Don’t do what I tried! I put a five pound bag of cayenne pepper into a shop vac and reversed the hoses to blow it out in reverse. I caused a cloud out of my attic for about two square blocks. There were neighbors crying and coughing and gagging everywhere. The squirrels it left laughing, enjoying their spicy nuts and seeds.
Now you've got me thinking of how I could use my ShopVac as a home defense tool. Filling the air with dry powdered pepper hadn't occurred to me before.
I did try spraying the spots they were pecking on with high-content DEET insect repellant. Didn't bother them.
You should have told your neighbors that you saw a black helicopter fly over your house moments before the pepper cloud appeared.
That would have made for a great conspiracy story. Even WND might have picked it up.