# Modern bubble gum **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2002, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-bubble-gum/125464 "2002-08-25T06:20:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-bubble-gum/125464/1 "2002-08-25T06:20:44Z")
Being a child trapped in a 42 year old mans body, I made my weekly trip into the candy store today. Theres something I’ve noticed lately about some of the newer flavors of bubble gum: they have the consistancy, not of rubber like gum should have, but of dough! Wet, gloppy, mushy, glutonish, dough. Bubble Tape “Sparklers” is a great example of this. Unlike most other gum, this stuff feels like a blob of dough in the mouth. While it tastes ok, the doughy feeling is kind of gross. One has to chew this stuff for a long, long, long time before it gets rubbery/snappy like gum should be. Are confectoners using different (Read:cheaper:rolleyes: ) ingredients in these things or what? Gum should be rubbery/snappy/bouncy, not mushy like a mouth full of wet flour. While not all of todays gum is gross like this, some of the more “exotic” flavors (like kiwi/strawberry) are. What’s going on? Bazooka Joe would spin in his wrapper if he tried some of this glop. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-bubble-gum/125464/2 "2002-08-25T09:50:51Z")
I don’t think kis chew it the way we used to back in the day. Remember, Bazooka would only get good enough for bubbles long after the flavor was gone; today, kids just want the taste. That’s probably why gum comes in such an assortment of flavors; back in our day, the only flavor for bubble gum was ‘pink’ (What _was_ that flavor supposed to be, anyway?) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-bubble-gum/125464/3 "2002-08-25T10:03:10Z")
Also some gum is covered in a powder to make it non stick … If you get bubble tape ect theres a flour like powder on it … it keeps the gum from getting sticky and hard They still make bazooka gum its just like any other gum these days Also gum is totally synthetic these days also they havent made gum from the tree stuff in a decade or two ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-bubble-gum/125464/4 "2002-08-25T17:39:00Z")
I know exactly what you mean, PK, and I always assumed that it’s because they seem to have a lot more sugar in them, especially Bubblicious. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-bubble-gum/125464/5 "2002-08-25T17:54:45Z")
Though most modern chewing gum is made from synthetic gum base, there is a brand of organic chewing gum made from pure tree-harvested chicle gum: [JungleGum](http://www.junglegum.com/) I’ll wager most gum-chewers would find the texture foreign and unpalatable. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-bubble-gum/125464/6 "2002-08-25T18:37:23Z")
> **[How We Have Bubble Gum Today](https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-bubble-and-chewing-gum-1991856)** > > In the early 1900s, Americans were in a frenzy for the modern-day variation on the lip-smacking confection called chewing gum popularized by Thomas Adams. Not meant to answer the question. Just fof reading.