Give up the cigarettes for the miswak! The miswak is a great sunnah of our Rasul salallahu alayhi wasallam. In one hadith he has stated, "If it were not for the fact that it may be burdensome upon my Ummah, I would have made the (use of) miswak compulsory upon them." From this we can understand how ardently Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam desired for his ummah to take up this practice. In fact, when Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam was close to passing away, Abdur Rahman ibn Abi Bakr radiallahu anhu came in to his room; when Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam noticed that he had a miswak with him, he made some indication which Aishah radiallahu anha immediately understood. She thus asked Abdur Rahman (her brother) to give the siwak which he did and Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam even in his last illness, maintained the usage of the miswak.
It is great to use it before you pray. According to Imam Abu Hanifa rahimahullah, it is the sunnah of wudhu but according to Imam Shafi' rahimahullah, it is the sunnah for salah. Mufti Saeed Ahmad (DB) mentions in his Tuhfatul Al'ma'ee that a person can join both opinions together by performing wudhu just before he prays. Thus, he has acted upon both opinions i.e. he has done miswaak at the time of wudhu and just before prayer aswell. The wisdom for using it before prayer is obvious; this prevents the mouth from smelling. I think many brothers have found themselves in the situation where they have had a monster kebab roll with tons of onions only to feel embarrassed when they are standing in jamaat. Furthermore, the scent of cigarettes etc brings extreme discomfort and this is not only to other brothers but to the angels aswell. Thus we should try keeping our mouth clean.
Those who are married should also try to clean their mouths before they come home to their wives. This too, is a sunnah of our leader, Muhammad alayhis salaatu wa afadalut tasleem.
