Dr Nicole Avena, an associate professor of neuroscience who studies sugar’s effects on the brain at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, says such gadgets could work in principle. “Smell and taste are linked for sure, but you would have to train your brain to find reward from the scent of vanilla in the same way it found reward [from sweet food],” she says.

She sees potential pitfalls for some people, including the fact that your brain won’t necessarily always recognise vanilla as the scent of sweet foods. “I’ve smelled vanilla in my room freshener and other things”, she says.

Another problem with the stick is that it could actually increase cravings if used incorrectly. The instructions advise inhaling through the stick for the full two minutes: some studies show that a whiff of vanilla for 30 seconds or less “primes” you for sweet foods coming and actually increases cravings.

Avena says you can dampen your cravings in a gadget-free way, too. She advises her clients to try to pinpoint their “trigger foods”: particular sweet or starchy foods which can cause them to overeat. She says that for some people it might be as simple as “keeping cookies out of the house”, while other people will get a strong dopamine response to all carbohydrate-rich foods, including things like bread. “It’s about what sugars you’re finding you can’t control,” she says.

She advises against going cold turkey from all sugar – it will likely give you a headache and make you feel nauseous for a fortnight as your brain adapts to lower levels of dopamine. Instead, cut down and switch to healthier sources such as fruit.

She does, however, say it’s best to reduce the ultra-processed foods in your diet as much as possible because of the particular effects they have on the brain. “If you eat an apple it won’t cause that dopamine rush,” she says.

The other issue with ultra-processed foods, which includes breakfast cereals, biscuits, and ready-meals, is the high levels of sugar that they contain. The NHS recommends a limit of around 30g of sugar per day, which is shockingly easy to hit with processed foods: the equivalent of a glass of orange juice and a bowl of cereal.

Ultra-processed foods made with artificial sweeteners aren’t the answer either, says Avena. “Artificial sweeteners have a similar effect on the brain,” she says. “They won’t help you in the long-run get off sugar.”

A few weeks after testing Killa Vanilla, my cravings creep back a little but are still lower than before. If anything, the inhaler has taught me an important lesson that cravings will often go away if you just wait for a few minutes. Ah, the sweet scent of victory.