The product: Le Whif, a puffable chocolate canister that offers the sensation of eating chocolate without the calories.
The Price: About $2 per three puff inhaler.
The Verdict: The size of a container of Chapstick, you pull the telescoping Le Whif out to coat your entire tongue and mouth with a tiny amount of chocolate. The "essence" of chocolate, as it was described to me.
Words cannot capture the humiliation of inhaling a chocolate/raspberry Le Whif, then coughing the sugar out of my lungs, like a first time cigar smoker but even more pansy. (Supposedly the 80 to 300 micron chocolate pieces are too big to enter the lungs, so it's possible that I just sucked down a nasty coat of chocolate into my trachea.)
My second and third puffs, however, were more successful. The sensation is akin to sucking a tiny bit of cocoa powder through a straw. And while not necessarily enjoyable in any way, it was admittedly a lot of chocolate flavor for only .8 calories a stick.
A spokesman explained to me that just as Man had evolved from eating one meal a day, He's gone on to eat 2, 3 and then even a recommended 5. And under this logic, Man would eventually breathe food at all times. So Le Whif is working with a variety of French chefs to capture the essence of their dishes. If and when Le Whif releases inhalable foie gras, I might try again. Until then, I'll stick to good old fashioned overeating. [Le Whif]