Mad Croc Caffeinated Gum and Chews

Gum chewing has always been a problem for me. I would last about 2 minutes, and then I would have this thing in my mouth that I did not really want there, but felt like it was just too icky to go spitting it out on the ground somewhere, so off I go, hunting for a garbage can rather than just wadding it up somewhere or wrapping it up in its wrapper and storing it until a garbage can could be found. Do most normal people have this problem? Either that, or I would swallow and feel guilty, knowing I had a knot of gum sitting and rotting in my stomach for years, probably forming into a gloppy gum tree in the pit of my innards.
It took me years to learn how to chew in public without causing those nearest me to squeal and run in horror, so I never really got the bubble blowing thing or any of the other cook kid tricks you can do with a stick. My lack of basic coordination meant I was usually chewing with my mouth open, smacking my lips and not even aware of it too, or if I concentrated enough to prevent this I would inevitably walk into walls.
It has gotten so bad that now, out of fear of public ridicule, I never chew gum in public. Ever. I would rather be seen plucking the hairs out of my eyebrows and eating them that be caught smacking and playing with my gum, never learning the basic human skill of gum etiquette.
So it was with some trepidation I picked up Mad-Croc's chewing gum packets, hiding myself in a small closet before trying the first of the flavors in my possession.
The first up was the citrus blast - a great flavor, Loads better than Jolt Gum. It was strong fruity and sweet, but then got real bad after about 5 minutes of chewing. The spearmint did much better, faring at least 10 minutes of good taste before someone was coming my way and I hate to start my frantic search for the garbage.
The third up was the easiest to eat by far - the Mad Croc Chews - which were not technically a gum and more like a Now and Later, which is like a gum but is perfectly acceptable to swallow, thus rendering most of my gum insecurity moot.

UPDATE: another point of view from the trenches - Guest reviewer Dave:
Benign shade of green. Very friendly-looking. Quite satisfying first few bites, segues into a sublime sweetmint flavor. That lasts precisely four minutes, 18 seconds, and then begins to fade into a metallic-tinged bitterness—like kissing an angry robot. That lasts another minute and then the bitterness notches up to “inedible” and it must be expectorated. Thankfully, the bitter aftertaste subsides very quickly, leaving the sweetmint afterglow. The buzz seems about the same as the first piece… although my earlobes are hot now. Which is weird.


Buzz/ nutrition:9
The gum appears to be sugar free - using Xylitol for sweetener. This accounts for the 10 calories in each piece, or 20 for a normal dosage. This is packed with an energy drinkers favorite mix of B vitamins and taurine. Don't expect an immediate rush though - Each piece has 40 mg in it, but it is absorbed in your body differently than if you ingested it. This gum can take as much as 10 minutes for you to start feeling the effects. This means 2 chicklet sized pieces will give you 80mg , or the amount found in Red Bulls and Monsters.While I would not suggest eating a pack of these - I would recommend having a few in your mouth - if your mouth can handle all that chewing...
Both kinds worked great for me, and in about 10 minutes I felt the rush of caffeine hit my system and kept me bouncing for about 3 hours.

The Chews are completely different. They take as little as 15 to 20 minutes to kick in, and each little piece has just 8 calories. That means you can eat the whole package yourself and not feel guilty about it! The chews also have fun ingredients in them, like honey and egg whites as well as the energy drink mix that are in the gum.

Taste: citrus - 6 Chews-7 peppermint-9
The gum comes in a number of flavors including Power peppermint, spearmint, cinnamon, and citrus. I could only find Citrus and Peppermint, plus a pack of citrus chews at my local target - but I thought that it was enough for an accurate portrayal of the gum and chews. If you have tried this before, I would suggest you try it again. When the product first came out, the flavor was abysmal. It was panned up and down the states as the most icky thing you could put in your mouth. But, after their lettle fiasco with red bull, they really changed things around and did the whole line with new design, new marketing, and most importantly, new flavor.
The peppermint was the best gum by far - completely like Wrigleys or any other chicklet, only with caffeine in it. The taste did not get old or sour like Jolt gum, and managed to keep the flavor consistent for the entire length of the chew.

The citrus started out fantastic! the strong flavor was like Juicy Fruit and not even a little sour or confusing. This was one tasty gum! As I said, it started good. After about 2 minutes, the flavor went horribly horribly wrong. It got sour and real bad. but after that passed, it was fine again - once whatever was causing the grossness finally dissolved away.

the chews were next - and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked them. It was a very tasty, if not very caffeinated, treat. While I would not get this over an energy drink, I might choose this over your average Laffy Taffy

The peppermint did fantastic though!the flavor was EXACTLY like that of your average peppermint gum. It was not too sweet, and was very minty and left me with a great taste in my mouth along with the buzz and dancing in my eyes. If you have the choice, this is definitely the flavor to grab.

Packaging:6
Gum in a blister pack. ooo. The art on the cover is pretty cool, and it does a fine job of letting you know the ingredients, but the bit where they list the caffeine content by comparison to energy drinks is dumb. Redline has over 500mg of caffeine in it, and My green tea energy has 50. If they at least compared it to Red Bull or monster there would be something better to go on.

Website: 8 madcroc.com
pretty fantastic - the design and the concept worked great to provide both in information and brand design, going for an iconographic display rather than a traditional "extreme" marketing campain. This very savvy site will get you just about all the info you would possibly want to know about the company and its history.

Junkfoodblog review - spearmint
Dave's BandBdesigns reviews
energydrinkreviews.com review
Topics: Energy foods