Think Gum

This review is sponsored by our friends at Think Gum!

Flavor: You can definitely tell that this is an herbal-infused gum. While not as offensive to the sense as Eclipse Breeze's cardamom flavor, the herbs in this gum at the forefront. It's not completely foul, but I wouldn't call it a delicious chew. Certainly not something I'd reach for to freshen the breath, but I don't think you're supposed to.

Texture: It's a pellet gum, but doesn't really have any candy shell crunch to speak of. The chew itself is firm enough, not too annoyingly soft.

Presentation: Nothing too special here. A cute little light buld graphic and brand logo on a stark white background. Standard punch-through-the-foul pellet gum presentation.

Overall: Since this is supposed to be a "Brain-Boosting" gum, I decided to do a little experiment. The back of the pack states, "Think Gum contains Gingko Biloba, Bacopa, Guarana, Vinpocetine, Rosemary & Peppermint. Together these brain-boosting herbal ingredients are proven to enhance concentration & improve memory." It goes on, "For best results, chew while learning or studying & again to recall information." My personal annoyance at the overuse of ampersands aside (personal pet peeve, sorry Think), I thought that it would be interesting to use the product as directed. I wrote down the 6 above brain-boosting ingredients, and studied them for a few minutes while chewing the gum. I spit out the gum and threw out the paper, and went about my morning. Three hours later, I popped 2 more pieces of the gum and attempted to recall the ingredients. Out of the 6, I recalled 4 correctly, misspelled 1 (Bacoba, as opposed Bacopa.) and I missed 1 entirely (Vinpocetine.) So, I dunno. Maybe I should have studied longer or perhaps chewed for a longer period before studying/recalling, but I expected a better results. I guess it's a cute novelty product, and if I were still in college, I'd be all over this. Worth a try when cramming for finals!

Rating: ooo (three gumballs)

Bubbaloo Strawberry

This review is sponsored by our friends at BestCandyStore.com!

Flavor: Shannon gave me a bag of different kind of gums to sample, and I accidentally left it in my purse and brought it to work with me. The strawberry scent that permeated through the plastic bag was so strong that I was actually embarrassed someone would say something about it while chatting in my office. If it were a perfume, it would come with a doll sold in the pink aisle of the toy store. As a gum, the flavor is your standard sugary strawberry. Overall, the flavor works, but the smell does not-- as I chew it right now, my boyfriend said, unprovoked from across the room, "That stuff smells disgusting." The flavor fades pretty quickly, too.

Texture: As opposed to Shannon's review of Bubbaloo Bubble Gum, the goo in this gum is quite pleasant. After about five minutes of chewing, however, the piece is disappointingly small, lending itself to tiny, unsatisfying bubbles.

Presentation: This is another gum that seems to only be available in those big candy jugs for ten cents a piece in fun stores like Five Below. Since this gum is just ok, I think that throwing it in with a handful of other juice-filled flavors would definitely be the way to enjoy it, and so it works, for what it is.

Overall: I wouldn't recommend this flavor to adults, unless you're looking to really annoy a whole bunch of people in a staff meeting. As far as kids go, go on and throw a couple pieces in with your basket of goodies the next time you find yourself in a cool candy store.

Rating: ooo (three gumballs)

Razzles

Flavor: Oh, Razzles. "First it's Candy... Then it's Gum!" Razzles are one of those gums, like Juicy Fruit, that is going to be very hard to categorize. They're just Razzles, you know? Did you know that the red is supposed to be Rasbperry, not Cherry? I didn't... and now that I know? I still kinda don't. I don't think that the target audience of Razzles really pays attention to the flavor, though. In the interest of science, I'll describe it thusly: Razzles are vaguely fruit-flavored, and incredibly sweet. Flavor fades in a record-breaking quickness.

