14 Popular Chewing Gum Brands, Ranked

 "Snap, crackle, and pop" isn't just a Rice Krispies thing — it's a gum thing, too. This sensorial roller coaster of snaps, swallows, and the occasional bubble is something we all take for granted, especially if gum is something you use to pacify yourself between meals or freshen your breath before a first date. But there's something deeply nostalgic about chewing gum — at least for me. I have fond memories of my dad's impartialness to a pack of Orbit gum, and have my own favorite brand that I keep in the center console of my truck for when the mood strikes. 

But, all this snapping and crackling had me wondering — are all gums the same, at least in terms of their potency, sweetness, and flavor? We've all had a piece or two with a flavor that fizzles out seemingly after a few minutes, but I wanted to see if this was the norm across several different chewing gum brands. So, I put a few popular gums (and my jaw strength) to the test. Not only did I time how long it took for each piece to lose its flavor, but I also considered the gum's potency, flavor balance, and overall appeal to rank the brands from worst to best. 

The Hubba Bubba bubble tape didn't taste like gum. And to be honest, it didn't really taste like anything. The only note I got from the 3-inch piece I ripped off the wheel was sugar. 

It had the opposite problem of some of the gums on this list. While others hurt to chew for long periods of time, this one was far too soft to be enjoyable. Each bite felt I was biting into a Haribo cloud candy; it mushed underneath my molars. I felt its flavor wane at 1:24, and it lost the entirety of it at around 2:12. So, long lasting it is not. 

The other unpleasant thing I noticed with this gum is that it progressively became softer as I chewed it, so much so that I could accidentally swallow it if I wasn't thinking hard enough about keeping it in the center of my molars. Despite its cutesy, kitsch appeal, I think it's more of a hazard than a simple pleasure, thus earning it the bottom spot on this list. 

This Simply Gum seems to fit right in with the high-end, niche health foods aisle of my local grocery store. The gum itself, which looks like it just came out of a bag of wood pellets, is made with chicle, a type of tree sap. One complaint I had right off the bat was that the actual gum pieces weren't all the same size. Some hunks were sizable, while others were too tiny. I also felt like I was chewing wood pulp — which, as you can probably expect, was far from pleasant. 

The peppermint flavor of these pieces was mild. It was barely sweet, barely bitter, and honestly, barely minty. Although I got acquainted with its unique texture after a few chews, the mint flavor never really made itself known. When I pick out a minty gum, I want it to do its job and make my breath smell better. This one lacked the efficacy of a proper chewing gum — and I lost all flavor at 2:15. Why anyone would buy it, let alone pay a premium for it, is beyond me. 

A gum that packs 60 milligrams of caffeine? Count me in. This Rev Energy gum packs the same amount of caffeine as a shot of espresso — but I will admit that I would have preferred the shot of espresso instead. Each pack of gum comes with a measly six pieces, making it one of the most expensive gums per piece on this list.

 I was worried about cracking my teeth when I initially bit into a round. That sugar coating wasn't notably glossy, and it took about a minute for the flavor and the sugar crackling to mesh fully into the chewy gum center. It almost felt like eating my way through a jar of marshmallow créme that had been left open on the countertop, as it was dense in a way that gum shouldn't be. 

The flavor of this gum was bitter — almost acrid. While I was glad it wasn't as sweet as the other gums on this list (aka Hubba Bubba), I can't say its flavor was good. There was more artificial sugar flavor in this gum than the other offerings, which pushed it back in my rankings. I lost interest in its flavor at around 2:25, and it had dissipated entirely around 3:45. 

"Juicy Fruit" is one of the most ambiguous names that a gum can have. What the heck even is a Juicy Fruit? Regardless, don't let the novelty and curiosity fool you here; it's just a cheap, bubblegum-tasting candy that has sugar as its predominant flavor. There's few flavors to detect beyond that, which is disappointing.

While its flavor is downright unpalatable, the texture of the piece I tried was great. It chewed easily and didn't get too wadded up as time went on. But, I was still left feeling a bit let down by its flavor. It wasn't as refreshing as some of the other gums on this list, and I felt myself getting bored with it around the three minute mark. Granted, it lasted over seven minutes, which was longer than many of the lower-ranked gums I tried. While its long-lasting flavor wasn't at all good, its texture still won it a higher spot on this list than the lower-ranked brands. 

Why is there a duck with a septum piercing on the Bubble Yum gum package? I don't entirely know, and I don't care to find out. 

