Okay, what ever happened to candy cigarettes?
I'm not talking about the cheap bubble gum sticks wrapped in paper from
some Asian country, but the fabulously sugary, powdery twigs that we all
know and love... Why aren't they in vending machines? We have real cigarettes
in vending machines, why not candy cigarettes? Granted, one you smoke,
one you eat, but none-the-less, they are the same - they are addictive.
I know, I'm a confirmed addict, however their lack of public availability
is a shock to my system.
WASAW, what ever happened to my favorite childhood candy snack?
And why haven't we reviewed Pixie Stix vs. Smarties? Is it all in the presentation
of sugar?
-- Jenny
We sent Jenny to candydirect.com, a poorly designed but amazingly diverse candy store
online that has just about anything you could ask for... including candy
cigarettes that have outraged parents for years. As for the Pixie Stix
vs. Smarties question, Kid Nougat is looking into it.
Hi,
I don't have a snack review per se,
but I thought that you might enjoy this snack related story. When I was
in college at there was a snack vending machine in my dorm's lobby. It
was the standard type, with a thick plexiglass face on the front to allow
customers an unobstructed view of all the delicious treats it held within.
One morning on my way to class I noticed a small knot of people standing
in front of the machine, so I went to see what was going on.
The vending-machine was a frightening
vision of unadulturated destruction, appearing as if someone had turned
loose a ravenous wolverine inside. The few packages left in the denuded
racks looked viciously clawed and torn, their contents mauled by some savage
snack predator. Bits and pieces of snack remains littered the tray at the
bottom of the machine.
A closer look revealed the secret to
the carnage: A small hole had been bored through the plexigrass window,
and some object (presumably a coat hanger) had been used to tear the snacks
from their racks. The majority of treats, however, had merely been
torn to pieces. Saddened, I went on to my studies.
When I returned that evening, I noticed
that the vending machine was once more stocked with food. The vending
company had been by, and had come up with a "solution" to the
problem: A metal carriage bolt had been screwed into the plexiglass to
fill the hole. Hmmm....
Needless to say, the next morning the
machine was trashed again, and there was another hole drilled into the
machine's front window, directly adjacent to the bolt.
This fruitless cycle repeated itself
every few days for weeks, until there were so many bolts in the plexiglass
that the vending machine looked as if some gangster had riddled it with
bullets from a Tommy gun. And then, at long last, the some inspired
soul at the vending company must have had an epiphany, because the machine's
plexiglass window had been replaced: With a sheet of solid steel. A piece
of loose-leaf paper explaining which snacks went with which codes was taped
onto the metal.
I've often wondered since then what that must have done
to their sales...
- Scott Williams
I enjoy your site, but what about Bit O' Honey? Y'all need to review
the best, longest lasting and tastied candy of 'em all.
Kat
Very cool site, and I'm glad you liked the British snacks you reviewed.
Just one thing, in response to Lisa Flaherty's
comment about Bounties in the Peter Paul interview: Bounty is far from
defunct here in the UK, I'd say it's one of the more popular chocolate
bars (apparently Kit Kat is currently #1). However, we don't have Peter
Paul or Hershey here, so maybe Bounties are just a poor substitute!
-- Jess (Berkshire, England)
PS: If you can get them, how about reviewing Galaxy Minstrels? If not,
I'll send you some :)
Jess did just that -- she sent us a package from jolly ol' England! See our glowing review by
clicking here...
Whoa! I've rediscovered the joy of eating non-nutritious foods. And
I just thought that if you guys could get your hands on an odd brit snack
called a "Wagon Wheel", it would be interesting to see the review.
It's kind of like a flat, small, british sports car version of the chocolate
moon pie (or is it the other way around?)
I have, to date, read everything on the wasaw page. Hey, where else
can you experience the joy/agony of eating over a hundred snacks without
consuming them yourself?
Thanks,
tomS
Dear Figaroo:
I was delighted and surprised to see a review of my family's vending snack
product, Waffle Chips.
My family's 63 year old company has been baking ice cream cones for grocery
and foodservice companies for four generations. Due to the extremely seasonal
nature of our business, we were hoping that Waffle Chips might be one way
to solve this problem and bring out an interesting, unique snack.
The thing that most surprised us about the Waffle Chips was the amount
of response that we received from a relatively small amount of product
being sold. I would say that in the past 2-3 years, we have received over
1500 letters and e-mails. Believe me, complimentary letters about Waffle
Chips are quite a nice surprise compared to complaints about broken cones
from the
grocery packages.
So, even though your opinion of our product wasn't one of my favorites,
I appreciate your interest in our products. If any of you guys get close
to Pewee Valley,KY(Louisville suburb), please feel free to drop by and
say hello.
Keep up the good work!!
Owners grandson,
Garry Buttermann, IV
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