Texture: The texture is what Razzles is all about. They're an anomaly of the gum and candy universe, and I still don't know how they do it. If you've never eaten a Razzle before, you're really missing out. On first bite, they crumble in the mouth not unlike an antacid tablet, and just before your throat gets ready to instinctively swallow the chalkiness, it begins to congeal, and you're left with a wad of gum. It's pretty amazing if you've never experienced it before, and fantastically nostalgic if it's been a while since you've had them. Also? It's disgusting.

Presentation: A few months ago, I bought a packet of these in the drug store to review, but I ate them all before I got the chance to. Luckily a very special Gum Alert reader sent us a pack she found in her local store, packaged for what looks like Halloween. In both cases, a blue "sunburst" is the backdrop for a large, playful Razzles logo, and some computer-generated renditions of Razzles pieces. It's simple, yet eye-catching. No eleven year-old could possibly resist it.

Overall: Razzles is one of those gums that's so special, so near and dear, that it's impossible to not give it five gumballs; It would just be wrong. So, despite the horridness of texture, the sickeningly sugar-sweetness, Razzles earns a place in our coveted five-gumball elite. (And special thanks to Aunt Ann for making this review possible.)

Rating: ooooo (five gumballs)

Extra Sour Cry Baby Bubble Gum

Flavor: A colleague brought me a handful of individually wrapped gumballs from his stash at home to review (thanks, Matt!), and I was surprised to discover that there's an audience out there for this gum other than ten year old kids competing with these and Warheads on the playground. When I commented on this peculiarity, he said matter-of-factly, "When I do something, I go all the way." And boy, does he ever. I chose the red as the first to review, and the first ten seconds of chewing were super intense, mildly cherry flavored, but mostly super sour sugary yowee zowee, oh man, holy cow-- and then it was over, just like that, the electric sensation vanishing away, becoming your ordinary blob of Dubble Bubble. Next up was the orange. Much more sour, but also much more delicious, tasting a lot more like an actual orange than the red tasted like cherry. Upon chewing the yellow gumball, I began to sweat. Much like the cherry, the yellow gumball lacks an individual flavor, but is just as shocking. In the interest of my health, I'm going to try the other two flavors at a later date and report back in a comment. I think I just felt a cavity form. Maybe two.

Texture: Oh, it's awful, so awfully, awfully, terribly good. All the flavor is in the powder, and you can feel its chalky goodness between your teeth for the first ten seconds. Then, much like the flavor, the texture calms into the texture of, you guessed it, Dubble Bubble. Upon my third gumball, though, the chalky goodness became a beast unto itself-- soon my teeth started squeaking while I was chewing, and I'm not talking your average rubber-gum squeak, it was a weird fingernails-on-chalkboard kind of squeak. Once the gum was out of my mouth for good, it felt like my teeth were completely stripped of enamel and the inside of my cheeks had a layer of tissue shorn from them. Ah, childhood.

Presentation: It's your standard jug-o-sugar packaging, clear plastic outside and neon goodness on the inside. I was unaware until now that Dubble Bubble is actually printed on the label of this gum, which explains the similarities in the base. What I think I like most about the packaging, though, is that this is Extra Sour Cry Baby Bubble Gum. As if someone chewed the original and said something like, "I said I wanted to go all the way. Take it up a notch."

Overall: If you're looking to just, you know, chew some gum after a meal, or freshen your breath, or satisfy that sweet tooth, read on and find some other gum in our blog to sample. But if you're looking to take it to the next level, pop five of these suckers in your mouth without taking a drink of water. I dare you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go brush the remainder of my teeth. Twice.

Rating: ooooo (five gumballs)

Bubbaloo Bubble Gum

This review is sponsored by our friends at BestCandyStore.com!

Flavor: Oh, Bubbaloo. How I love you so. Bubbaloo doesn't mess around when it comes to flavor. This gum is labeled "Bubble Gum," and it most certainly is a great classic bubble gum flavor. I think the goo burst is a little unnecessary here, it's a little too mediciney for my personal taste, but it fades away fast enough and you're left with just the perfect bubblegummy goodness.

