The History of Dum Dum Pops

Everybody loves candy. Maybe not in excess, maybe not certain types of brands, but there's always something that just soothes that sweet tooth. For Cecil, that candy is the Dum Dum Pop.

When reading the novel, I couldn't help but wonder if the Dum Dum Pops had any significance. They are small and disposable, but enjoyable. After much thought and continuously reading and rereading the passages, I came to the startling conclusion that the Dum Dum Pops do in fact have no significance other than being a rather cheap and accessible candy. It isn't surprising that they appear at Willie Sherman. They are widely available and cheap. But for something so ubiquitous, from whence did these miniature syrup sticks come?

Three score and seventeen years ago John Philips brought forth on this continent a new lollipop, conceived in Bellevue, Ohio, and dedicated to the proposition that all candy should be delicious.

Sorry about that, anyway, 29 years later in 1954 the Dum Dum Pop was bought by the Sprangler Candy Company and production was moved to Bryan, Ohio. Because of this, Bryan is now considered the "Dum Dum Capitol of the World". I wish they had thought that title through a little bit more, though, but I guess if they didn't consider the easily misunderstood meaning, then they deserve the title.

One thing Dum Dum Pops are pretty popular for is their myriad of flavors. Many candies just come with boring old flavors like "strawberry" or "lemon", but no. Dum Dum Pops were like, "Hey, you know what? Let's make a root beer flavored lollipop." I'm sure that many people were like, "Dude, no, that's ridiculous," but you know what? They were wrong. Anyway, you can see a list of all flavors, continued and discontinued, here. Also note the gnarly nomenclature of some of the flavors. There's also a flavor called chocolate caramel, which I am interested to try.

Furthermore, the lollipop's siteweb has a poll for flavors, which reminds me of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. To my knowledge, there has yet to be a Stephen Colbert Dum Dum, but I suppose that has to do with the name of the product and bad publicity and all that. You can vote for flavors here. Also, you can play some of their flash games. Or watch their video which appears to contain a man in a costume shaped like a base drum wearing a hat. I love it.

Enjoy! <3 Shiloh.