Juicy Fruit: the survivalist's gum

Run Jen Run has a great post up regarding her rekindled yet surreptitious passion for Juicy Fruit. (Not the first time she's inspired me, as it happens.)

Juicy Fruit was my favorite gum growing up. I loved its smell, its flavor, and even its packaging. The foil the stick was wrapped in, I would use to toss out the chewed wad, but the rest I would save. The paper wrappers were yellow and marked on the outside but white and unmarked on the inside making them handy for recording notes and impromptu deep thoughts. I bought the large packs which contained 30 sticks (if memory serves) and just pulled sticks out by the foil leaving a row of paper wrappers I could carefully pull apart for notation as needed.

When all the gum and paper wrappers were gone, I would carefully unfold the foil pack and slide it into my jacket pocket, reasoning that if I ever needed to signal an airplane or helicopter from a mountaintop, I could use it as a reflective surface.