Does anyone remember this from the 70s? I have a vague memory of regularly buying a pouch of “chewing tobacco” after school, but I find it hard to believe such a thing was sold to kids.
It wasn’t real tobacco but the contents and the packaging looked the same as the real thing.
Am I remembering correctly? And what was it really made of?
Well, there is:
Big League Chew
Bubble gum sold in the same pouches they sell Chewing Tobacco in. The gum is shredded like chewing tobacco, and the product is called “Chew,” much like Chewing Tobacco is called.
There’s also:
http://secure.northrim.net/e3/rms/catalog/item_number/100006
Shredded Beef Jerkey. It comes in a can similar to the cans “Dip” comes in, same size, etc, and upon opening the cans, the shredded beef inside looks a lot like the finely shredded “Dip” style tobacco.
Are either of these what you saw, or am I completely off?
Steve
Thanks Steve but I don’t think it’s either of those.
I’m English so there’s a possibility this stuff wasn’t sold in the US, although me and my friends always associated it with cowboy movies so I assumed it was American in origin (we also used to buy chocolate cigarettes in Camel and Marlboro packets so I had the impression tobacco-related candy came from the US).
The “tobacco” itself looked a bit like Kelloggs All Bran, and we chewed it for a while then spat it out, although that may have been more to do with copying the cowboys we’d seen rather than it being inedible.
I remember something called ‘sweet tobacco’ from a Butlins holiday camp in the 70s - it was made from shredded cocnut, dyed with molasses or caramel.
I’ve just done a search for “sweet tobacco” and found the stuff! I can’t believe they still make it either - http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/acatalog/Sweet_Tobacco.html
Thanks for the help Mangetout!
Amazing, I’d never have thunk it.
What I’d really like to get my hands on is some chocolate cigars - they were like those white candy cigarettes, but longer, thicker and more brittle, with a fantastic dusty cocoa flavour - can’t find 'em anywhere now.
Check this site out http://www.oldtimecandy.com/
I found chocolate cigarettes, maybe the cigars are there too.