent.
If you are worried about what you might encounter when you put him in your mouth, have him take a shower or bath before you engage in oral sex — you can even join him, soap him down, and begin oral sex in the shower if you feel comfortable. Generally speaking, the obvious answer to any cleanliness dilemma is for him to shower daily, and for men who have a foreskin (uncircumcised), to be sure to clean under the hood — any buildup will lend toward odor.
If you and your partner plan on having him ejaculate into your mouth during orgasm, you might wonder how he’s going to taste. On average, men’s ejaculate has the pH and consistency of an egg white — though scent and taste comparisons are often made to fresh white mushrooms, brie or fresh tart yogurt — yet this will be different from man to man, and the amount he ejaculates will also vary from time to time. Some men have thicker or thinner come than others, stronger or milder tasting or smelling come than others, and some will shoot a lot while others very little. There are many variables as to why, and some of the factors are diet, frequency of ejaculation, health and physiology.
The taste of come can be neutral, slightly sweet or lightly tart, or stronger, salty, musky. Things that can make the flavor of semen strong or pungent are vitamins, asparagus, beets, coffee, cigarettes, a diet high in red meats or garlic. Coffee in high doses (especially strong, like espresso) will make his come taste slightly bitter, and a lot of espresso (5-6 cups in a day) will make male ejaculate thick and clotted. Curries influence flavor as well, and so can diets of spice-rich foods with little water intake. Strong foods like these can influence his ejaculate in much the same way as they do urine. To keep it smelling and tasting neutral, he can avoid these foods at least 24 hours before oral sex, and drink plenty of water.
Carnivorous men tend to have stronger tasting semen than those who stick to vegetarian diets, though whether this is unpleasant or not to the person doing the tasting is up for debate.
Another thing that affects the taste of male ejaculate that is seldom talked about is — drugs. Over the counter and street drugs both make come taste sharp, bitter and even rank: antihistamines are especially in this category. Most especially is the street drug speed (also including meth — aka crystal — and crack, as well as cocaine). According to the populations that I and other outreach health workers counsel for sexual health, speed can make a man’s come taste very unpleasant. But then I suppose, one might not notice or care. But it’s information worth sharing.
Sweetening come is a whole different matter. Conventional wisdom on this subject (if there is such a thing) states that if he wants to make his ejaculate more palatable he should drink lots of citrus, pineapple or celery juice, and eat a lot of sweet melon. The more tropical juices and fruits (especially with elimination of bitter dietary factors), the sweeter the come. This recipe is a popular and healthy solution to sweetening ejaculate:
The famous — Tiny Nibbles’ Original — Super Spunk Smoothie
So many people ask me about sweetening or improving the taste of male ejaculate — and yes, you really can sweeten a man’s come. Citrus, mango and cucumber really do work — but he has to refrain from strong foods and vitamins for a few days while drinking a juice mixture for it to work. So no garlic, asparagus, broccoli, red meats, curries or multivitamins!
Here’s a recipe for a drink that incorporates many popular come sweetening ingredients — try drinking it for three days in a row. It’s part of a balanced breakfast, like a good blowjob.
Super Spunk Smoothie
1 cup pineapple, fresh, canned or juice
1 cup mango juice
1 banana
1/2 cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/2 tsp fresh ginger
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbs honey
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Drink immediately. Repeat daily for best results.
What about chemical solutions, or products that purport to do the work “instantly” for you? There are a couple of products on the market that claim to enhance the bouquet and zest of semen, most notably Semenex and Sweet Secretions. Both products claim to make it not only sweeter (and look dubious), but to impart it with a flavor that they say “women will love.” (Oh, really?) Semenex is a powder that comes in packets; he mixes the powder with water and drinks it before he goes to bed over the course of two to three days before he wants to be tasty. However, the jury seems to be out on the results, and I’ll wager that it’ll probably be around 800 years before someone does a real study on the effects of cantaloupe on the taste of come.
Sweet Secretions offers a sublingual tablet (dissolves under the tongue) that both partners use just before oral sex to change the taste of whatever fluid ends up in their mouths — sadly (and mistakenly), it’s assumed by the manufacturers that pussy is also an undesirable taste, and that both partners are heterosexual. No products that make these claims have passed any sort of clinical or safety trials, so buyer beware, and read the ingredients of anything that makes these claims before you ingest them.
Have fun playing around with your lover’s flavors. You don’t have to limit your experiments to his ejaculate; there are a number of flavored lubricants, flavored condoms, and other fun tricks you can use to make fellatio even more exciting than it already is. Just keep in mind that oils, such as flavored sex oils and foods that contain oils like chocolate and whipped cream, will cause latex to break.
That means a whipped-cream cock sundae will lead to a broken condom — even if you really lick him clean. Also, if you’re planning on having penis-vagina intercourse keep in mind that flavored lubes and foods that are high in sugars will introduce bacteria into the vaginal canal that can cause a yeast infection — especially if you’re susceptible. I’ll cover flavored lubes and oral fun with food in this article.
To find out more about the taste and scent of a man, chemistry and pH, and everything under the sun about giving head, check out a copy of my book The Ultimate Guide to Fellatio.