10 bubble gums you will never chew again

Did you blow bubbles with Teaberry, Big Buddy and Adams Sour Gum?

We hate to burst your bubble, but there are some sweets you will never taste again. Some of our favorite candy bars and cookies from youth are now mere memories.

There is no shortage of bubble gum on offer today, though they tend to be of the minty, sugar-free variety. We are looking at the past in pink-tinted glasses, however, remembering these sugary bubble gums. Back in the day, bubble gum was also a prize with every pack of baseball cards (and TV show trading cards). As baseball cards have faded away, so too have those stiff sticks of gum.

Here are some discontinued bubble gums from the 1960s, '70s and '80s — and some earlier ages. It's okay if you don't remember those.

1. Adams Sour

Mouth-puckering sour candy seems like an invention of the '90s, but this Adams product was all the rage in the 1960s. It came in flavors like Apple, Strawberry, Lemon and Orange. Check out a vintage ad.

Image: Adams Sour television commercial, 1960s

2. Big Buddy

If you were in the trading card business, you were in the bubble gum business. Topps cranked out these long (they seemed like a foot long) Big Buddies in wilder flavors like Watermelon.

Image: Jason Liebig / Collecting Candy

3. Big Mouth

Another Topps product, Big Mouth required a lot of work to get to the gum. The stuff came shelled in about an inch of jawbreaker candy. Hey, you got your money's worth, time wise, at least.

Image: Jason Liebig / Collecting Candy

4. Black Cat

Licorice flavored gum? That had to be divisive.

Image: roadfood

5. Bub's Daddy

Not to be outdone by Topps' Big Buddy, rival Donruss cranked out its Bub's Daddy.

Image: eBay / Pinterest

6. Chu-Bops

Amural Products Company introduced Chu-Bops in 1980, and what a brilliant idea. Here was gum shaped like LP records, stuffed in miniature album sleeves, promoting everyone from Blondie to Rush. There was an entire set of Beatles Chu-Bops. Hey, vinyl is back. Why not these?

Image: rarebeatles

7. Coca-Cola Pepsin Gum

Okay, we're rewinding the clock way back for this one. The Atlanta-based Coca-Cola launched this gum 1903. Two years later, they sold it to the Franklin Manufacturing Company, who branded it Coca-Cola Pepsin Gum, which claimed to help with digestion. Unless, of course, you swallowed the gum.

Image: earlycoke

8. Ice Cream gum

Gum flavored like other desserts is all the rage at the Walgreens checkout. Just ask Extra. The concept dates back decades, though, as Adams had this Ice Cream chew in the 1970s.

Image: The Imaginary World

9. Sputnik Gumballs

The Space Age touched everything, from the design of cars to the sci-fi on television. Even candy got kids excited about astronauts (as if that was a problem), though Leaf went with a Russian satellite theme for these little blue spheres.

Image: roadfood

10. Teaberry Gum

Up until very recently, like Black Jack, this 1960s favorite could be found here and there in finer shops. Alas, Teaberry and Black Jack are no longer being made, according to Old Time Candy.

Image: oldtimecandy

See also: 10 DEFUNCT SODAS WE WISH WE COULD STILL DRINK

Take a sip through the past with Patio, Aspen Rondo and… er, Worms? READ MORE

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2 Comments

TonyClifton 25 months ago
I wish somebody would make Adam's gum again! That was the best! I had found some recently (within the past 10 years) so they released it again for a limited time. I still have some in my cabinet. I also remember chewing Mouth Full, which was a 2" x 3" slab of gum about 1/2" thick. My friend and I would jam it all in our mouth, and then make each other laugh. One more than one occasion we drooled green gum slime all over our shirts. Good times.
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