Texture: Bubbaloo, will you marry me? (Sorry, husband.) It's smooth in the mouth, easy to spread on the tongue, and the bubbles are phenomenal. While I certainly don't want to experiment with blowing giant bubbles and popping them all over my glasses, it's not as sticky as a lot of sugar-based bubblegums... it comes off the lips and chin pretty easily.

Presentation: It's packaged the exact same way as its sister, Bubbaloo Sour Cherry, so the same applies here.

Overall: If I were stuck on a desert island and could only have one Bubble Gum flavored gum, it probably wouldn't be Bubbaloo because it would give me cavities and there'd be no dentist there to fill them. But since I'm not on a desert island, I would probably choose Bubbaloo if I had a hankering for Bubble Gum, because I don't really want it that often and dental care is widely available.

Rating: ooooo (five gumballs)

Hubba Bubba Max Strawberry Watermelon

This review is sponsored by our friends at BestCandyStore.com!

Flavor: Unlike many of its sister gums (Hubba Bubba Sweet n' Sassy Cherry, for instance), this gum does not pack a sour punch, not even a little. It's as sweet as a sugar cube, with a hint of watermelon. The first bite was really pleasant, your standard fake-watermelon flavor that doesn't at all come close to real watermelon (but then, if it did, kids probably wouldn't beg their parents for dollar bills to buy it with their friends at 7-11). The strawberry and watermelon are both present, and the flavor is simple and fairly classic in terms of Hubba Bubba-esque gums.

Texture: The chunks are huge! It's like stuffing a big old hunk of taffy in your mouth on the boardwalk, a true delight. The chew is hearty and consistent for at least ten minutes, which says a lot for a sugar-based gum. The bubbles are, as with all Hubba Bubba, really impressive.

Presentation: I was curious what qualities made this particular Hubba Bubba "max," and discovered on the Wrigley website this explanation: "...Hubba Bubba Max gum - a unique and captivating product with extraordinarily long lasting flavor and the combinations of two colors and two flavors in one chunk." I don't know that the flavor of this gum is "extraordinarily long lasting," although it does last longer than I remember the original Hubba Bubba lasting when I was a kid. The hunks themselves seem to me to be much larger, and since things usually seem smaller the older you get, I'm assuming that the size of the pieces must have actually increased in size over time.

Overall: I wouldn't pick this one over, say, Bubblicious Cotton Candy or the aforementioned Hubba Bubba Sweet n' Sassy Cherry. When compared to some of the other gums that punch you in the face with flavor, this one really doesn't stand on its own. But it is what it is, and I'm sure it's plenty of kids' favorite.

Rating: oooo (four gumballs)

Bubbaloo Peppermint

This review is sponsored by our friends at BestCandyStore.com!

Flavor: It's a nice peppermint flavor, not too strong and not too weak. It's definitely a breath freshener. It's got an initial burst of goo inside that doesn't blow you away, but is nice "for a change."

Texture: This is a weird one. I don't really understand the deal with peppermint-flavored bubblegums. While the gum itself is a fine texture, and blows fantastic bubbles like its sister gum, Bubbaloo Sour Cherry, I don't think that peppermint is a very logical bubble-blowing choice. It kinda hurts! Like, you blow a bubble, and when it gets big, either A.) it pops, or B.) you have to suck it back in. With A, you get a minty blast into your eyes that stings. And with B, the minty air inside the bubble unpleasantly fills your sinuses and esophagus. Minty gums should be reserved for the breath-freshening varieties, I think.

Presentation: See my review of Bubbaloo Sour Cherry, it's the same thing with this one.

Overall: This is a difficult one to rate overall. Like, I want to rate it highly because it has a fantastic texture and taste, but the design is just all wrong. I guess I'll have to err on the positive side, because really, the target market for this gum is kids, and I guess kids like a borderline painful experience. Makes it more EXXXTREEEEEEME or something.

Rating: oooo (four gumballs)