The packaging, aside from this unique imagery, is annoying. You have to rip it open like a Tums wrapper to take out the massive gum rectangle — which makes it brand that would be easy to lose in the contents of your purse. When I took a whiff, I immediately knew that it was going to taste just like the gumballs I remember dispensing as a kid — sans sugary shell. The flavor was jut as sweet as I was expecting, and I got the same gritty mouthfeel as I did with the Hubba Bubba tape. Yet, the grittiness was seemingly amplified in Bubble Yum's gum, seeing as how the wad in my mouth was just so big that it was hard to miss the sandpaper-like texture. 

Bubble Yum's flavor, though, is better and more pronounced than Hubba Bubba. It lasted longer (an astonishing 5:13) and was overall more punchy and memorable. However, I can definitely tell you that I'm a mint gum girlie all the way, as this gum was more of a dessert than a mid-day palate cleanser. I don't think it would be as approachable to a gum chewer with a refined palate, which is why I slid it in towards the middle of this ranking.

You may know about Mentos from your middle school science experiments, but did you know the brand also makes a gum? When I first saw the label of these Mentos Pure Fresh tabs, I immediately thought that they resembled Tide Pods — cue the late 2010s internet challenge craze. That resemblance was likely due to the white sugar coating — which was twice as thick as Eclipse's — and the slightly more molten interior that resembled the colorful interior of the detergent pod. When I bit in, I was met with wave upon wave of sweetness and mint. It was like someone had thrown way too much artificial sweetener in this gum and also misread the amount of spearmint extract needed on the recipe.

At about 1:47, any mintiness was replaced by sugar — so much so that it felt like I was chewing on a piece of sugarcane rather than a piece of gum. If you like your gum sweet, I could see you adding this one to your cart. But, if you want a genuine or subtle minty flavor, take heed and look elsewhere. This sugary flavor persisted until 4:06. At that point, I finally cut my losses and spit the piece out in the trash. 

The Eclipse gum is like the equivalent of a sparkler — very bold and exciting, but short-lived (at least in terms of its "wow" factor). Its flavor is so minty and refreshing; I could feel it coating my tongue and my lips as I bit through it. I felt like if I breathed out, someone a mile away could probably smell the spearmint flavor emulating from my mouth.

However, the texture of this gum is a big drawback and one of the reasons why I wouldn't recommend buying it. It has that candy coating that hurts your teeth as you bite into it — and it almost feels like eating plaster. Though the grittiness meshes with the smooth gum underneath more readily than brands like Rev, it still was not as approachable as some of the higher-ranked gums on this list — mainly the stick-shaped selections. 

The mintiness hung around until the 2:19 mark, and then I realized that it started to wane. I was ready to spit it out at around 5:27, not because it had lost all of its flavor, but because it had become progressively more taxing to chew on. 

There were several gums on this list that weren't minty enough — so I figured that an aptly-named Doublemint would be just what the doctor (err ... dentist) ordered. The flavor itself is indeed minty, though I'd be hard-pressed to classify it as a specific mint flavor, like spearmint or peppermint. Honestly, it toes the line between these two flavors, but never really commits to either one of them. 

Wrigley's could also probably get away with calling it "sweet mint" too, because sweet was the primary flavor, second to the mint. It had a gritty mouthfeel and tasted cheap, kind of like a mint version of the Hubba Bubba tape. It started to get a little squeaky and reached its flavor peak at around 4:58 , but I found that it lasted longer than several other gums — until about 11:59. This long-lasting quality earned it a respectable middle spot in this ranking, but I can't say that it's one that I would go out of my way to purchase again. 

The Ice Breakers were the first gum that I sampled for this ranking. It comes in an array of flavors, including arctic grape (which is odd for a gum, but I digress), raspberry sorbet (again, odd), and cherry limeade (what the heck is wrong with mint gum?). I opted for the wintergreen, which was slightly more expensive than some of the other brands on this list.

Dare I say these Ice Breakers were unpleasant to chew? For about the first minute or so, I felt like I was chewing on a gritty, hard-to-eat cube. It had the normal gum texture, sure, but it was interspersed with a coarse, gritty mouthfeel. I imagine that these gums would be much less enjoyable if you left them sitting out in your car on a hot summer day, too. However, I will say that the wintergreen flavor is pleasant — as all wintergreen flavors are. 

The flavor started to decline at the three-minute mark, which is disappointing for a chewing gum at this price. And, by 4:45, I was ready to spit it out and move on to the next. It's not long-lasting and its texture isn't great, but the flavor is quite good. 

