Le Whif [Breathable Chocolate] (Amazon)

Le Whif - Mixed Chocolate (3 Pack)

I have been running a competition on this site which involves people telling me about an interesting or favourite personal foodstuff find. One reader told me about ‘Le Whif’ breathable chocolate. A couple of clicks later I was transfixed by the concept of this curious item and low and behold I found them for sale on Amazon!

So the concept: You use the inhaler to breathe in chocolate, which coats your mouth giving a full flavour but just 0.8 calories in each Le Whif. Each Le Whiff offers up to eight chocolate scented puffs. It was created by academics as a very low calorie chocolate sensation.


My packet arrived today, and obviously I was very keen to try it out. It came packaged in a small box, inside of which were three lipstick sized inhalers. The brown is chocolate, the pink one chocolate raspberry and the green chocolate mint.

I decided to go for the chocolate first, to find out what the base chocolate taste was like. I clicked it open, and as per the instructions took a gentle breath. Nothing happened of note, except that I was just trying to work out if there was any noticeable difference when I realised there were just a few specks of something on my tongue. I took a deeper breath, and got a bit more product out , but it was just a light coating. Still not much flavour, and what there was disappeared from my taste buds remarkably quickly. I took a very big breathe in (what the hell) and I managed to not choke, but I don’t advise trying this as I did end up sneezing! I realised that the second breathe I took (i.e. slightly deep) was the right amount, and the product just was a bit of an anti climax to me.

Flavours:

• Brown - The chocolate was dark tasting, and sweet with a hint of drinking chocolate about it. In fact I think a similar experience would be tasting a few specks of drinking cocoa.
• Green – Like a peppermint taste, by the third breath there was a little more chocolate mixed in, but it was a bit like having one lick of a Mint Imperial.
• Pink - Quite a natural flavour, just a hint of raspberry taste with a hint of chocolate, but then it was gone.

I didn’t experience much of any of the flavours (despite finishing each tube), so I do apologise for being a bit vague. For me the experience was certainly not enough to get rid of a chocolate craving, or do anything really, just a strange novelty experience. Proper chocolate is about texture, about how it softens in the mouth, and all the different tones within the cocoa and the sugar, all melting into your taste buds.

The box costs £5 for three Le Whifs, and all I feel I have purchased is a plastic contraption with a tiny amount of product similar to drinking chocolate inside it. When it comes to giving me a low calorie sweet sensation, I’m afraid I’d rather buy a packet of sugar free mints.