While all my friends are on Ebay trying to find Gucci Shopping totes from the 70's, I'm scouring the internet for a stick or two of Beemans.

This gum should come with the tag line, "Celebrate your inner TMJ".

When I was growing up, my Grandmother had tons of this all over her apartment. Because my Dad was a dentist, I never saw any of this wonderful contraband in my house, so visits to see my Grandmother were all about stealing her gum, and chewing multiple packs of it, for hours at a time.
(I tell my husband that this is why I'm not too good at the you-know-what).

It wasn't really stealing. She purposely would leave packs everywhere because she knew how much I loved it and she knew that I wasn't able to get it anywhere else. I guess you could call her my dealer so to speak.

The history of Beemans gum can be traced back to well over a hundred years. In the 1880s, Dr. Edward E. Beeman had the idea of adding pepsin powder to chicle and hence Beemans gum was born. Unfortunately,  the manufacturer releases it only every few years, and in limited quantities so I try to pick up as much as I can.

It's out again, along with another old time favorite, the licorice Black Jack. (FYI, BJ was marketed as a gum used to cover up cigarette breath).

I love it when they fall out of your purse. It's just so 60's!