I feel like "peppermint cobalt" is about as "dude"-ified of a name as 5 Gum could muster. The packaging is metallic and rather attractive, but after trying a stick, I can say that this is not a gum I would buy again, no matter how tempting it was in the check-out line of my local grocery store. 

The flavor here is too syrupy and sugary, and I missed out on the cooling peppermint essence I was hoping for (and was touted on the brand's label). It tastes like the syrup I would add to a peppermint hot chocolate or mocha — sans the chocolate, of course. The texture of the gum itself was slightly gritty and dense, and I felt that my molars were exhausted by about five minutes in. If it had a stronger, more pronounced peppermint flavor and a smoother texture, I would have definitely ranked it higher.

Dentyne Ice is a name that can be used for chewing gum — or probably beer. Its package boasts a 20-minute chew time, which, spoiler alert, none of the other brands on this list were able to accomplish. So, I didn't have high hopes for it. 

This gum's sugary coating integrated better into the soft center than other brands on this list. Its flavor was peppery and bright, though still had enough sweetness in it to please folks looking for a more sugary gum to perk up their taste buds. This gum grew increasingly hard to chew at around 5:20, and that mintiness was replaced my a stale, off-sweet flavor by 9:08. So sure, you can chew it for 20 minutes, but why would you want to?

Extra has long been one of my favorite gums, simply because of how cheap it is. But, as we all know, price and quality don't always correlate. When I opened the package, I immediately got a whiff of a peppermint candy-like flavor. One of the big things I noticed immediately was that its aroma had a sweet undercurrent to it. In terms of taste, its peppermint flavor certainly was reminiscent of a peppermint candy cane, though it wasn't as biting and concentrated as some of the other chewing gums on this list, which made it, overall, more approachable. 

The gum got a little harder to chew as time went on. Its flavor peaked sooner than other brands, including the gum that ranked a spot above it — though it didn't cap out fully until about 11:53. I also would have preferred a gum that was slightly less sweet over this one. 

If you're after a gum that's not super sweet, this is going to be the one you'll want to pick up on your next grocery store trip. When I took a whiff of it, I detected something herbal and borderline medicinal — which is far from the peppermint candy flavor of other brands. It was almost like someone was too heavy-handed with the mint extract — but it's not necessarily something that I disliked. In fact, the slight anise undertones gave it a leg up in the flavor department. 

That said, the initial texture of this gum was unpleasant and ultimately the reason why it didn't get the top spot in this ranking. The stick was dry and broke into pieces as I bit into it. But, once I got it working between my molars, I got to relish in the complex mintiness of its flavor. I felt it start to lose flavor at 8:26 and became tasteless around 12:24 — not a bad showing.

The peppermint Orbit gum was decently sized — it wasn't so small that you could swallow it, and chewing on it wasn't a chore. One thing I appreciated right away was that the flavor was authentically peppermint. It can get a bit muddy when you think of all the peppermint-adjacent flavors — think spearmint, wintergreen, and whatever "sweet mint" is supposed to be — but this one loudly exuded peppermint candy flavor. Still, it wasn't sweet, nor was it overly sharp or dry  (in terms of its flavor, at least). It was bold, bitter, and foreboding, but not too heavy on the palate. I actually felt refreshed after chewing it.

The only gripe I had was that the gum splintered into two pieces on the first bite and I didn't quite love how dry its exterior was. All in all, considering that the flavor stuck around for an impressive 11:25 and was so complex, I couldn't help but give it the top spot in this ranking.

Chewing gum is universally loved, and everyone has their favorite flavor and variety. Although I prefer I wintergreen-flavored gums and mints, I tried to stay as objective as possible for this ranking and selected a variety of different flavors and styles, including candy-coated, sticks, and unique other products — like Hubba Bubba's whimsical bubble tape. 

As I chewed (and chewed, and chewed), I first took note of how potent the flavor of each gum was. A good gum is flavorful enough to cleanse your palate, but not so strong that you taste it for weeks. I also considered the overall mouthfeel and consistency of each. Products that either were too soft or got progressively harder as I chewed ranked lower than brands that offered a consistent mouthfeel.

The last quality, and the one that was the most methodologically challenging to adhere to, was an assessment of how long the flavor lasted. I set a timer when I put the gum in my mouth. Then, I chewed — not like my life depended on it, but enough to mimic what I think the average chewer's pace would be. I took note of both when the flavor peaked, as well as when it had dissipated completely.