From the Snack Aisle: Richard Simmon's Slimmons

Product: Slimmons Snacks (Various)
Company: The Richard Simmons Living Trust
Years: 1996-?

Only 6 years after the trainwreck known as Richard Simmon's Salad Spray (which I covered here), Mr. Simmons decided it was time to work out a new product and hopefully make some money while at the same time making people healthier. So in 1996, he rolled out his line of "Slimmons" snacks.

I must admit, I had never heard of these until this last weekend while stumbling across an image of the Buttery Toffee Popcorn online:

But as I dug a little deeper, I realized that Slimmons wasn't just popcorn, but an entire line of different healthy snacks (9 different items according to internet news clippings).

I dug around and found that one other item was Devil's Food Cookies, and my friend Jason Liebig over at CollectingCandy.com actually had a box:

But that's only 2 items of a supposed 9. There is also a photo of the Sourdough Pretzels floating around online......But what were the other items? This is what I could dig up:

1. Buttery Toffee Popcorn
2. Devil's Food Cookies
3. Sourdough Pretzels
4. Some sort of Cheese Flavored Puffed Corn (looking for image)
5. Some sort of chocolate candy bar (looking for image)
6. Rice Cakes (looking for image)
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???

From what I can gather these did not last very long in the market, and some items may have been regional. So I'm asking all you Honorary Stock Boys and Girls to help me out. If you know of any other Slimmon's treats, or better yet have a scan or an image of the packages, let me know!

From the Candy Aisle: Cinn*A*Burst/Mint*A*Burst/Fruit*A*Burst Gum

Product: Cinn*A*Burst / Mint*A*Burst / Fruit*A*Burst Gum
Years: 1992-1995ish
Company: Warner Lambert (Cadbury/Dentyne)

Ugh.........fine. Here we go again. Thanks, early 90's. Thanks a lot.



YOU WANT SOME EXTREME CHEWING GUM!!!?????

I can't do it. We've already been over how everything in the early 90's was "Extreme".
Or as the kids were calling it, "Xtreme" with an X.
Or as Gary Sherone was saying: "Hey guys, lets call ourselves Extreme, but we really won't be? Irony is cool, right?"
And as Alanis Morissette would say a few years later "No, Gary...that's not Ironic."

Cinnaburst gum was Warner Lambert giving the middle finger to Wrigley's Big Red Chewing gum.
It was more.....as the kids say....Xtreme. It had these things in it called "Flavor Crystals" that really amped up the spiciness. It was a notch spicier then Big Red as I remember, but it had a gimmick, and as we have learned from past products with gimmicks (I'm looking in your direction, Orbitz...) people get excited then lose interest really fast.

It did drum up enough interest that Warner Lambert spun off the brand into a few other flavors to compete with other popular gum brands.



The first, Mint*A*Burst

Mint*A*Burst also had flavor Crystals, was extreme, and was created to go head to head with Double Mint gum. Which is a bold move......you don't mess with those twins.

Fruit*A*Burst was also had Flavor Crystals (Fruity Crystals), was Extreme, but only as extreme as a fruity gum can get. I mean, you don't really have much to work with. Cinnamon and Mint I can see, but I've never heard anyone say "This Fruit Flavor is too much for my mouth!!!" Make it stop!", which may be why the Fruit*A*Burst didn't carry the warning about not being suitable for adults, because it was so tame even adults could enjoy it.

And therein lies the downfall of the Bust gums.

Everyone knows that once adults start to do something it looses it's coolness for kids.

So a kid must have witnessed an adult put a stick of Fruit*A*Burst gum in his or her mouth, and the entire house of cards came tumbling down.

Yeah, I'm gonna go with that theory.

Also a weird side note: Remember the old story about how you could eat the wrappers to enhance the "Flavor Crystals" taste? Did anyone ever fall for that?

Because I sure did. And it did nothing other then make me feel stupid for eating a piece of foil lined paper.

Enjoy these random pictures from various Burst Commercials!

From the Candy Aisle: Nestle Go Ahead bars

Product: Go Ahead
Company: Nestle
Years: 1977-198?

