WEBVTT

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Right now
on Adam Eats the 80s,

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this is a time capsule,

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we're heading back to the
wild days of the 1980s,

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when kids could buy candies
that we'll never see again.

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Candy Snot.

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From the outlandish,

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I have something so incendiary

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it nearly sparked
a countrywide ban,

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to the out of control,

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this is a grenade
meant for a child.

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Plus, one of the most iconic
bubble gum brands in history,

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which was at least in part
modeled after chewing tobacco.

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And we are recreating
the first batch,

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in the original spot,
with the creators.

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That flavor was
never, ever released.

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It's an origin story like
no other. Talk about smell.

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Kids who grew up in the 80s

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got away with a lot
more than kids today do.

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Bike helmets weren't legally
mandated until at least 1987.

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And afternoons could be spent
playing a round of lawn darts,

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which sent an estimated 6,100
people to the emergency room.

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They could still try
to fling their friends

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into the air on seesaws,

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and eat sugary cereals with
on average 40% more sugar

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than the stuff parents ate.

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And the term helicopter parent,

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that wouldn't be
heard until the 90s.

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Candy companies had no
hesitation to push the envelope

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to attract kids
eyeballs and money.

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There were candy cigars and
cigarettes, candy in weapons.

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And then in 1980,

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there was a groundbreaking
bubble gum debut,

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that despite getting
its inspiration

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from a decidedly non
kid-friendly place,

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went on to become

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one of the world's most
beloved bubble gums.

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It was right here at Providence
Park in Portland, Oregon,

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where 42 years ago, one
of the greatest inventions

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of the entire decade took shape.

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This stadium was once home
to a plucky independent team

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called the Portland Mavericks,
who had on their roster

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a journeyman
left-hander, Rob Nelson,

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and a former New York
Yankee, Jim Bouton,

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who would etch their names
into candy lore in 1980

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when they took a swing at
their version of bubble gum

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shredded like chewing tobacco.

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And it was called
Big League Chew.

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Now, while the idea

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of a bubble gum
mimicking chewing tobacco

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might be something
that's frowned upon now,

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in the 1980s it was a chance
for kids to feel like grownups.

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I mean heck, we
were already smoking

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chocolate cigars and
candy cigarettes.

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We proposed to our grade school
girlfriends with ring pops.

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It was only a short hop to
bubble gum chewing tobacco.

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And right now I'm going
down to the very field

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where Big League Chew was born

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so I could find out

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how Rob managed to create
the original batch by hand.

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Jim Bouton had asked
me had I ever chewed tobacco

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and I said I tried it once
and it didn't make sense,

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and he had the same history,

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so neither of us
were tobacco chewers.

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I said, "What would
you think of the idea

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if we shredded bubble
gum and put it in a pouch

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where we could look cool,

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but we wouldn't
make ourselves ill?"

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He said, "I love that idea,
what would you call it?"

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I said, "I don't know,
Big League Chew?"

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- Really? So you named it?

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- It was within 30
seconds, maybe less.

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On a handshake he put
up about 10 grand,

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and we were on our way.

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And some other R-rated
things kids ate up in 1980,

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Jason Voorhees entered our lives

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in the first of 12
Friday the 13th movies,

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as well as the timeless
horror classic, The Shining.

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And the scariest of
all, for some of us

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trying to solve a new
puzzle, the Rubik's cube,

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which dropped and melted brains

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with its 43 quintillion
possible variations.

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Providence Park may be where
Rob came up with his idea

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for Big League Chew,

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but he needed a kitchen
to make the batch of gum

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that started it all.

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And up to the plate
stepped Candy Field,

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the mother of one of
the Maverick's bad boys

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who agreed to let
Rob use her kitchen.

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Well, as luck would have it,

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Candy Field still
lives in that house

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and we're going to the
very same kitchen today.

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The candy market is a highly
competitive and volatile one.

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You have to have a
good product, sure,

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and Big League Chew had that

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with their huge pouch
of shredded gum.

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But if you couldn't
grab kids' attention

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they would never discover it.

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And this gum didn't become a
classic despite its packaging,

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it packaging was
instrumental to its success.

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The wrapper and
the artwork on it

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was as much a part
of the experience

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as the candies themselves.

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Well, it wouldn't have
been Big League Chew

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without these iconic
images of brutish athletes

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with a big old wad of Big
League Chew in their cheeks.

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And that contrast
with today's packaging

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that you can see doesn't
have this same giant wad.

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And they had a very
specific aesthetic,

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a really specific look,

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and it's because it
came from one artist,

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an artist named Bill Mayer.

