Chocolate can be addictive, and eating it is fattening – which is why a Harvard professor has helped create a cigarette-like chocolate inhaler that allows users to take a puff of their favorite treat whenever they want.

The product, called Le Whif, is a way to get chocolate without the calories, says David Edwards, a professor at Harvard University and the lead inventor of the product. And it is an experiment and adventure in gastronomy.

"The idea here is to move beyond the fork and the knife and think about inhaling food," he says. "Each whiff here fills your your mouth but has less than a calorie and is yet almost all pure chocolate. It tastes good."

Until recently, food particles could not be made small enough to get airborne and not offer the risk of choking, says Edwards. But his team claims to have found a way to offer super-tiny particles of chocolate through an inhaler. "The typical particle size for us is 80 to 300 microns," he says.

But the technology means that Le Whif doesn't come cheap. A pack of 24 Whifs is currently available for about $52 and is available through online orders only. Le Whif will have a launch party in Paris for the product on April 29.

The chocolate inhalers will come in four flavors: mint chocolate, raspberry chocolate, mango chocolate, and milk chocolate.

The goal isn't to replace the average Lindt chocolate bar but to enhance the chocolate experience, says Edwards. "It's a great diet thing or wonderful with coffee or it can be handed out as a gift at parties," he says.

Consider us sold for a snort from this chocolate pipe.

Photo: Le Whif