Candy Cigarettes - Sweet, Smokey, and Suspiciously Chalky

This week on "Dirt Nap City Dead Ends," join hosts Alex and Kelly as they take a drag down memory lane to discuss the most controversial confectionery of all time: candy cigarettes! Remember those little sticks of sugary chalk, packaged to look just like a real pack of smokes? Alex recalls the thrill of "pretending to be a tiny, eight-year-old rebel" while Kelly recounts his grandmother's violent reaction when he pretended to puff one at a local diner counter.

We'll blow the lid off how these things "worked," from the iconic red tip that simulated a lit end to the magical puff of powdered sugar that came out when you exhaled. We'll also dive into the utterly underwhelming taste—a flavor described as "aspirin with a hint of nostalgia" and "like a drywall repair kit."

We get to the bottom of why our parents couldn't stand them, examining how this seemingly innocent candy was a gateway to a lecture about lung cancer. We also explore the curious case of their continued existence, revealing how today's "candy sticks" are a neutered, joyless version of their former selves, with no red tip and none of the rebellious packaging. Tune in for a hilarious look at a candy that was so bad for us, and so bad-tasting, and sponsored by real tobacco companies, that they (briefly) became a global phenomenon. 

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