The 5: Missing Chews

This Week on the 5:  Chewing Gum  Blasts From the Past

What happened to gum?  Didn’t it used to be more fun?  We don’t know how Trident has stood the test of time while brands like Bazooka are forced to make changes.  And there are some really great ones that are long gone from the candy counter.  Here are five gums that have become nothing more than just chewy flashbacks.

• Adam’s Ice Cream Gum.  This was the gum that bragged that it had the best flavors in the world, and that was the flavor of ice cream. It came in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry which were perfect flavors for gum.  You would even save the wrapper because it smelled so sweet.  The flavors seem unusual, but that’s the way Adams did it. They’re also the makers of the Sour Cherry and Sour Apple gums.
• Chewels. Chewels was the very first gum to have the liquid center. This was to give your piece of gum a little flavor boost and make it last a little longer. It was the original and an early ancestor of “Freshen Up” gum which also has a drop of liquid in the middle. It’s no longer available, but it left an impression as the first gum to squirt in your mouth.
• Gator Gum.  What the hell happened to Gator Gum?  From the makers of Gatorade, it claimed to be as thirst quenching as the beverage.  It came in the familiar Gatorade original flavors, lemon-lime and orange. One of the highlights of this gum was how unbelievably sour it was. It was a gum that took a lot of chewing to get used to the flavor. Unfortunately, gum as a way to fight dehydration never caught on.
• Big Buddy Bubble Gum.  Big Buddy Bubble Gum didn’t come in sticks or chunks. It was just one long piece of bubble gum. And it came in all kinds of fruit flavors, including a flavor called “Hawaiian”. The selling point here was you could have as much gum as you wanted. Either pull off a small piece or a large one. Of course, there was never a kid that just pulled off a small part of it and saved the rest for later. With Big Buddy Bubble Gum, you would chew the whole wad until your jaw ached. 
• Dr. Pepper Gum.  This was the crown jewel in the line of soda flavored gums that were being produced in the 1980s. Other flavors included A&W Root Beer, RC Cola and 7Up. The Dr. Pepper gum and others also went with the liquid center angle. It was to make us think we were actually getting some soda with our gum. People preferred their sodas in cans and bottles, so these gums didn’t survive the 80s.