CHRISTINA EICHELKRAUT / PVT Dr. Stuart Hoffman displays a selection of his finest homemade fudge, an aside from his position as chief of surgery at Desert View Regional Medical Center. Advertisement

Stuart Hoffman, chief of surgery at Desert View Regional Medical Center, has a burgeoning business on the side: selling what he proudly calls "the finest" fudge bars in Pahrump.

Hoffman's fudge, however, comes with a marketing shtick some people might find hard to swallow.

The flagship product is his Pinched Loaf fudge -- and yes, that's an intentional pun.

"It was kind of a challenge to taking something people find offensive and turn it into something classy," Hoffman explained.

He pointed out that the dark brown packaging, featuring a dignified photograph of his profile (think a 1920s doctor that makes house calls carrying a Gladstone bag), comes complete with shredded paper padding for the "loaves" of fudge, each individually wrapped and labeled.

"When you open up the package, it looks almost like it could be a selection of fine cigars or something," he said.

"Almost" may be a stretch for most people.

For the most part, the "premium" fudge does in fact look exactly like what it's marketed as, with the authenticity further underscored by peanuts or candy corn in the fudge bars.

An informal survey conducted by this reporter elicited several cries along the lines of, "It looks like --," well, since this is a family paper, we'll stick with pinched loaves.

But that's more than okay with Hoffman -- after all, that's the foundation of his entire marketing campaign.

His Web site, www.dochoffmans.com, proudly explains that the fudge was "considerately prepared by the finest fudge [makers] in Pahrump."

It also goes on to explain that each "employee" undergoes a training program requiring "tremendous stamina, focus, and compassion."

And since Hoffman is in fact a doctor (he started Pahrump's first surgical center here in 2004), the site duly emphasizes that each fudge loaf is "individually approved by a genuine medical doctor and guaranteed to adhere to the high standards of modern medicine."

Hoffman has been developing the recipe for his fudge for years, even while he was still in medical school.

It's only been in the last few years, however, that he's perfected the recipe.

The doctor has distributed his confection to friends and family and modestly said, "It seems to be a hit."

"I've always enjoyed creating things," Hoffman said. "And who doesn't like something sweet?"

So, once he got settled at the hospital, he trademarked and copyrighted recipes and packaging and began selling his product online.

There are plans to expand the business in the future (one is slightly hesitant to think about what, exactly, that entails).

Soon the pinched loaves will be available in local stores and he hopes to start making them available in stores such as Hot Topic or Spencer's to reach the late-teen to early-twenties demographic (reasonably assuming they might be more open to his, er, shtick).

The good doctor has no plans to stop there, however. The only thing stopping him from opening up a full shop is lack of retail space with a quality kitchen.

And he'd even like to open a factory some day.

"Building a fudge factory in Pahrump seemed like a perfect match," Hoffman said.

Hoffman said he first came up with the idea for his unique marketing angle "one of the many times I've sat in silence and concentrated."

For now, however, the best way to get pinched loaves (from Hoffman, at any rate) is to go to the Web site (guaranteed to garner a chortle from even the stodgiest of visitors) or call EAT-SHT1.

For now, only pinched loaves (sold by themselves or in a six-pack) are available, but Hoffman hinted at future products for holidays. One can only imagine.