Belgian chocolatier Dominique Persoone won another round of free publicity last week as news reports breathed new life into a device he invented to snort chocolate powder and added several hundred, he says, to a tally of more than 25,000 sales of "Chocolate Shooters" made by his company.

“The last week was crazy – now people are calling me from France, from Ibiza, from Brazil and Moscow,” the boundary-pushing culinary entrepreneur tells U.S. News. The reason for the latest spurt of news coverage is a drug- and alcohol-free party scene taking hold in Europe, particularly Berlin, where people reportedly drink, snort or pop pills of chocolate.

The Chocolate Line owner considers himself a purveyor of fun and an advocate for experimentation. “My idea is to motivate people to go to your kitchen and try out what you can sniff,” he says.

He says a party organizer ordered many Shooters a few years ago.

But while Persoone advocates surveying your kitchen for nasal delights that can be spring-loaded into your nostrils, he says he won’t sell to people who clearly intend to repurpose his invention for illegal drugs.

"Once we had a big order from Thailand and they just wanted to have the machine without the chocolate," he recalls, arousing his suspicion.

"And they wanted us to put black lights in it for sniffing in bars."

Persoone determined the devices would be used for cocaine and refused to play along. "I make the food, I’m not the dealer," he says.

When used as originally intended, the Shooter propels chocolate powder cut with mint and ginger into a user’s nose. The mint and ginger enliven the nasal passage and lighten the chocolate blend so it does not become an uncomfortable glob once inhaled.

Persoone says friends use the device to sniff ground basil before eating mozzarella cheese – a use he also wholeheartedly endorses, describing the sense of smell as essential component of taste.

“Life is boring. We should have fun,” he says.

Watch: Persoone Uses the Chocolate Shooter:



The contraption debuted at a Rolling Stones party in 2007 and later was offered for public sale online and in stores that buy and then resell it. "For me it’s very strange because it’s still alive,” Persoone says. “It’s making its own stories, this machine.”

Indeed, the chocolate-maker has benefited from several rounds of media attention as the device is discovered by reporters who touch off waves of coverage. Persoone says it’s essentially a “bling bling” update on one of his grandfather’s snuff tobacco accessories.

Last week, spokespeople for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration said they lack the authority to restrict sales of a device marketed for snorting chocolate, even if some doctors say use – or overuse – is unhealthy.

Persoone says he’s never encountered problems with law enforcement and urges customers to use the device for fun with friends, but not too often. He says he’s not convinced there’s a true drug-like high that comes from his chocolate powder blends, but more likely a jolt of energy.

He also says he’s not a believer in there being much special about raw, unroasted cacao, to which some European partiers reportedly ascribe fantastic experiences. His powder blends don’t use raw cacao.

The Chocolate Line’s website currently does not offer shipping of the approximately $50 Shooter to the United States, but Persoone says the company is looking to expand step by step and that he’s aware of interest in opening a U.S. storefront that would compliment his two in Belgium.

Persoone’s distaste for boredom has taken him in other interesting directions. He's developed chocolate lipstick he describes as a delicious makeup option for Goth subculture adherents of any gender.