Bubble gum

Bubble gum

Bubble gum is a kind of elastic chewing gum that can be manipulated by chewing enabling the user to eventually blow a bubble out of it. Bubble gums come in many different colours or flavours. However, the traditional colour is a light shade of pink that is flavoured with the oil of wintergreen. 

Fascinatingly, bubble gum was accidentally invented by Walter. E. Diemer in 1928. He worked as an accountant in the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia. In his spare time, he had a crazy pastime of experimenting with different types of chewing gum. In 1928, he discovered a gum that was less sticky than a chewing gum that could be blown into a bubble. 23-year-old Walter recognized the possibilities of this special gum. One day he took five pounds of it to a grocery store and the gum sold out in a single afternoon.

The Fleer Chewing Gum Company soon picked up on this idea, and sold it by the name of Dubble Bubble. The Dubble Bubble was so successful that it sold over a million and half units in the very first year. The first Bubble Gums were pink because it was the only food colour available at the factory. However, Walter never patented his invention and consequently never received any royalties. After his death in 1998, his wife told the media that old Diemer was never happier than when he was organizing bubble blowing contests for his kid’s friends at his home.

The Guinness world record for blowing bubble gum is held by Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, California. Susan Montgomery Williams broke the record twice, once in 1979 with a bubble of 17 inches or 43.18cm and again in 1996 with a bubble that was 23 inches or 58.24cm.