It’s a tantra master wrapped in foil, the antidote to impatient passion.
Two lines of “climax control” condoms that contain a mild anesthetic, Benzocaine, promise men the sort of self-restraint that once required tantric meditation or at least a distracting thought or two during sex.
“People have been waiting for these for years,” said Jane Flaherty, co-owner of Condom U.S.A. in Coconut Grove, Fla. “This makes it easier and likelier that people will use a condom.”
Trojan and Durex each developed a climax-control condom after learning that roughly 30 percent of people in clinical trials complained of premature ejaculation.
“We thought the thing to do is to … make the experience longer lasting and, therefore, more pleasurable,” said Trojan vice president of marketing Richard Kline.
Trojan has sold 21 million of its Extended Pleasure condoms since introducing them last year, Kline said. Already, it’s the fifth-best-selling condom in the U.S. Each brand costs about $12 a dozen, about $1 more a box than traditional condoms.
Durex, based in the United Kingdom, sold 18,000 of its new Performax condoms on the Internet in three months before introducing them in the U.S. last summer, said Tonya Cramer, associate brand manager.
Numbing the penis to prolong sexual intercourse is nothing new. Before the climax-control condoms were introduced, Flaherty said, customers would buy a desensitizing spray or cream, apart from their condoms.
The new condoms simplify that process, she said, and reduce the risk that the anesthetic will numb both partners. The Benzocaine is inside the condom and, in the case of the Performax brand, is heat activated. According to the condom manufacturers, desensitizing the penis can delay climax by as long as five minutes.
Still, prolonged pleasure should not trump birth control or safe sex as reasons for using a condom, Kline said.