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A regularly featured
artist for MAD Magazine.

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Bill Mayer got the gig when
Wrigley needed a package design

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before it could start
selling Big League Chew.

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Then these are actual proofs,

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the development of
these iconic designs.

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What's kinda cool

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is that you actually
see some of the notes.

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So, here in this case,

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the catcher twirling a
ball on his fingertip.

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They wanted to simplify the
blur in the twirled ball

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and they wanted this one
for Big League strawberry.

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Here's the image that
I personally remember,

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one of the most classic images

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for one of the most
classic candies of the 80.

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But they wouldn't
have sold any at all

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if Rob didn't visit the kitchen
he's taking me to today,

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which is still owned
by a Mrs. Candy Field

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who helped him with his first
batch over 40 years ago.

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And yes, that
really is her name.

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Did you ever think
you would have a role

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in making one of the
most iconic bubble gums

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of the entire 1980s?

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- I didn't ever think it
would be what it has become.

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Rob's agreed
to remake the recipe

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from his very first batch,

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a flavor that's never been
released to the public.

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- Jim Bouton had
tried to explain

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to a few gum companies
back in the Northeast

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what he wanted to do.

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And he phoned me and he said,

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"Rob, they don't get
it. I need a sample."

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And I was at a loss.

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Randomly picked up a
copy of People magazine

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And there was an article
about a small company,

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the Arlington
Confection Company,

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and one of the things they
were making was bubblegum.

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So, I ordered a
case of the stuff

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and just followed
the instructions.

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And today using
a similar gum making kit,

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Rob sets to work in recreating

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his game-changing
original batch.

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- [Rob} This is where the
magic's gonna happen, okay?

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Now put the,
your syrup in there,

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pour it in there and then...

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Squeeze.

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Thank God you were
there that day 42 years ago.

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Yeah, I know.

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So, now I do the mix.

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Then with the gum base

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and corn syrup mixed together,

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on to the powdered
sugar bed it goes.

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I got the
need for knead.

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That was
in Top Gun, right?

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Also a 1980s classic.

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Rob kneads it together, adds
the magical mystery flavoring,

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and finally slices
it into the shreds

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that made his gum
a game changer.

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These were how the shreds
were made, I love it.

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That's how we made
it, with a pizza knife.

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So, this flavor
was never released

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and never recreated
until right now,

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42 years after it was originally
made in this very kitchen.

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If I may?

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- Have at it.
- Take the whole thing.

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Let me just
take a pinch, all right.

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Time to join the big league.

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It's not vanilla, it's
more peppery in that.

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Is it root beer?

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Correct.

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- Wait, I wanna see
what the master thinks.

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Best gum
I've ever tried.

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- See, I happen to like
root beer as a drink

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but I never thought
of it as a gum.

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Well, nor did
the Wrigley people.

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The Wrigley people said
you stick to the ideas,

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we'll make the gum.

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Despite stigmas

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dating back to the
early 20th century

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about people, especially
women, chewing gum in public,

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by the 1980s, gum
was ubiquitous.

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And, for that, we have in part

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the Wrigley Company to thank,

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who pioneered chewing
gum advertising

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with their commercials.

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None more iconic than
Wrigley's Doublemint twins,

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who first appeared in 1959,

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but oddly enough

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weren't actually allowed to
chew gum in the commercials.

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But apparently they
were by the 1980s,

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and other gum brands
upped their game as well.

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One particular ad
from Bubble Yum

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actually featured a young

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Leonardo DiCaprio
in the late 80s

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in one of his earliest
appearances on screen.

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This is
a chunk of super soft

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Bubble Yum Bubblegum.

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The Big League Chew

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was in a league of
its own in the 1980s,

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and I able to get
the inside baseball

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on this transcendent treat.

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Today, they're about to sell
their one billionth pouch.

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I have something so incendiary

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it provoked national outrage

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and nearly sparked
a countrywide ban.

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I'm talking about candy
beers, candy cigars,

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and of course, candy cigarettes.

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The packets were
almost exact replica's

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of real cigarette brands
like Marlboro and Pall Malls.

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Some cigarette companies even
sent their package designs

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for candy makers to
get them just right.

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Even the classic 80s TV
show, The Dukes of Hazard,

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got in on the act producing
bubble gum Boss Hogs Cigars.

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Studies that connected kids'
consumption of candy cigarettes

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to later smoking
were inconclusive,

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but parents were still outraged.

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Today, candy cigarettes
is still available

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but represent a minuscule
part of the market,

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mainly for adults to relive
the 1980s and before.

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The 80s were when
President Ronald Reagan

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promised to return to more
wholesome conservative values.

