Chewing Gum From Beyond

Chewing gum is a big-time market these days. They whiten, they freshen, they cool, they quench, they blow bubbles and they rot teeth. Certain chewing gum companies and their flavors are always going to stand tall as the vanguard of the chewing/bubble gum industry. Classics such as Wrigley’s Spearmint, Big Red, Doublemint, and Juicy Fruit will always remain, but what about those wacky flavors and brands that just couldn’t stick it out in the long run?

Join me and we take yet another trip into history as we visit…

How many pieces have you chewed?

Bubble Yum Bananaberry Split and Luscious Lime

Bubble Yum Rockin' Raspberry

Bubble Yum Wacky Fruit

Bubble Yum, Hubba Bubba and Bubblicious were the triumvirate of flavorful bubble gum in the 80s. The only thing missing here is their Checkermint gum, which was my favorite Bubble Yum flavor. I can’t find a picture or clip of it. :( Do you remember the commercials though? Very 80s, but cool. I had this one on a VHS recording He-Man, so it’s always stuck with me:

Hubba Bubba Cola

Hubba Bubba cola gum? I don’t remember it, but I sure would love to have a piece.

Bubblicious Raspberry

I honestly don’t know if I ever had this one either, I probably did, but it’s RASPBERRY. Can’t go wrong there.

Bubblicious Cherry Cola

Anything cherry cola (or just cola) flavored I’m a sucker for (one of the biggest regrets of my life is missing out on cherry cola Twizzlers). There’s just something comforting to me about cherry cola. Go figure. I remember chewing this one and it definitely tasted like cherry cola.

Gatorgum

Fleer’s Gatorgum was the Gatorade that you could chew! Geez, I remember getting this so much when I was a kid. Gatorgum was based on the lemon-lime Gatorade and rumor has it that lemon-lime Stride tastes just like it, I’ll have to see about that. Or you could if you wanna get a bit more authentic, you can just buy some Gatorade, let it expire and get sludgey and give it a chew then.

Dr. Pepper gum

The Dr. Pepper/7 Up Company is ALL OVER the freakin’ place with merchandise and other items inspired by their sodas (chapstick, freezepops, fuzzy pencil pouches, etc). Why can’t they bring back the gum? I remember chewing this a lot at my grandparents’ house. I think they always had some on hand because they knew my sister and I liked it a lot. The taste was almost cinnamony and it had an oozing Dr. Pepper flavored center (only the best gums have flavor ooze).

I’m pretty sure there was a 7 Up gum as well (wherever there’s Dr. Pepper, there’s 7 Up), but I couldn’t find anything online to confirm that.

Freshen-Up

This may not actually be “from beyond”, I think it might actually still be around, but in my mind, it’s so closely tied to the 80s that I feel I have to represent. You see, Freshen Up was a gum with a liquid center, and liquid centers totally ruled in the 80s. It came in your standard gum flavors: bubble gum, spearmint, peppermint, cinnamon, fruit.

Enjoy this commercial, which is actually quite lewd. I mean, you’ve got this girl, who we keep getting teased with promises that the gum is going to “come” and “squirt” and just when you’re thinking it’s going to happen, just when you’re practically begging for the gum to shoot it’s goo all over her face and in her mouth, they cut to a shot of the gum itself. Very subtle…

You know what? This reminds me, my woman doesn’t like Freshen Up gum. >=/