First off, what is a taboo? This is defined as: “A social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.” Culture creates taboos from almost anything these days. So what are some of the major issues with chewing gum? A quick search finds people are appalled at gum chewers in private settings. This can be anything from a workplace environment to a funeral.

It is almost impossible to find the exact number, but there are millions. Each company has their own proprietary mix of flavor profiles, and there are many different chemical combinations to achieve flavor. Did you know bubble gum is a flavor of Pepto-Bismol? Mmmm Typical flavors include: Orange Lemon Strawberry Watermelon Cinnamon Peppermint Grape Fruit punch So how do you go about counting the flavors? Well there are over 48 million results in google which is insane.

If you grew up in the past century (1900 - 1999), you probably encountered gum balls at a store or friend who had a gumball machine. Do they still exist? I can’t say I’ve seen one in a store for quite awhile, but you can still buy them. The vending machine businesses have gone to mostly electronic machines, which means they can take credit cards and serve more items. Sadly this doesn’t leave much room for the old standard gum ball machines.

First on the list from child-hood is Beechies gum. This stuff has been around for a very long time (at least the 1940’s): One of the most memorable gums from the past is candy cigarettes. You felt so cool pretending to smoke these (which we all know is horrible but your kids): We can’t forget about bubble gum cigars! Bring these out for those special events. The 80’s were full of these and they can still be fun, especially if you are not a smoker:

Bubble gum was invented in 1928 by Walter E. Diemer. He worked in accounting for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia and experimented with new gum recipes in his spare time. The gum he invented was less sticky than regular chewing gum and it stretched more easily. Walter called the gum dubble bubble and began to selling the new product. As it turns out bubble gum is pink because it was the only food dye Diemer had on hand at the time.