12 Old School Bubble Gums With Flavors You Won't Believe Existed

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It may surprise you to know that the evolution of chewing gum traces back to people chewing on some form of it thousands of years ago. Historians believe that Northern Europeans may have taken to chewing birch bark tar around 9,000 years ago. We also know that ancient Mayans chewed on chicle, which came from sapodilla trees. However, these early gum chewers could never have imagined some of the wild flavors that have shown up in the past 50 years. 

From Slimer-flavored to Hawaiian Punch, old-school gum came in just about any flavor you could dream of. But it was more than just the flavor that was important. Much of the fun of the gum was how it was packaged. That's why you will see brightly colored gum packages, often with a novelty such as juice in the center or a shape to look like gold nuggets. We've rounded up 12 old-school gum flavors that people remember the most nostalgically, with a couple on our list dating back over 100 years.

Kids from the '80s and '90s are sure to remember "The Real Ghostbusters" TV series. A continuation of the popular 1984 movie "Ghostbusters," the animated series featured the characters from the movie and aired on Saturday mornings from 1986 to 1991. "The Real Ghostbusters" was not only a popular cartoon, but it spawned a ridiculous number of tie-in products. Beyond figurines and lunchboxes, kids could get soap, toothpaste, bubble bath, play shaving kits, bubble gum, and a lot more. 

Strangely, The Real Ghostbusters bubble gum was sold in tubes that looked remarkably similar to Real Ghostbusters toothpaste, making us wonder how there weren't more mix-ups at the time. Released in 1989 by Amurol, the gum came in two flavors: Ecto-Plazm Grape and Slimer. A New York Times article archived from that year described the gum as a "very popular product," which was "bubble gum squeezed out of a tube like toothpaste."

The grape flavor is self-explanatory, but we had to go to Reddit to find out what Slimer Bubble Gum tasted like. One Reddit user said, "I recall it tasting like cantaloupe." Another person commented, "I would get it from Blockbuster. It was overly sweet and weird how it felt not like gum at first." However, some people remember it more fondly, with one commenter saying, "Man, I used to get that stuff all the time. I kinda have a craving for it now."

Clove Chewing Gum has been around for over 100 years. Unlike the overly sweet bubble gum from the '80s and '90s, Clove gum is known to have a strong taste of cloves, a spice added to temper foods with overwhelming heat, as well as a hint of cinnamon and allspice. Introduced to the U.S. market in 1914 by Thomas Adams and The American Chicle Company, rumor has it, people chewed it frequently during Prohibition to cover up the smell of illegal alcohol on their breath. Unlike many others on our list, you can still find Clove Chewing Gum at vintage candy stores or online today. 

Chewing gum from the 1900s was not the same sugary bubble gum we know today. Synthetic flavors weren't available at the time, so gum back then was made with real flavors. The flavor was said to have lasted longer than today's gum, where sweet flavors tend to fade quickly. Interestingly, Clove gum may have made people's mouths feel a bit numb when they chewed it. Cloves contain eugenol, a natural chemical that acts as an anesthetic and antibacterial agent. It used to be recommended by dentists in the 1800s for a sore tooth.

Through the years, Bubblicious has offered 28 different flavors of gum. Since it was first introduced in 1977, the brand has been known for its quirky and fun flavors. However, if you haven't been down the gum aisle recently, you may be surprised to find that Bubblicious is still around today, but aside from Original, it only comes in one other flavor: watermelon. The brand was acquired by Perfetti Van Melle in 2023, and in May 2025, the company announced the relaunch of Bubblicious with the watermelon flavor.

Bubblicious once had such a unique array of flavors. One of them was Chocolate Mint, which is not your typical bubble gum taste. However, mint is one of the fresh herbs that pair perfectly with chocolate, so the two flavors have long been known to go well together. The gum was described on the package as "Cool and Chocolaty" and was sold in a five-piece pack. Someone on Reddit remembered it fondly as a "never ending Andes Mint." 

A bonus of the Bubblicious Chocolate Mint Gum (as well as the other flavors) is that at some point during the '80s, if you bought a package, you had an offer to enter a contest to attend space camp. According to the vintage package, kids could enter the contest and "Blast off to Space Camp" and "Win a Space Adventure." There aren't many details from any children who had won the Bubblicious space camp adventure, but we can only imagine some lucky '80s kid had the summer of their life after buying the winning pack of Bubblicious gum.

