Candy Bars, Now&Laters, Jolly Ranchers & Cinnamon Toothpicks
I have a clear jar in my kitchen. It's tiny. It has about a 12 drops of cinnamon oil and at least 25 toothpicks in it. The whole house smells like cinnamon.
Back in the 70's, I would mass produce these bad-boys. I'd take them to school & sell them for a dime. I'd take my dimes to the 7-11 around the corner & I'd buy candy... real candy....Now & Laters, Sweet Tarts, Heath Bars, Snickers, Butterfingers, Jolly Ranchers.
I have, somewhere in the bowels of this old house, a toothpick that has been soaking since 1979. Until now, that was the last time I made cinnamon toothpicks. If I found it today, I don't think I would take 1000 dimes for it.
You see, my partner has never had a cinnamon toothpick, has never heard of one & can't imagine how hot they can be. The jar in my kitchen...it's for him. Well, for him & anyone else whom I discover has never had one....which seems to be anyone younger than me.
Having heard my story of peddling toothpicks in the 70's for dimes to cash in for candy, he took a special trip to the corner store. Yep, he got Hershey bars, Heath bars, Now&Laters & Jolly Ranchers....
But what the hell has happened in the last 25 years? I know gas prices have gone up, but a gallon is still a gallon. Besides we're talking chocolate here! And candy!
My Hersheys used to have the dual wrapper...you know, the brown logo sleeve, with the foil covered inside. No it's a vacuum packed plastic wrap & I think down in size by about 30%. No more folding the paper up & saving the other half for later.
Heath bars used to be just that...bars...two of them! Now it is A Heath bar. Overall it's probably down OVER 30% & is the most disappointing just because they are , oh, so good. Plus they used to come cradled in a cardboard sheath. They are fragile little things. Now just more vacuum-packed plastic packaging.
Now & Laters used to come double-wrapped in wax paper & they were big. You had to leave them in the car window to get them soft enough to chew unless you wanted to suck on them for 1/2 an hour first. Now they readily smack between the teeth.
Sweet Tarts were huge... almost too big, as a kid. Jolly Ranchers came in a big tongue-lickin' slab... not like the little die thay are today!
Toothpicks...they are still the same size. You can still buy a box of 1000 for less than a dollar. Cinnamon Oil is about 5 bucks a bottle, going up in price by about 2 dollars over the last 25 years.
My point? None really ... just rambling.
I guess if anyone has a candy bar they'd like to send me, I'll be more than glad to send them back some cinnamon toothpicks ;)
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18 comments:
Mmmm... I'm craving suckers. It's because of quitting smoking. I have the illusion of being hungry.
Thanks for all your nice comments. I went to that pet peeve website after I read and answered your comments, and saw that you'd been there too. Go see, I left you a note there - LOL ;)
Happy birthday this weekend, you
??? I guess my comment was cut off. I meant to say, happy birthday you "old" critter... But not as old as I am. My b'day is the 29th - 2 days before Halloween. I love this time of year!
Hi
I am really planning to send a candy bar and recieve cinnamon.
Nice post
Thanks for the visit.
Morning skinny little sunshine....
mmmmmmmm, would love a good ole Heath Bar with this cup of coffee!
Great Rambles!
ILYSVM
Don't you hate it went you get to a point in a post and you realise you're just rambling, I've deleted many due to that though I'm incredibly thankful you don't do the same since that was awesome. And just as awesome is the concept of cinnamon toothpicks. Right on!
As for your disapointment of the vacuum packed future, I share your tears. Back in native Turkey I had to skin camels for a condom now they come.. vacuum packed. (Just so we're clear that was lame joke, but a joke nonetheless).
I have never heard of cinnamon toothpicks. What does one do with a cinnamon toothpick?
I am not a chocolate or candy fan, so I don't know the difference but if I come across any, I'll send them over!
Anne ~ Don’t you know Charm’s Lollipops have gotten significantly smaller! You will have to get a bag of them (are there any sugar free lollipops out there) to help with that oral fixation. I am proud of you for the quitting smoking thing. That’s rough, real rough.
