Caramel Apple Twizzlers and Pumpkin Spice & Apple Crisp Wrigley’s Extra Gum

I came across a small pack of caramel apple Twizzlers last night. Dinosaur Dracula did a video review of them awhile back. Figuring these things probably aren’t all that great, there’s no way I would’ve bought a bag the size that Matt did but when you can pick up a small pack for 89 cents (or however much it was), why not?

These aren’t just plain Twizzler twists. They are filled twists. This is generally a bad sign as far as I’m concerned. I’ve tried a few variations of filled Twizzlers over the years and always kick myself for doing so because the candy is never very good. There’s always a gritty sugary texture to the filling and the caramel filling here is no exception. It’s much too sweet and completely overpowers the green apple-flavored twists (which they should make separately, without any filling). If you have a real caramel apple, it’s more apple than caramel so why are we being given more caramel than apple from these Twizzlers? Because it’s candy, I guess.

Caramel apple Twizzlers are okay and probably the best of all the filled Twizzlers I’ve ever had, but they are nothing I would ever buy again. I’m always much better sticking with the traditional strawberry Twizzlers.

I feel the same way about the Extra gum I bought. Extra does a lot of fruit and dessert flavored gums these days. For the fall season, they’ve introduced two new flavors: pumpkin spice and apple crisp. Again, they’re just too sweet (even though they are sugar free). I don’t know, maybe my taste buds are changing as I get older but I’m just not enjoying these types of things anymore. This could spell disaster for blog content! Apple Crisp Extra is better than Pumpkin Spice Extra but I had one stick of each and that was more than enough. They definitely smell like their namesakes but both are too sweet and the flavor isn’t very good.

Verizon’s “Big Red” and Wrigley’s Big Red

I came across that commercial while streaming on Hulu and thought it was pretty funny. I immediately recognized the tune and knew it was from the 1980s, but I couldn’t place the product. Then it hit me — “…with Big Redddddddddd!!!!”

Here’s the original jingle (obviously the lyrics are different) in this Big Red commercial from 1988:

This is the Big Red commercial I remember most. Pretty funny seeing that guy nearly tripping over the bushes and getting left behind by the carpool and I’m pretty sure this particular commercial aired for a number of years and maybe even before 1988.

Kudos to Verizon for giving us a throwback. I wonder how they worked though? Did they need some type of clearance from Wrigley’s or the ad agency that came up with the jingle?

Bubblicious Sour Mania & Lemon-Lime Orbit

So writing that gum article put me in the mood for some gum. I love gum. The thing funny thing is though, I never chew it as much as I feel that I should. Anyway, a quick trip to the nearby convenience unearthed these two interesting finds:

Bubblicious Sour Mania. I love Sour Savage Apple, so immediately upon seeing this I had to have it. The packaging is a bit misleading though, I figured it was a mix pack with pieces of sour orange, sour lime and sour peach. Not true. The pieces are actually, I guess, a combination of all of the above. Apparently “Sour Mania” is a flavor unto itself, though I personally feel that name should represent a veritable grab bag of sour flavors.

It’s decent and delivers the same sour punch that Savage Apple does, but the peach flavor comes through the most.

NEXT!

Here it is– just what I was looking for and mentioned here (though I said it was Stride)…

Lemon-Lime Orbit. So, capturing this gum was my original intent for making my trek to the store. Once word had gotten to me this tastes “exactly” like Gatorgum, I had to have it.

It looks like Gatorgum, right down to the bright lime yellow color. Heck, Gatorgum was even made in this exact same shape and size. It smells like Gatorgum too, just take a whiff of that lemon-lime aroma. But does it TASTE like Gatorgum? Hm. Well, it’s pretty darn close. The lemon-lime flavor is certainly there, but the difference is that Gatorgum was lemon-lime Gatorade gum and only claimed to “quench thirst” just like the drink. Orbit is meant to be a refreshing and clean feeling kinda of gum and I can’t help but pick up on that almost menthol/mint taste that Lemon-Lime Orbit has (my woman says it tastes like a cough drop).

So, yes, it’s a very close knockoff, but still no cigar.

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?

NEW! Bubble Yum Hershey’s Chocolate Gum

I consider myself a risk taker of sorts. I walk underneath ladders, I let the gas get to empty, I have three pets in my apartment when I’m only allowed two, and I never wipe. So, naturally, when I saw there was a Hershey’s chocolate flavored Bubble Yum, I did my best ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ and said “we’ll give it a shot”!

Now, even though the product is supposedly “NEW!”, quick research shows this gum actually appeared in 2006, yet the first time I ever laid my baby-blues on it was about two months ago in Target. Maybe it was given regional test runs at first? I mean.. CHOCOLATE FLAVORED BUBBLE GUM?! That’s a recipe right out of the 80s!

Upon my initial tearing of the package and wrapper, I took in a deep whif to see if it would even smell like chocolate. Much to my surprise, it did! It did smell like chocolate! But then I realized that maybe it was just my cup of way-too-hot hot cocoa sitting next to me. A closer inspection with the nose (cold and all) did reveal a nice genuine chocolaty smell.

It looks like chocolate, you could probably pass it off as fudge to a blind man, and it kinda smells like chocolate. But does it TASTE like chocolate? The answer is… yes. It’s a sugary rush, I’ll tell you that, but not disgustingly so. Imagine chomping down on a chewy square of cocoa mix, but honest, it’s better than it sounds! Once you hang in a for a bit, you can start to get a taste of the chocolate (after all cocoa isthe 7th listed ingredient on the package). Granted, the ride doesn’t last long. Bubble Yum, Hubba Bubba, and Bubblicious and the like are built for speed, but not endurance. Just a minute or two of a flavor blast and then it’s onto the next piece.

The Verdict: A piece of gum worth giving a try if you’re into weird flavors like I am and a decent novelty gum at that. I can see myself buying more of this.

Perhaps we’re in some sort of chocolate gum renaissance because right next to the Bubble Yum Hershey’s was…

Dentyne BLAST Chocomint! Maybe someday I’ll write about that too.

Now sit back and enjoy this 1970s Bubble Yum commercial featuring the Bubble Fiend! Dude is straight gangster, they need to bring him back.