Just got back from a little vacation with my extended family to Atlantic City and Long Beach Island. Atlantic City was more of the same, but Long Beach was loads of fun. We used to rent a house there every year, back before the prices skyrocketed. Haven’t explored the town in almost a decade, and totally forgot how cool it is. You’ll see an example in tomorrow’s entry. Tonight, with time running short before my midnight Megaparty deadline, we’ll have to settle for reviews of five different Bubblicious flavors.
Savage Sour Apple: Despite its name, I got more of a “cherry Jolly Rancher” vibe. Definitely had the strongest flavor of the bunch, which means it’s better as surrogate caffeine than for casual chewing. It’s really sour. Not the kind of gum you’d offer to Grandma, and probably my least favorite of the five.
Paradise Punch: This was my #1 gum of choice during middle school. The flavor isn’t as overpowering as I’d remembered, but maybe my taste buds were just screwy from the Savage Sour Apple mess. Sort of the gum equivalent of a Hawaiian Punch, which was probably what Bubblicious was going for considering the flavor’s name.
Watermelon Wave: Really mellow. You’ve gotta jab the gum wad with your tongue pretty hard to get any kind of flavor burst deserving of a sourpuss face. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Most brands of Bubblicious gum are really sour or sweet, and it’s impossible to chew them without contorting your face in ways that let everyone around you know that you’re chewing gum. Watermelon Wave is great for those occasions when you want to chew gum, but really shouldn’t.
LeBron’s Lightning Lemonade: It’s times like these that I wish I knew more about sports. Is LeBron James cool? I mean, is he really cool? He should be, because this flavor is AMAZING. It’s not at all just some everyday “lemonade gum,” tasting much more like Minute Maid’s new “Cherry Limeade” juice. Best of the bunch. Paraphrasing a testimonial from an old Cats Broadway promo, “I’d chew it twice more.”
Blue Blowout: I’m happy that Bubblicious found a happy medium for their requisite “blue” flavor. Candy companies tend to overdo blue. This one’s pretty mellow, all things considered, tasting like a cross between cotton candy and a snowcone. A cotton candy flavored snowcone? A cotton candy flavored snowcone flavored bubble gum? When it takes that many words and that much confusion to properly describe the taste nuances of bubble gum, you know you’ve got a winner.
On a final note, never buy gum from the gift shops in an Atlantic City casino resort. These were $1.98 a pack.
Posted by Matt. E-mail me!
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btw I feel weird calling you that because I have a cousin that is older then me (about 40) that is named Bill that I really like. He lived with me and my family for about 3 years and those were probably the best years of my childhood. I also have a cousin named Matt but I can deal with one confusion. Oh well.
First. Looks nothing like Lebron but damn is it good.