Here's another candy bar from the list (I'm pretty sure there's a list, you guys) of candy bars that that couldn't quite get a foothold into the grand lexicon of the candy industry. For every Snickers and Three Musketeers, there are hundreds, even thousands, or maybe six candy bars that came and went, like a wonderful chocolate fantasy passing in the night. So today we take a quick look at Nestle's Go Ahead Bar.

The Go Ahead Bar was a made of Chocolate, crunchy crisps (think Rice Krispies) and Peanut Butter.
But it wasn't just fattening delicious candy, it was "Fortified with 19 Essential Vitamins and Minerals". That's why I'd eat 4 in one sitting, so I could get 76 Essential Vitamins and minerals (I know, I'd really only be getting 4x of each of those vitamins and minerals, not really 76 different ones, but you just shut up about it already, Steve.)


Image By Jason Liebig

These bars don't seem to have been around for very long, 4 or 5 years tops. Part of the reason was that they were a little more expensive (possibly due to falling into the "nutrition bar" category), so people would often opt for the cheaper bars. And because of all you cheapskates, this bar was sadly pulled from the shelves. They rounded up the bars and put them in boxes, then took them out back and stabbed them. That or they just marked them down and put them on the clearance rack. Not sure.

So that's it for today. I wish I knew more about these bars, and one day I may march over to Nestle headquarters and demand to speak with the person responsible for discontinuing the Go Ahead Bar. I'll handcuff myself to the sofa in the lobby, and chant "BRING BACK GO AHEAD" (which actually doesn't make ANY sense out of context). I'll sit there, for days if needed, until I get some answers for all you Gone but Not Forgotten Grocery Fans.

And then after security escorts me from the building, I'll probably just go to the gas station and get a Snickers.
After all, they are cheaper.
 

From the Candy Aisle: Wacky Wafers

Product: Wacky Wafers
Company: Willy Wonka
Years: 80s - 90's

Image by Dan Goodsell

Sometimes candy goes away and you never even know it. Case in point, Wacky Wafers. I'm guessing most people don't even realize they haven't been made in quite some time.

Wacky Wafers were made by the Willy Wonka Candy Company until Nestle took it over back in 1988, then they eventually pulled the plug sometime in the late 90's. The ones I remember the most are the larger ones (the Originals and best, as far as I'm concerned), about the side of a half dollar, that came in a row. They also came in various other sizes over the years, including smaller disks about the side of Bottle Caps or Sweet Tarts that came in single packs and on a roll, similar to today's Sweet Tarts.

Image by CollectingCandy.com

Flavors included Banana, Green Apple, Strawberry, Watermelon, and Orange, with a few variations over the years including Blue Raspberry, Cherry, and Grape.

I don't have a lot of info in this candy, as it simply one day disappeared, quietly in the dark of the night. Like a jilted lover, or a Possum.

But there is still hope that we may one day get to taste these sweet treats again. In early 2012, Leaf Brands LLC acquired the trademark for Wacky Wafers, and rumors have been floating around that they will be reviving this long lost candy very soon.

 To which I can only say "Man, that would be awesome."  So I will.

Man, that WOULD be awesome......

From the Candy Aisle: Hershey Prisms

Product: Prisms
Company: Hershey
Years: 1986 -1987

Image by Jason Liebig

Another long lost chocolate candy, brought to my attention by the Candy King himself, Jason Liebig (check him out at CollectingCandy.com!) I can honestly say I didn't remember these one bit, but I do dig the 80's design with it's totally 80's color scheme. I can't find much info on these candies at all, so I'm guessing they didn't sell too well (the clearance sticker kind of gives it away too...)

Other then Jason's awesome Prisms package picture (say that 5 times really fast, or don't), I could only find two other mentions of it online, in a 1986 advertisement from the Tuscaloosa News (to the left), and a mention of a contest from June 11th of 1987 (from Gibson's Discount Center in Kansas) where if you guess the number of Hershey Prism's in a jar you can win a talking Mickey Mouse doll. Other then that, it's almost as if they never existed.but we have a timeline of 1986-1987 at least, so I guess until more info surfaces I'll go with that.

So does anyone remember these? They were pretty much just like larger M&M's.....right? Milk Dud size maybe?

So many questions that I don't have answers to, sadly.