LOL, I went to the peeve site & saw your comment , thank you. I was kinda afraid leaving my post because I often use poor grammar & I my biggest peeve (grammatical) is the use of plural nouns and pronoun with singular verbs…it is forever happening on the local news. Finally, January is typically a very cold month which might explain why we have so many October babies!
Deepak Gopi ~ Your blog is most awesome. You are not just an actor, director and teacher….you are a model & role model as well. I’ll be waiting for my candy bar from India!
singleton ~ Heath bars & Coffee…Heaven on the palette. Yum-yum. Last week I had a Heath bar for the first time in who-knows-how-many-years. Still delicious, but unprotected from shipping shatters & significantly smaller
Orhan Kahn ~ pointless ramblings are my strong point. LOL. Just be glad a keyboard keeps me at bay….I can’t type nearly as much as I talk!
LOL at the camels comment…I am a blonde ya’ know for a second there I thought you were for real…shipskin, camel skin, who knew?!
JustRun ~ Cinnamon toothpicks are flavorful toothpicks that you chew and/or suck on. They taste like Red Hots, but the flavor lasts a very long time… only Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder version) could compare!
Okay, here she goes folks…
Remittance Address for the Great Candy Bar/ Cinnamon Toothpick Swap:
Paiger, the Skinny Little Blonde
269 Market Place Blvd.
Unit # 115
Cartersville, GA 30121
I think I've found my internet soul mate. Sweet...tooth...must...feed...
When I was 10 I was a hershey's kiss for halloween. How embarrassing. You know what I miss? Those sweet and sour suckers (one taste on each side). I never see those any more.
I think I've found my blog soul mate. Sweet...tooth...must...feed...
When I was 12 I was a hershey's kiss for halloween. How embarrassing.
You know what I miss? Those suckers that were sweet on one side, sour on the other. I never see those any more.
And how about "How now Brown Cow"s? What happened to them? What were they anyway? Gooey, chewy, last all afternoon.......
MMM....even those weird chic-o-stic things...kind like a Butterfinger(oh, yum-yum) except without the chocolate!
Oh yeah, at work this afternoon, I found an empty candy wrapper & it was 'pop-rockets'...you know, the famous candy that popped & fizzled in your mouth....rumoured to make small childrens' bellies explode if consumed with a Coco-cola!
I want a candy bar now!!!! I loved "Mountain" bars...remember those????? and abba-zabba...and Look....and jujubees (for in the movies)...speaking of movies!!! I wish we still had drive-in movies!!! I loved cinnamon toothpicks...haven't seen or heard of them in ages...I miss the ice-cream man too!!!! Us kids would fall all over ourselves trying to get to that darn truck first...excuse...I gotta go make a root-beer float!!!
My first thought was, dude, that's really... weird. Cinnamon toth picks?
Everybody has something, I guess. My mom used to grow bean sprouts in the 70s and I hesitate to tell her now that they really have no nutritional value--just for texture!
A Hershey bar, some beef jerkey and another beer (read six-pack) would be great right now.
I had totally forgotten about cinnamon toothpicks!! Now I have to go find some oil and make some!
Never had a cinnamon toothpick. I like the idea, though.
"Freshen your breath as you pick loose that steak you had for dinner!"
My favorite candy bar was Three Musketeers. I would eat off the chocolate shell, then suck the exposed sugary gray mass off the bar. Messy, but entertaining.
It is too bad times change and progress marches on, although there could be some good things about it.
For instance, gone are the days when you can hold the Heath bar in its cardboard sleeve, and not get melted chocolate on your fingers, but now you can sell you cinnamon sticks in bulk on eBay!
Thanks for your visit and your comment to my blog.
Do you remember Bubs Daddy bubble gum? Oh..and the penny candys, candy cigarettes and those silly wax lips with the syrup inside of them. The only candy that they have now that reminds me of the 'old school' candy that we used to eat 'back in the day' are the candy pacifiers and the candy rings. Maybe the taste we remember from the candy bars had more to do with childhood than it had to do with how it was wrapped.
OH HENRY's and OMMPA LOMMPAs do you remember? They were great!!!
Okay, I'll be checking my mail on monday... I still have lots of red hot cinnmon toothpicks!
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