Hubba Bubba was introduced in 1979 by the Wrigley Jr. Company before it was acquired by Mars, Inc. The first variety released was the original bubble gum flavor, and it was marketed as a non-sticky gum that you could easily peel off your skin when you burst a bubble. Yes, before Hubba Bubba, blowing a bubble with bubble gum often left people with a sticky residue stuck to their faces. By the 1980s, Hubba Bubba's slogan was "Big bubbles, no troubles." Hubba Bubba is also known for bubble tape, which still sells today. 

Hubba Bubba was going strong in the '80s with a variety of wild flavors. One of those flavors was Hawaiian Punch. However, '90s consumers had a preference for sugar-free gum, and the brand was discontinued briefly that decade due to low sales until it was brought back in 2004. The Hawaiian Punch flavor was seen again in the 2000s but was supposedly discontinued sometime around 2016. If you're feeling nostalgic for it, you may be able to find an unopened package from vintage resellers. We found a pack of Hubba Bubba Hawaiian Punch from 2013 for sale on eBay for $25.

In the 1980s, kids could buy little rock-shaped hard gum that poured out of tiny juice cartons. These were made by Topps, a company known for selling baseball cards and collectibles, which contained a stick of gum in every pack. It had a variety of novelty gum products by the '80s, including the fruit juice bubble gum packaged in little juice cartons. They came in standard juice flavors, including orange juice, grape juice, and apple juice.

Today, you can no longer buy these Topps juice carton gums, but we did find several resellers offering either a very old, unopened box of them or just the empty box itself. People on Reddit remember the product fondly, with one person saying, "The container was low key the best part. It was a carton of orange juice!!!" Anyone who chewed these can remember how hard they were, almost like rocks. And the flavor only lasted a very short time, but the novelty was what drew people in, with another Redditor also admitting, "These were my favorite! The containers were so cute!"

People hoping to quench their thirst are unlikely to reach for a stick of chewing gum rather than grabbing a drink. And yet, Gatorade, known for its popular sports drinks that are actually banned in parts of Europe, once made gum it claimed "helps quench thirst." There is actual science behind the claim. A study on patients suffering from heart failure and symptoms of dry mouth showed that chewing gum did increase saliva production and decrease thirst. Gum as a thirst quencher goes back a long way to when ancient Mayans chewed gum (actually a substance called chicle from a sapodilla tree, as previously mentioned) to help with quenching thirst and fighting hunger.

In the 1970s, GatorGum was introduced in five-stick packs with lemon-lime and orange flavors, which were the only two flavors of Gatorade sold at the time. It only lasted through the 1980s, being discontinued in 1989. In the beginning, GatorGum wasn't marketed as a kid's candy and wasn't often seen in the gum aisle at the grocery store but instead was sold in sporting goods stores, often displayed at the checkout area. A Redditor recalled, "I remember it being only sold at sporting goods stores, always placed next or near the cash register. Then, as it became more popular, it branched out to almost any store that had a gum/candy section." As for whether or not it really quenched thirst, one Redditor disagreed, saying, "Honestly, I remember this gum actually making me more thirsty."

Bubblicious is back on our list, this time with Ink'd Sour Frantic Fruit. This early 2000s flavor was marketed towards kids who wanted blue tongues. A TV ad from 2007 depicts a teenage boy taking a family photo and sticking out his tongue to reveal bright blue. The gum had a sour blue raspberry flavor with a juicy center that dyed tongues that color. One person on Reddit fondly remembers the gum saying, "As a kid I remember a kind of gum in Target and Walmart and every gas station ... It always caught my eye. I had to have, after getting it the first time, it instantly became my absolute favorite gum to this date."

While Ink'd is no longer sold, a TikToker recreated the recipe using only gum base, corn syrup, a packet of Kool-Aid Blue Raspberry Lemonade, powdered sugar, and blue Juicy Drop Pop gel mixed with blue food coloring for the center. Her recipe successfully turned her tongue blue, and she said it tasted just like how she remembered Bubblicious Ink'd did.

Stepping away from sugary, sweet, and synthetic flavors, we head back to an old original, Black Jack Chewing Gum. Thomas Adams, an American inventor, patented a machine for making chewing gum sticks in 1871. Before gum was made into sticks, it was in the shape of rough pellets. The uniform sticks proved to be popular among the public, and by the 1880s, Adams was selling five tons of gum per day. The gum was flavorless until Adams added a black licorice flavor, creating Black Jack Chewing Gum in 1884. 

