Over the past 6-7 years, chewing gum manufacturers have been stepping up their game. Before 2000, it was pretty simple -- you had your Wrigley, which makes almost every popular adult brand you know (Juicy Fruit, Doublemint, Big Red, Extra, Winterfresh, and more), your Trident, and your kid brands (Bazooka, Bubble Yum, Bubblicious, Double Bubble, Hubba Bubba, and Fruit Stripe (my fave)).

The past 7 years have seen crazy advances in gum "technology" with instant-greats like Eclipse, Orbit, and 5 (Wrigley-owned), and also Trident White, Trident Splash (rip off of Freshen Up), and Stride. They've also been much more daring with their flavoring lately with flavors like Extra's Cool Watermelon, Orbit's Mint Mojito, and Trident Splash's Strawberry with Lime. Why just tonight, I picked me up some Tident White Cool Colada... it was spectacular.

I don't know why I'm writing this, or why I spent the last 15 minutes researching gum on the internet. I guess it's just very fascinating to me. I should probably invest in Wrigley tomorrow, seeing as they own most every good brand of chewing gum.