Black Jack (gum) facts for kids
Black Jack is a type of chewing gum that has a unique aniseed flavor, which tastes a bit like licorice. It is made by an American company called Gerrit J. Verburg Co.
The Story of Black Jack Gum
In 1869, a former Mexican president and general named Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was living in New Jersey. He brought a natural gum base called chicle with him from Mexico. He wanted to sell it to help him return to power in his home country. He convinced Thomas Adams, an inventor from New York, to buy it.
Adams first tried to turn the chicle into a rubber substitute, but his experiments didn't work. However, he noticed that Santa Anna liked to chew the chicle, just like the ancient Mayans used to do. Adams decided to try something different. He boiled a small amount of chicle in his kitchen to make a new kind of chewing gum. He gave some to a local store, and people liked it! This encouraged Adams to start making more.
In 1871, Thomas Adams got a special permission, called a patent, for a machine that made gum. He started making chicle-based gum in large amounts. His first gum was just pure chicle with no flavor. But it sold well, so Adams began to add flavors. In 1884, he added licorice flavor and called his new invention Adams' Black Jack. This was the very first flavored gum in the United States. It was also the first gum to be sold in sticks.
Black Jack Gum was popular for many years. It was sold until the 1970s, when production stopped because sales were slow. But fans of the gum were happy when it was brought back in 1986, and then again in 2019.
Who Owns Black Jack Gum?
Over the years, the company that makes Black Jack gum has changed hands several times. In 1962, a company called Warner–Lambert bought the American Chicle Company, which included the Adams brand. Later, in 1997, the American Chicle Company was renamed Adams.
In 2000, Pfizer bought Warner-Lambert. Then, in 2003, Pfizer sold Adams and all of its other candy brands to a company called Cadbury. This part of Cadbury became known as Cadbury Adams.
More recently, in 2019, Gerrit J. Verburg Co. bought the Black Jack gum brand from Mondelez International, which is the parent company of Cadbury. This means Gerrit J. Verburg Co. is the current maker of Black Jack gum.
