Dubble Bubble

Dubble Bubble is the OG! It is:

• The first successful bubble gum (circa 1928).
• The invention of an accountant, of all people.
• The redemption story of a failed gum.

We could write a book about Dubble Bubble, and maybe we will one day, but for now we’ll limit ourselves to the Top 10 Most Interesting Things to Know About Dubble Bubble.

The Top 10 Most Interesting Things About Dubble Bubble

#10, Dubble Bubble Wasn’t Always Pink

The winning batch of Dubble Bubble took months of trial and error, until a final 300-pound batch was created that worked like a charm. At the last minute, Walter Diemer (the inventor) realized he forgot to add color. The only coloring on hand was pink, so he threw it in, and the iconic pink hue was established, which then became the standard color for bubble gum in general.

Can you imagine green or blue or yellow being the “normal” color of bubble gum instead? Yeah, me neither. I’m glad it was pink that Mr. Diemer had on hand.

#9, The Inventor Was an Accountant

There aren’t a ton of super-famous accountants. There’s Luca Pacioli, the “father of accounting.” There are the Ernst brothers, the Rockefeller guy, and Frank Wilson, who brought Al Capone down. Mick Jagger and Bob Newhart are pretty famous, but they were famous despite being former accountants.

For our money, Walter Diemer is the most legendary accountant of all time! He cracked the code on bubble gum, inventing a whole new product category. Our bubble gum history article has more details, but here’s the short version:

1. Frank Fleer tried to make bubble gum and created a thing called “Blibber-Blubber” that didn’t work out.
2. 22 years pass by.
3. Walter, working at Fleer in proximity to the chemist, says “hey, let me handle this, guys” and starts to play with the formulation.
4. After many iterations, Walter finds a formula that works, and the first successful bubble gum is born!

#8, Dubble Bubble Was Included in Military Rations During WWII

That’s how important gum was to the people of America. Thanks, Dubble Bubble, for doing your part to help beat Hitler! It was a sacrifice to Fleer, which had to halt production since all the supplies were going to the war rations.

According to our sources, Dubble Bubble was included in the rations and then handed out by US military personnel as gifts, which helped spread the popularity of gum throughout the world.

#7, Dubble Bubble Is in the Record Books

We’ve got a whole article on the biggest bubble gum bubble ever blown, go check it out. You know what type of gum was used to break the record? You guessed it: Chad went with the OG, three pieces of Dubble Bubble.

#6, Dubble Bubble Is the Child of Blibber-Blubber

Dubble Bubble started from a failed attempt at bubble gum called “Blibber-Blubber,” which doesn’t really sound like something we’d want to put in our mouths.

#5, It Took 22 Years, Then 1 Year, Then 4 Months to Get It Right

Blibber-Blubber didn’t work out, and the invention of bubble gum waited 22 years until Walter Diemer took a shot at it. After a year of trying, he stumbled on a recipe that worked, he could blow bubbles easily. The next morning, the batch was hard as a rock and he couldn’t figure out how to reproduce it for another 4 months. Finally, he got it! What a great example of perseverance.

#4, Diemer Was the Original World Record Bubble Blower

He might not have been given the official title, but he was, because he was the first one to blow bubble gum bubbles. In fact, he taught all the salespeople how to do it, so they could go show the shop owners, who probably showed the shoppers.

#3, Dubble Bubble Has a Mascot Named “Pud”

That’s Pud and his pals right there. Pud is the roundish guy in the striped shirt. These “Fleer Funnies” were included with the gum way back in the early days.

Pud and his pals weren’t the original characters, however. The first crew was “Dub and Bub”, clever names!

#2, Dubble Bubble Has a Catchy Ad With a Song That Will Get Stuck in Your Head

See what we mean?

#1, Dubble Bubble Is Owned by the Tootsie Roll Company

Dubble Bubble was a Fleer product when it was introduced and remained that way until 1998, when Concord Confections bought the brand. They introduced variations like the Dubble Bubble gumball, which is still widely sold. In 2003, Tootsie Roll Industries acquired Concord, and thus Dubble Bubble. Hey, this bar of Dubble Bubble looks a lot like a Tootsie bar! We bet they used the same manufacturing equipment.

Our Take

It’s time for our review of this iconic gum. We’ve heard the ingredients were changed in the 1980s, so this isn’t technically the original 1928 version, and Dubble Bubble comes in several forms. For this review we tested the classic individually twist-wrapped 6.0g version.

“Bubble gum” is not just a style of gum, it’s a flavor, and this is the gum that defined it. So it’s no surprise we really enjoyed the classic taste here: not too strong, not too weak. The flavor doesn’t hang around forever, though; in our tests it was “mostly gone” after about eight minutes on average. We wonder what the very original formula was like in this regard.

Texture-wise, Dubble Bubble runs on the hard side, about half of us thought it was “too hard” and the other half thought it was just right. These early bubble gums, like Dubble Bubble and Bazooka, had a reputation for being tough, and we’re guessing the 1928 formula was even harder. As for bubbles: our best blower got a huge bubble out of a single serving. Just know those big bubbles are going to pop and stick all over your face. You’ll have to deal with that, it’s worth it.

Bonus: A “Double Bubble” With Dubble Bubble

In celebration of Dubble Bubble, we made a video of a bubble within a bubble, a literal double bubble, using a single serving. Can you pull it off too?