Black Jack Gum

Black Jack Gum Beemans Gum or Clove Gum Box of 20 5 Stick Packs (100 Sticks) Click to Order.

Anise flavored chewing gum.

History

Black Jack Gum was the first flavored gum sold in the United States. It was invented by Thomas Adams of Staten Island, New York.

In 1869 Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the exiled general and former President of Mexico, came to the US. Santa Anna, by the way, was famous for his victory at the Battle of the Alamo. He convinced Thomas Adams to buy one ton of chicle with the idea of vulcanizing it so it could be used to make tires. He wanted to raise money for an army so he could return and take over Mexico City. Adams tried to make carriage tires, rain boots, toys, masks, and bicycle tires out of the chicle. None of the attempts worked. He was ready to throw the remaining chicle into the East River. But before he got around to doing that, while he was in a drug store one day, a little girl came in and asked the druggist for a piece of one penny chewing gum. Adams remembered that Mexicans used chicle as chewing gum and he thought maybe he could make gum out of his unused chicle so it wasn't wasted.

When the little girl left the store, Adams asked the druggist what kind of chewing gum the girl had bought. It was made of paraffin wax and was called White Mountain. He asked the druggist if he would be willing to try a different kind of gum and the druggist said, "Sure."

Mr. Adams went home that night and shared his thought with his son, Thomas, Jr., who said it was a great idea. They made a few boxes of it, called it "Adams' New York No. 1" and gave it a label with a colored picture of the New York City Hall. Its only ingredient was pure chicle with no flavoring. They made it into little one penny sticks and wrapped it in various colored tissue paper. Tom, Jr. was a salesman of wholesale tailor's trimmings and traveled as far as the Mississippi. He took the gum with him and sold it along the way.

In 1871, Thomas Adams patented a machine for making the gum, opened the world's first chewing gum factory and began mass producing it. They marketed the gum with this slogan - "Adams' New York Gum No. 1 -- Snapping and Stretching."

Later, Adams began experimenting with flavorings. He first tried sarsaparilla. In 1884 he tried licorice flavoring and called that one Adams' Black Jack, the first flavored gum in the US and also the first one to be sold in sticks. The company, of course, became famous for their product "Chiclets."