Friday, May 27, 2011

Carefree Original Bubble

Flavor: Some flavors in life stick with you long after a product has been discontinued or become unavailable. For example, my aunt had a glass candy jar on a shelf in her kitchen that had these raspberry hard candies in it. I have no idea what those candies were or where they came from, but the flavor of them is ingrained in my taste buds. I'll never have those candies again, but I will never forget the taste. Such was the case with Carefree Original Bubble. This was my mom's favorite gum. She always had packs of this in her purse, and I had never forgotten it. It's the perfect classic bubblegum, exactly what you expect to taste when you chew. When our mom passed away a few years ago, I went on a hunt for Carefree Original Bubble for nostalgia's sake, but it was nowhere to be found. Information on the internet was vague at best, but it hinted that the brand was discontinued. Disappointed, I resolved myself to the fact that I'd never taste Carefree again... until yesterday.

Texture: A thing of beauty. Smooth, soft and pliable - by far the best sugarfree bubble-blowing bubblegum out there. It doesn't stick to your skin when you pop a bubble, doesn't get too tough or too soft. Nothin' but love. I do seem to remember a slight bit more grittiness in the original recipe, but I kind of think that's because my mom used to buy this gum by the 18-pack and most of it was likely kind of stale by the time we chewed it.

Presentation: This is the best part of all. The gum is IN THE ORIGINAL PLEN-T-PAK. With the little red-plastic-ribbon-embedded pull tab and all. Oh, no... Carefree Original Bubble does not need the added square inches for flashy graphics, matte ribbed cardstock or bold, eye-catching fonts. 3 inches by 1 and one-quarter inch is all the space Carefree needs to proudly and simply display its logo. Like the flavor thing, I'd also resolved myself to the idea that I would never see a Plen-T-Pak ever again. How wrong I was. How very wrong, how very... happily wrong.

Overall: Traditionally, the best places to find new gum are Target and Wal-Mart. Yesterday I was in Wal-Mart, scouring the gum racks, and I came across a few new flavors of mentos, and was pretty psyched.

And then I saw it. Carefree. Original Bubble AND Peppermint. In the original Plen-T-Paks.

My elation was incalculable and uncontainable. I immediately texted Katie, "Sissy! Sissy! Carefree gum carefree gum is back zomg sissy sissy!!!!!"

As a true gum lover and connoisseur, there are very few things that can spark that kind of reaction. In fact, I can only think of one thing that could get me more excited than this. (A bunch of free gum from our "leftover basket" to the person that can tell me what that is in the comments below.) New gums are exciting, packaging changes are cool and fun... but this. This is epic.

Rating: ooooo (five gumballs)

(Addendum: Just writing "Carefree" in the title of this blog post and into the Tags made me giddy.)

25 comments:

rebecca said...

to be able to share this experience with your mom.

Mudge91 said...

find a pack of extra original bubble

Anonymous said...

Confirmed that this has indeed been released in Wal-Marts across the nation at the very least. Which is weird because the Internet seems to insist that Carefree was discontinued a long time ago... well, just in case I bought about four packs :)

Northern Downpour said...

FREE Carefree Original Bubble? A lifetime supply? :D

Jeff said...

I thought your all time fave was Extra Polar Ice

Shannon said...

Mudge91 wins. :) A true Gum Alert fan! Email us at gumgirls@gumalert.com and I'll get some goodies out to you.

Rebecca: That would be lovely. :)

Jeff: Well, to get technical, my ALL TIME FAVE was Extra Original Bubble. But that's been long gone and so, you are right, my fave is Extra Polar Ice. This Carefree was my mom's favorite so it was a really cool thing to be able to find it again.

Thanks everyone!

Shannon said...

Oh and thanks Anonymous! Where did you find confirmation? Very cool!

Anonymous said...

Hi, I just found this cool blog of yours after picking up a pack of Carefree bubblegum yesterday at my local wal-mart. It's not easily one of my favorites!

Katy said...

I prefer Slim Packs. :P

Anonymous said...

More the fact that I was able to find it on the road in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming than anything. Haven't found anything official but I figure that's a pretty good sign.

Ashley said...

I hope they bring back the Carefree coolers gum. That was good gum!

Vivi4ever said...

It's a good thing they didn't discontinue it!! :)
Now I feel like buying myself a pack of this... ;)

Samantha Jean said...

Oh my goodness! I've been dying for my Carefree bubble gum and was just looking online to see if anyone had an ancient pack. I'm going to have to head out to my local walmart today to see if they have it. If they do, I'm buying all of it! The original bubblegum flavor is my all-time favorite. Extra and Trident just don't hold up to its superb bubblegumminess! Thanks for sharing your find!

Anonymous said...

This is great! I was in Walmart yesterday too and had the SAME REACTION when seeing both original bubble and peppermint Carefree packs! So excited! If it's discontinued though, how does Walmart have it? I also noticed that peppermint is now blue. It used to be a yellow pack. Oh the good ole days!

Anonymous said...

Use of this product may be hazardous to your health. This product contains Saccharin, which has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals.

Carefree Gum
This was on the label.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if carefree gum is at walmart in the u.s.? i really want to get my mom some. it wasnt on the walmart website...

Anonymous said...

I'm going to Wal-mart today! Carefree Wintergreen was my all time favorite, maybe there is hope for that one if they brought back the Original Bubble!

Unknown said...

I have also found Carefree gum at Dollar Tree stores. I cannot vouch for the freshness of the gum, but they do carry both the bubble gum and ming flavor.

Anonymous said...

Well i have ck walmart,target,wal greens,shell,ampm,Safeway,raleys,Chevronand rite aid and no one Carries it..it is discontinued 4 sure

Anonymous said...

in 1973 we won a contest sponsered by Carefree gum and our local am radio station 1320 kcpx. we gathered the most wrappers and won the grass roots and iot was amazing for a little town in copperton utah to have someone like that come to our school. we are having our 40 year reunion and memories would be so amazing . Please contact me at annettegn@yahoo.com we would love posters or samples or anything!!

Yah Yah said...

I tooo looooved this gum especially the wintergreen flavor. when it started disappearing I ordered anything I could find and would pay any price because I love it so much. In my opinion, the gums of today have too much flavor, Carefree had a subtle flavor and I loved the "hard" texture. I pine for this gum and sad i missed the wallmat stuf back in 201.

Anonymous said...

I can not find the Carefree bubble gum. It is the best bubble gum I have ever used. I am always on the lookout for it

Anonymous said...

It's the best sugarless bubble gum ever.
Flavor, Taste, Texture, Bubbles.

The first formula was the best up to 1993. The formula was changed to create a smoother texture.

It was discontinued by Hershey. It was sold at Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart.

Hershey makes Sugarless Bubble Yum and Ice Breakers Ice Cubes. You can blow decent size bubbles with some Ice Cubes flavors. Target and Wal-Mart sells them both.

usino said...

Today I found this blog talking about Care free bubble gum.I'm very delightful seen all yours lovely comments about this gum. I worked for many years with Life Savers,the company who manufactured Care Free in Puerto Rico . I started as a QC tech. then as a production supervisor for many years.I retired from my job and a few years later they stop operation. It was one of the best Company. Quality control was excellent. Employees Super. I miss everything. Nostalgic.

Anonymous said...

I love Carefree Original bubblegum and peppermint, my favorite. Now, if I can get lifesavers to bring butter rum mint lifesavers back, it would make me happy.