This Makes Me Shudder.

Retro Candy Cigarettes sold at a gas station in 2007

I never bought these, but I remember when they were on the shelf at the Ben Franklin in my hometown. I was more likely to go for a Jolly Rancher Fire Stix or Gold Nugget Gum or a 3 cent piece of Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum. After all, you got a comic and a fortune with your rock hard slab of pink stuff. I DID buy Big League Chew and isn't that more or less the same idea? Disgusting. I can't believe candy companies ever did this. I guess the average American hadn't quite figured out the health hazards yet.

I remember pretending to smoke, not with candy cigarettes, but with french fries. I would dip the end in the ketchup, as if to light it and I'd puff away on my french fry nibbling at the end in my mouth and holding it delicately between my fingers, allowing a big exhale and a sigh of deliciousness to escape with dramatic flair. Sometimes when my brother and sister and I had an empty Bubble Gum Tape by the yard container we'd peel the labels off the plastic and crush up oreos and take turns walking around with it in our back pockets, offering some "snuff" to one another.