I don’t know about any of you, but I loved bubble gum when I was a kid (I still do, actually). Whenever I went to the store, I had to have some form of bubble gum, and at Hubba Bubba was at the top of my list.
Hubba Bubba makes some great gum, but not all of their ideas were good ones. You might remember Bubble Tape, and I’ll admit, that was a cool idea. Bubble Tape was a long singular piece of gum coiled inside of a case akin to a tape dispenser. I always asked for it when I went to the store, but often settled for another one of Hubba Bubba’s gum-pack alternatives, like Bubble Jugs.
Hubba Bubba Bubble Jugs are small containers of essentially gum dust. That’s the best word I have for it. You would pour a small amount of the gum dust in your mouth and chew it until it became gum. I’m not too sure about the science behind that, and as a kid, I didn’t really care, but now that I sit back and think about it, it’s pretty sketchy.
Come to think of it, Bubble Jug bubble gum didn’t even taste that good. If you didn’t chew all the dust, the gum you did manage to create was dusty and sugary. And if you were like me as small kid, the gum dust depleted quickly because you were constantly trying to get a satisfying amount of gum out of that tiny pink jug.
I only just learned today that Hubba Bubba’s Bubble Jug has been removed from stores. It kind of makes sense since I haven’t seen them since I was a kid, but it never occurred to me why they were removed. It’s probably because it was kind of an awful idea. Seriously. Pink dust that turns into gum when added to water of some sort? Why was that ever a good idea? While I love bubble gum, and while I love nearly everything from my childhood, I can honestly say that I am perfectly fine that this stuff was removed from the world.
Hailey Bibbee is a freshman studying English and creative writing. Email her at hb398213@ohio.edu.
