Leave it to the French to make anything appear more romantic. This time, they're making over farts and making them smell like chocolate through some pills.
The Father Christmas fart pill infuses your farts with the scent of chocolate. The pills were invented by Christian Poincheval, a 65-year-old Santa Claus look-alike from the village of Gesvres. Sold online, the pills retail for $12.50 for a jar with 60 pills and offer the added benefits of reducing bloating and gas.
According to Poincheval, the idea for fart pills came from an embarrassing situation after a night out with friends. They were enjoying a meal at the time and, unfortunately, could not control their farts. Surely, the people at the other table were not pleased.
"Our farts were so smelly we were nearly suffocated. Something had to be done," he said.
He started researching afterwards, focusing on natural ingredients to keep flatulence at bay. He pointed out that eating vegetables leads to vegetable-smelling farts similar to what a cow pat would smell like. When meat is introduced into a diet, farts always take a deadly turn.
Poincheval consulted with a scientist. After months of experimenting, he finally zeroed in on a recipe for pills and started selling them in 2006. For the chocolate fart pills, ingredients include bilberry, plant resin, seaweed, vegetable coal, and cacao zest.
"I have all sorts of customers. Some buy them because they have problems with flatulence and some buy them as a joke to send to their friends. Christmas always sees a surge in sales," he said, adding he sells several hundreds of the pills every month.
Aside from the chocolate aroma, a rose-scented variant is also available. Tablets for reducing flatulence in dogs are also sold on his site, Lulin Malin, which translates to "crafty imp."
Poincheval is indeed crafty. Because farts are here to stay, people might as well make them more welcome.
Another crafty remedy for farts is called the "Flatulence Deodorizer." Created by Colonial Medical Assisted Devices, the remedy is essentially a disposable pad worn on the inside of an underwear taped and it works by absorbing odors from gases that may be released by the body. Unfortunately, the Flatulence Deodorizer only works if an individual is using tight underwear. Otherwise, the fart would find a way out and its odor would not be absorbed.
