I researched this awhile back when adopting kittens. It seems there are a lot of variables with cat biting. These are some tactics that I've had successful experience with (in slightly different situations):
If the cat was biting as a sign of play (your fingers, arm, etc. is like a toy) then ignoring the cat is recommended. First, play with the cat (Never let your body be a toy. You can hold a toy, but never make your body part a toy. Use a toy on a string, a long toy or throw a toy. If it's small just do the best you can. I'm just saying this for everyone that might read it.) If the play session ends naturally (cat gets tired or bored) give him a treat. This is a natural occurrence for cats - to eat after play/hunting. If the cat attacks your hand/food/etc (claws or teeth), pull back to yourself and try making a loud sound as if hurt (sharp short high-pitched yelp or hiss) right at the moment of the attack. Do not delay, animals have difficulty connecting your reaction to what they did unless it's immediate. (If you forget to make the sound - don't do it late.) Leave the room as quickly as possible. Take the toy with you. Try to shut a door between you. Ignore the cat as much as possible for at least 15 minutes, preferably longer, like 30 minutes. If you can't keep the cat out, just keep leaving whatever room your cat is in to signal you do not trust to be in the same room with it. Try playing again the next day. If the cat attacks again before the next play time, try to react as you did earlier, as much as is possible within your schedule.
I was trying to socialize a semi-abandoned outdoor kitten that lived in my landlord's barn. He had a terrible biting and clawing habit. This technique (modified for his barn area) worked amazingly well. (Of course leaving him really did mean leaving him for at least a day. Sometimes I only visited for 1 minute! But in just a week I noticed a difference. He stopped biting and started retracting his claws and focusing on toys and walking next to me instead of attacking.)
A vet on NPR discussed that nipping (gentle biting) is a natural cat-to-cat interaction that you may never be rid of. For example, during petting when your cat wants attention and suddenly nips. To the cat, it isn't really hurting you. But a lot of vets point out that you can sometimes predict these nips. The cat may be flicking their tail or turning their ears or head (signaling displeasure) before they do it. They are getting annoyed with your petting, it's too much or not in the right place anymore. To us a bite seems over-the-top, but to the cat it was a gentle correction. "I swear my cat enjoys it but then it bites." Then remember that it is possible for something to feel both good and bad, tickling is a common example for humans. Vets also point out that the cat may be anticipating a "bad petting" and biting when a person only walks near to warn off the person in advance.
Two of my cats tend to bite when they get so into petting that they frenzy. They purr like crazy and start rolling over and pacing back and forth. The more frenzied they get, the more likely they'll suddenly bite. When you walk off, they follow you and rub on you "asking" for more petting. The best we've been able to do is stop petting them but stay with them when they start getting frenzied (before they bite). We minimize the petting until they calm back down.
This is probably too late for you (I haven't read anything about it working with adult cats) but another tactic is to make sure the cat grows up with other cats. It's been shown that kittens that grow up with siblings tend to tuck in their claws and bite lightly. This is because they learn through experience with each other that claws and biting hurt. Basically, they learn to tone it down so they can continue roughhousing for fun. The cat grows up with "no-claws" as the default way to play, even with toys.
I've never heard of the "hold mouth closed and blow on face" thing for biting, but I have (since you asked about experience) blown on my cats' faces when they get near my food. I don't touch them at all, I just blow a little puff of air toward their face. It works surprisingly well. Anything else and they just came back, but one puff or two and they walk away for good. So I think that might have been a valid idea as a deterrent, not sure as a punishment. Perhaps kittens are more susceptible to being corrected than adults.
