Answered by Mufti Yusuf Mullan
My question is from fasting as a high school freshman. I used to wear flavored chapsticks, and continued to do so in Ramadan without even thinking. I remember sometimes tasting something when I licked my lips, but I didn’t think anything of it. Now I need to know whether I owe kafaara, makeups, or what? I didn’t do it on purpose, and I don’t know how many fasts I did this during.
wa alaikum salaam,
The fasts are valid. Merely tasting with the tongue, if done unnecessarily (as apposed to the taste that results from the tooth-stick for instance, which is perfectly fine) renders the fast makrooh, but does not invalidate it. If flavor changes the state of the saliva, and then this saliva is swallowed, this however does invalidate the fast. As such, in the future flavored chapsticks should be avoided, so as to protect the fast from possible dislikedness (karaahah) or invalidation in extreme cases.
and Allah knows best.