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But at the same time

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this was the last decade
where kids had free reign.

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Some may have still been riding

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in rear facing back seats
of the family station wagon

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making funny faces at
the drivers behind them.

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SPF levels for kids during the
decade were as low as four.

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Today it's recommended
to be 30 and up.

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And in a lot of ways, it feels
like in the 80s and before,

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kids just weren't as coddled
as much as they can be today.

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And for kids, that
had it's benefits.

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Candy companies weren't
worried about self censoring,

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they simply produced what
they felt like kids wanted.

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Looking back now,

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what they wanted was
pretty weird and gross.

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Oh my, oh my God!

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This is Russel Vandever,
this is his home,

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and this is one of the
coolest, most impressive,

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most well curated
vintage candy collections

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I think I've ever seen.

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Russel's been collecting
and dealing for over 15 years

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and has built this into one
of the biggest collections

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of gross, weird, and taboo
candy that I've ever seen.

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Well, how did the
collection begin?

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- With Garbage Pail Kids.

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When I was a kid you could buy
'em cause they were so cheap.

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One of the best
symbols of the anything goes 80s

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has to be Garbage Pail Kids.

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One of the decades most popular
toys was Cabbage Patch Kids.

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I got my
doll! I got my doll!

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So they were, of
course, begging for parody.

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And in 1985, Tops
created that parody,

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with names like Armed
Arnie and Peg Leg Greg,

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that were gross,
vile and obscene.

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The cards were a
hit with 80s kids

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who bought well over
800,000,000 of them.

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Today, some pristine cards can
fetch $10,000 bucks or more.

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Garbage Pail Kids were a
common way for kids of the 80s

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to start asserting
their independence,

00:13:14.423 --> 00:13:16.467
but it was only the beginning.

00:13:16.509 --> 00:13:19.512
The trash cans,
I do recall these.

00:13:19.595 --> 00:13:21.347
Oh, the fish bone!

00:13:21.430 --> 00:13:24.475
Yes, that's exactly what I
remember it looking like.

00:13:24.517 --> 00:13:26.018
A candy gun.

00:13:26.185 --> 00:13:28.771
Hey, kids, got some
candy for you right here!

00:13:30.648 --> 00:13:34.443
This is a grenade meant for a
child, to put in their mouth.

00:13:34.443 --> 00:13:37.446
These coffins, what
was the candy called?

00:13:37.530 --> 00:13:38.447
- This is Mr. Bone.

00:13:38.531 --> 00:13:39.824
Can I try one?

00:13:39.865 --> 00:13:40.950
You should,
you should try the head.

00:13:41.116 --> 00:13:42.201
I'm gonna
give it a shot.

00:13:44.036 --> 00:13:46.163
It's like a Smartie
that lost it's flavor.

00:13:46.288 --> 00:13:48.457
Like it still has
that, oh wait...

00:13:50.793 --> 00:13:52.795
no, no, don't wait, it's
definitely lost it's flavor.

00:13:57.383 --> 00:13:58.968
Oh, my gosh.

00:13:59.134 --> 00:14:01.011
So, Adam, you're
holding the very first

00:14:01.053 --> 00:14:03.472
Rambo Black Flak bubblegum.

00:14:03.681 --> 00:14:07.852
Due to some outrage over
just a Black Flak labeling

00:14:07.977 --> 00:14:09.812
they decided to change this.

00:14:09.979 --> 00:14:12.731
And yet this gum was
seemingly marketed to kids

00:14:12.857 --> 00:14:16.652
despite this being an
R-rated movie franchise.

00:14:16.819 --> 00:14:19.655
Rambo 3 was listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records

00:14:19.655 --> 00:14:23.492
for being the most
violent film ever made,

00:14:23.659 --> 00:14:29.832
featuring 108 character deaths
and 221 acts of violence.

00:14:31.250 --> 00:14:33.002
So here's
the updated version

00:14:33.252 --> 00:14:35.754
and they took away
the Black Flak title.

00:14:35.880 --> 00:14:37.339
I like that
that was the problem.

00:14:37.423 --> 00:14:39.592
It's the name, it's not the
guy with the machine gun on

00:14:39.717 --> 00:14:41.886
and that it's supposed
to look like shrapnel.

00:14:45.514 --> 00:14:47.099
I'm exploring the
colossal candy collection

00:14:47.266 --> 00:14:48.767
of Russel Vandever,

00:14:48.851 --> 00:14:51.770
and revisiting some of
the freewheeling candies

00:14:51.854 --> 00:14:55.357
that matched our unregulated
childhood in the 80s.

