Along with the Teaberry and Black Jack, let us not forget Beamans and Clove which were also reissued. I wish they'd reissue them again here.

Ah yes, the delicacies of youth. Money went farther back then, but there was a lot less of it so deciding upon a purchase at the corner store was a major financial decision. Did you all grow up with the tiny little markets where the owner or his wife would be required the patience of Job to deal with us as we perused the contents of loose candies in the display case? I remember as did the writer Jean Shepherd, that there was a certain social caste system based around the candy you ate. It was a different type of kid who sucked on Root Beer Barrels than the Jawbreaker man. And even within the Jawbreaker realm, you tended toward a color preference, swearing that your choice was far superior to those of your cronies. No "real man" as we often thought of ourselves, would have dared to buy one of those little tins with the sugar fried egg. The thing came with it's own little tin spoon guaranteed to slice through a kid's tongue, lip, or sometimes both.

Now gum was a different thing altogether. I ruined my teeth at a young age chewing those hard, flat, rectangular, pink things (purportedly bubble gum) that came with a pack of five baseball cards. Forking over your hard won nickel for a pack of unknown cards gave many of us our first taste of gambling and trading the cards taught us our first lessons in commerce. I recall well the day that Rocky Colavito popped up in a pack and the joy it brought me to have my full fledged hero in my collection. In '58 and '59 I had complete sets of all teams. In '63 I started my forays to the dentist to repair the damage. When I moved in '79 I threw them out thinking, "What a great memory but what worthless shit this is!"   Oh well.........Last week though I went through my friend Wayne's meager few cards held in a model box....'65 Ford Fairlane, AMT kit I believe...and outside of the fact that we did find a few worth some money, the most amazing thing to me was that when we opened the box, you could still smell the gum.

Where I grew up, it was called Pop, and the first time a carbonated beverage was referred to as "soda" I thought this new kid who used the term was talking about an "Ice Cream Soda" or Egg Creme that we got at the dairy store. Parents were frugal in their purchases of pop although grandparents had it on hand in quantity. The problem here was that grandparents always bought that off-brand stuff in flavors like orange, grape, and black cherry. Most grandparents around my neck of the woods never scrimped on Root Beer (Hires or Stewarts) or Ginger Ale (Vernors), but they never had a good orange like Nehi, the gassiest pop ever consumed, nor did they often indulge in the name brand colas. Camping a month or so back, we were in a country store that sold a really fine Black Cherry Cola and although as a kid I drank this concoction only when everything else was gone, it now tastes superb. Is it a physical change in my taste buds......or one brought on by unrepeatable times, long past, but never forgotten?

I think it's my taste buds really......I must have gone through a physical change. How else can you account for the fact that in those halcyon days of my youth that on a hot summer day, a Fizzie tablet, mixed with tepid water from a garden hose, in a colored aluminum tumbler, used to taste so damn good?

Spaw