# Eating Halls cough drops as candy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262 "2003-11-04T02:16:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/1 "2003-11-04T02:16:48Z")
I just read a reference to this in a book that I am reading – an odd fashion I have encountered in Rio de Janeiro in the past: They eat Halls cough drops like candy. They even have local candies that have the same strong eucalyptis flavor of Halls. I’m certain that the local varieties would treat a cough nicely, but they weren’t made for that. Teenaged girls carry the stuff around with them and offer it to friends. Advertisements push the product as a candy and not as a cough remedy. Yuck! Are there other places where cough drops are candy? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/2 "2003-11-04T02:33:17Z")
Well, in a Winnipeg winter, but not quite for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/3 "2003-11-04T02:41:54Z")
A buddy of mine sucks on one while he smokes to keep the “catch” out of his throat. Candy? No. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/4 "2003-11-04T02:52:20Z")
Maybe my suburbaban Pennsylvania high school was just weird, but yes, to a lot of people cough drops were candy. They got passed around all the time to people who clearly didn’t need them. Then again, cough drops are little more than hard candy anyway, so it’s not surprising. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/5 "2003-11-04T03:40:45Z")
I knew a guy who would dissolve Hall’s in his coffee when he had a sore throat. BLEAAAH! I’ve never known anyone to eat Hall’s as a candy, but I had relatives who traveled a lot, and they once brought me a bag of eucalyptus candy - I want to say it was from Holland. It didn’t taste at all like cough drops to me, though. There’s something else besides eucalyptus in Hall’s that makes it nasty. ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/6 "2003-11-04T06:32:14Z")
Ewwww, Hall’s as candy? Yuck yuck yuck yuck. Now Luden’s Wild Cherry throat drops, on the other hand… Yummmmm. I’ll go through two boxes of those in like 4 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/7 "2003-11-04T08:08:54Z")
I had a friend who did that. She even hooked me into doing it for a while but then it was like the eucalyptus built up in my system and I got this eucalyptus sinus headache thing. Apparently that doesn’t happen to her. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/8 "2003-11-04T14:12:28Z")
I like Halls, but rarely use them as candy. Luden’s Wild Cherry Throat Drops are useless as anything but candy. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/9 "2003-11-04T14:32:58Z")
I like cough drops. When I was in school, a lot of people ate them because the teachers couldn’t really argue – they weren’t considered candy per se because how is a teacher supposed to tell on sight that you **don’t** have a sore throat? Anyway, I adore menthol. I had a bug last week and a big bag of cough drops I got, and I’m eating the occasional one even though I’m over the bug. Luden’s Wild Cherry…mmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/10 "2003-11-04T14:37:20Z")
a friend and I used to take a Halls and after it was mostly gone chug a big cup of ice water. Man, that’ll wake ya up! ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/11 "2003-11-04T15:52:35Z")
I’ve gotten addicted to Hall’s while I’ve had some sort of cold and then couldn’t give them up afterwards, kinda turning them into a candy-type necessity for a while. However, there are _other_ occasional uses for them that I highly recommend. Or rather, I say someone else can definitely benefit from their application in certain circumstances where they aren’t really needed. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/12 "2003-11-04T16:00:03Z")
> [@](#): > > However, there are _other_ occasional uses for them that I highly recommend. Or rather, I say someone else can definitely benefit from their application in certain circumstances where they aren’t really needed. Especially the _mentholated!_ ones! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/13 "2003-11-04T16:39:44Z")
We didn’t use cough drops as candy in high school, but I did have one friend who carried around an Altoids container full of fennel seeds and passed them out liberally. Ahh, the rush of chomping down on a mouthful of fennel! Okay, we were dorks. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/14 "2003-11-04T17:10:30Z")
old geezer checking in. Smith Brothers (Wild?) Cherry Cough Drops were generally eaten like hard candies when i was a youngster. i faintly recall that was partly due to the very pleasant, non-mediciney taste, and also because a box of cough drops was sometimes cheaper then buying a candybar or bag of hard candies. (pennies counted, when you were a child way back then.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/15 "2003-11-04T17:28:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DanielWithrow \* > \*\*We didn’t use cough drops as candy in high school, but I did have one friend who carried around an Altoids container full of fennel seeds and passed them out liberally. Ahh, the rush of chomping down on a mouthful of fennel! > > Okay, we were dorks. > Daniel \*\* What does eating fennel seeds do? What are fennel seeds? ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/16 "2003-11-04T17:37:58Z")
I knew a kid in grade school who used to eat Halls **all the time**. This was a fairly strict Catholic grade school which banned gum and candy in general, but most teachers generally let him pop Halls all day long, so long as he didn’t share with the class. Wonder if he has any of his real teeth left these days… ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/17 "2003-11-04T18:20:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Controvert \* > \*\*What does eating fennel seeds do? What are fennel seeds? \*\* [Here’s some basic info (scroll to bottom).](http://www.cuzza.com/tips/spice_library.shtml) Fennel seeds taste much like licorice. It is the defining flavor of Italian sausage. It’s also a popular ingredient in various kinds of curries. Some Indian restaurants have small bowls of both plain and candy-coated fennel seeds near their entrances for diners to use as after-dinner breath fresheners. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/18 "2003-11-04T23:51:52Z")
Eating Halls as candy is common in Spain, also. This is different from just eating a lot of cough drops. It’s like 2 friends will go into a candy store, one gets M&Ms and one gets Halls, and they both think they got a snack, if that makes sense. Halls are culturally considered candy, not medicine. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/19 "2003-11-05T02:40:28Z")
Thank god. I thought i was the only one in the world that ate Halls like candy. I can hoover a bag in a day easy. ---
**Author:** ![somethingblue2u](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@somethingblue2u](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somethingblue2u)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262/20 "2003-11-05T02:55:17Z")
I know somebody who likes to eat Sucrets Cough drops because they numb your tongue. I tried it a few times and I didn’t like it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-halls-cough-drops-as-candy/211262.md?page=2)