Christian Poincheval poses with one of his bodily gas-altering pills. Photo via Pilulepet.com

GESVRES, France, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- A French inventor says pills he developed to make bodily gases smell like chocolate were inspired by a particularly flatulent meal with friends.

Christian Poincheval, 65, of Gesvres, said his Lutin Malin -- or Crafty Imp -- line of pills can make a customer's bodily gases smell like chocolate, roses or violets.


Poincheval developed the chocolate scent specially for Christmas.

The website selling the products bills the pills as "The Father Christmas fart pill that gives your farts the scent of chocolate."

"It's a nice present for the festive season," Poincheval told The Local. "There will be a real need for these pills over Christmas."

Poincheval said the invention was inspired by an uncomfortably flatulent dinner with friends about six years ago.

"We had just come back from Switzerland and we were eating a lot with our friends and the smell from the flatulence was really terrible. We couldn't breathe so me and a friend decided something had to be done," Poincheval said.

The pills are billed as "100 percent natural" and include fennel, seaweed and blueberries among their ingredients.