00:14:55.566 --> 00:14:59.028
Candy Snot. Let me
get some boogers.

00:15:03.365 --> 00:15:05.534
Oh, this has flavor though.
It's like sour apple.

00:15:05.534 --> 00:15:07.620
Does it taste good?

00:15:07.745 --> 00:15:09.955
- Better than I thought.
- The texture's terrible.

00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:13.584
Now, what are the Barfo's?
I've never seen that before.

00:15:13.709 --> 00:15:15.044
- First you take out the plug,

00:15:15.044 --> 00:15:18.255
and then you squeeze
the accordion style base

00:15:18.297 --> 00:15:19.715
and it squirts the liquid.

00:15:19.715 --> 00:15:20.925
You're
probably wondering

00:15:21.050 --> 00:15:23.385
why any parent would buy this,

00:15:23.594 --> 00:15:26.221
but candy like this
was for 80s kids

00:15:26.221 --> 00:15:28.307
who would happily buy
it with the 50 cents

00:15:28.390 --> 00:15:31.435
mom and dad sent them to
the corner store with.

00:15:31.477 --> 00:15:34.063
- And, and the dog would
vomit into your mouth.

00:15:35.230 --> 00:15:36.607
Oh, gorgeous.

00:15:36.649 --> 00:15:39.526
The burbling vomiting dog,

00:15:39.610 --> 00:15:40.986
welcome to the 80s.

00:15:41.153 --> 00:15:44.156
And anything goes right?

00:15:44.239 --> 00:15:49.161
Wrong, because for about 10
years including most of the 80s,

00:15:49.244 --> 00:15:52.790
there were no red M&M's
to be found anywhere.

00:15:52.915 --> 00:15:55.292
Red number two was
a food coloring

00:15:55.334 --> 00:15:57.962
that was used in a
lot of food products.

00:15:58.003 --> 00:16:02.299
But in 1976, the FDA banned it
after it was linked to cancer

00:16:02.341 --> 00:16:05.010
and they could not
confirm it to be safe.

00:16:05.094 --> 00:16:09.181
Shortly thereafter, Mars
removed all red M&M's from bags

00:16:09.348 --> 00:16:11.517
and replaced them
with orange ones,

00:16:11.642 --> 00:16:12.977
even though red dye number two

00:16:13.102 --> 00:16:15.145
wasn't even used in red M&M's.

00:16:15.187 --> 00:16:18.273
Mars simply wanted to
avoid confusing customers

00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:21.819
so the 80s began
without red M&M's.

00:16:22.444 --> 00:16:25.489
But, by 1987 the
panic had subsided

00:16:25.614 --> 00:16:28.033
and Mars reintroduced
its red candies

00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:29.785
alongside their replacements

00:16:29.952 --> 00:16:33.706
and both colors have
remained with us ever since.

00:16:33.831 --> 00:16:35.332
I think it's so cool
that someone like you

00:16:35.374 --> 00:16:36.959
is out there to
collect so that we all,

00:16:36.959 --> 00:16:39.795
we don't lose touch
with the history.

00:16:39.795 --> 00:16:41.964
I've got so many
memories attached

00:16:41.964 --> 00:16:44.800
to all these things that
have inspired these candies

00:16:44.883 --> 00:16:46.468
that's my history,

00:16:46.635 --> 00:16:48.971
and I'd wager the history
of so many people at home,

00:16:48.971 --> 00:16:50.973
through one of the
most fun vehicles

00:16:50.973 --> 00:16:52.641
with which to
travel through time.

00:16:57.312 --> 00:16:59.189
The 80s was maybe
the last decade

00:16:59.314 --> 00:17:01.358
where kids had independence.

00:17:01.483 --> 00:17:02.985
When their curfews
were determined

00:17:02.985 --> 00:17:05.070
by when the street
lights came on.

00:17:05.237 --> 00:17:07.740
And whether it was bubble gum
modeled after chewing tobacco

00:17:07.865 --> 00:17:09.825
that took over baseball dugouts,

00:17:09.908 --> 00:17:13.245
or finding candy stuffed up
noses and buried in coffins,

00:17:13.412 --> 00:17:15.664
candy companies went
for the shock value

00:17:15.873 --> 00:17:19.084
to match the unrestricted
childhoods of 80s kids.

00:17:20.669 --> 00:17:22.588
Sure, it might be bad,

00:17:22.671 --> 00:17:24.882
but in the 80s bad meant good.

00:17:25.382 --> 00:17:27.384
And if parents didn't
think it was bad,

00:17:28.177 --> 00:17:30.012
it wouldn't have tasted so good.