Black Jack gum was originally made from chicle plants from Mexico. The gum remained popular until around the 1970s but was discontinued as sales dropped, only to be introduced again briefly in the '80s. Today, it's back and still sold in specialty shops, vintage candy stores, or online. Although no longer made from chicle plants, the modern recipe is made with simple ingredients such as gum base, sugar, licorice extract, and black iron oxide to color it black. A favorite trick from old-timey kids was to place the black stick of gum across their front teeth to make it appear as if their two front teeth were missing.

Charles Howard founded Choward's, a New York-based brand, in 1934. The company's first product was violet mints that Howard sold out of a pushcart in New York City. Choward's gums and mints were successful at a time when many businesses were failing, right in the middle of the Great Depression. Since the purple mints were so popular, Howard added a purple-colored gum, shaped like a square tablet, to his lineup. Called Choward's Scented Gum, this product is an old-school favorite you can still buy today. The packs come with eight bright purple pieces and are marketed as a "fragrance that refreshes after eating, smoking, or drinking."

It's hard to find a description of what Choward's tastes like, and the ingredients give nothing away, with the only flavors listed being artificial flavors. But the description on the company website states that the gum has a "uniquely refreshing flavor." It may be something that you have to try to know. One reviewer said, "It has a very interesting flavor. I'm not even sure how to describe it, but it's very fragrant and helps with your breath. The flavor stays for a long time too."

Gold Rush Bubble Gum was a novelty gum sold by Topps that was popular in the 1970s and '80s. Sold more as a fun product and less for the flavor, the brightly colored yellow nuggets of gum came in a reusable little bag meant to recreate a gold prospector's bag of gold nuggets. This was a popular time for all things Old West, as seen by the Oregon Trail computer game, Old West movies, and Old West kids' toys. Today, you can find vintage Gold Rush Bubble Gum for sale from resellers. We were surprised to see one from 1973 filled with the original gum nuggets and selling on eBay for $100. If you happen to have one of these little bags untouched from the 1970s, you may be able to make a bit of money from it.

However, if you'd like to pay less for gum that isn't over 50 years old, you can buy brand-new bags of Gold Rush gum today. It looks similar to the old bags, although today's gum has a slightly different name, Gold Mine Nugget Bubble Gum. It's also no longer made by Topps. If you're wondering what Gold Rush gum tastes like, the packaging doesn't indicate a flavor, but it's been said to taste like bananas.

For a time in the 1980s, kids could buy soda-flavored bubble gum. More than just tasting like soda, there was a little shot of liquid inside each piece of gum. Made by Amurol, this was a collaboration between gum and soda companies. The gum was sold in four soda flavors: Cherry 7Up, Root Beer, regular 7Up, and Dr. Pepper. Each featured a liquid center meant to taste like one of the sodas. This turned out to be a big hit that many still feel nostalgic for. 

For some reason, '80s kids really loved soda. Perhaps because nobody cared much about nutrition then, or maybe because for many 80s kids, soda was more of a special treat served at birthday parties, pizza restaurants, and movies, so having a soda-flavored gum was a real novelty. You can't buy this gum in stores today, but you can find old packs of it on eBay. Amazingly, some of them are going for surprisingly high prices. We found one unopened pack for sale on eBay for about $90.

Trident gum is one of the most popular chewing gum brands in the U.S. and has been since it debuted in 1960. The earliest flavor was called "Original," and it was the first sugar-free gum sold in the country. Trident Layers gum is a variation of the sugar-free gum that comes in two layers of flavors. This gum was once offered in many flavor variations, such as cherry and lime or strawberry and citrus. Trident Layers gum can still be bought today, but it now only comes in two flavors: Wild Strawberry and Tangy Citrus and Watermelon and Tropical Fruit.

Another fan-favorite flavor was berry and lemon, which used layers of red Swedish Fish with lemon. An old description states that the gum combines "two flavors of fish (berry and lemon) in a layered rectangle of sugar-free gum. The flagship berry flavor (known by its technical name 'red') is delightfully counterbalanced with tangy lemon for a full fruity flavor you'll enjoy through your whole chew."