Hello, and I hope I can help you today. You would absolutely have symptoms if you newly contracted Herpes 1 in your mouth. You would develop a sore on your lip or face, have burning pain in that area, and also possibly a sore throat, flu like symptoms, or swollen lymph nodes. The incubation period from when you are exposed until you develop symptoms is usually a few days up to 2 weeks. You also need direct contact with your lips on the lips of an infected person and usually a break in the skin to contract Herpes. So casual contact like hugging or a brief dry kiss is unlikely to pass on the disease. Herpes 1 is very common, in the U.S almost 70 percent of adults have been exposed to it at some time in their lives, most commonly in childhood. You may want to get tested (a blood test- called Herpesselect or a herpes type-specific DNA test) just to see if you already were exposed at some point in your life, because if you already had a cold sore any time in your life, you cannot catch it twice. I hope this information answers your question and that my advice was reassuring. Best wishes, Dr. Brown