Stride Whitemint

The Olympics Games are a big deal in my house. Professional sports just don't interest me, and my lack of knowledge of team sports is almost embarrassing. The Olympics are different. I will watch any (or every, if possible) Olympic event, and the way I track medal standings is borderline obsessive. I know the Winter Olympics have a lackluster reputation in comparison to the Summer Olympics, but I like the Winter Games better.

So, when Shaun White puts his name and face on a product, it totally works for me. The man is a snowboarding god. These samples were kindly sent to me for review by a PR representative, but just so you know, I would have bought this gum anyway. May I also add that the PR sample packaging was the cutest I've ever seen?


The bold colors on the outer package were very eye catching and tied into the promotion nicely. The gum wrappers themselves were pretty, too! I loved the metallic white and blue motif. The gum itself was a cool and sweet mint. There were no hints of wintergreen or spearmint, just a nice, easy peppermint. I liked the sweetness, but some of my coworkers found it to be too sweet.

The texture was great: soft but not mooshy, and it didn't seem to harden as I chewed. The cooling effect was pretty strong, and I found it to be a good after-meal breath freshener. Stride delivered on the long-lasting flavor, too. I was sick of chewing gum before the mint had completely worn off (probably about 10 to 15 minutes - gotta start timing these chews better). Whitemint is a safe flavor, but with the fun celebrity tie-in, it certainly left a good impression on me.

B+

Stride website

Stride Spark Kinetic Fruit

Stride hopped on the vitamin bandwagon with their new line, Stride Spark. Although I tend to disregard the vitamin aspect, I am a sucker for new products and citrus gum, so I picked up Stride Spark Kinetic Fruit for $1.29 at the grocery store.

B6 and B12 vitamins aside, the swirly, metallic packaging caught my eye. I only assumed it was a citrus gum because of the orange on the packaging - Kinectic Fruit isn't terribly descriptive.


Initially, the gum had a great sour orange flavor, and the best comparison I can think of is orange Tic Tacs (a childhood favorite of mine). There were small crystals in the gum that gave it a slightly crackly texture as I chewed - probably the Spark.

The tart flavor lasted around 10 minutes, if I remember correctly, though the leftover weakened orange flavor wasn't bad. The gum didn't get too soft or too hard, so there were no issues with texture. I found myself chewing until the flavor faded, then getting a new piece to enjoy the orange flavor again.

B+

Check out another review at The Impulsive Buy.

Stride Gum Website

Stride Shift Flavor Changing Gum

Despite its permanent place in my purse, it's been a while since I have reviewed chewing gum. Recently, it seems like gum companies are branching out with some interesting new products, Stride Shift gum included. My conscience dictates me to mention that these were free marketing samples, and that I am not being paid to write this (or any) review.

The packages certainly are eye-catching, and the colors had a very 1990s feel, probably to appeal to people of a certain age. I wasn't sure how Stride would pull off the flavor changing, but I'm a fan of fruit-mint combination gum, so I approached them without fear.


The initial orangey flavor of Citrus -> Mint was a mild citrus with hints of tropical fruit. It reminded me of orange suckers (specifically Dum Dums), especially because there were little crunchy bits in the gum. The mystery of the Shift was solved! The crunchy bits had a tart, citrus zip to them, and the chewier bits carried the mint. I suspect the food chemistry here aims to have the fruity bits dissolve before the mint, which was a sweet peppermint that I couldn't quite place. For a bit, I was getting punches of both flavors, but it only took a couple minutes to transition completely from orange to mint. From then on, the mint flavor lasted a very long time, and I was sick of chewing gum before the flavor was gone. B-


The Berry -> Mint smelled like strawberry and grape. At first, it tasted very sugarfree, but the initial flavor wasn't bad. I tasted blueberry and strawberry with a hint og mint. Again, most of the berry flavor was gone after a few minutes, leaving the gum minty with bursts of non-descript tartness. The final mint was the same sweet peppermint as the citrus, and again, the flavor lasted quite a while. B

I was a little obsessive about chewing up all of the flavor bits, so I could see that if you weren't, the gum might taste a bit weird. Still, Stride tried something new, which is always commendable. But unlike Stride's Eternal Melon (which I should review), I can't say that I'd seek these flavors out again.

Check out reviews of Citrus and Berry at GumAlert for another point of view.

Stride Gum Website

Stride Uber Bubble

I am a big fan of blowing bubbles with gum. I try not to chew gum at work because the temptation of blowing bubbles is too great. I think it makes me look childish and it gets gum on my glasses.

It doesn't necessarily have to be bubble gum, and in fact, I prefer other flavors. One of my favorite gums for blowing bubbles was Dentine Ice vanilla. Still, bubble gum is a nostalgic flavor, and every now and then it's nice to have.


It smelled like bubble gum, and with the first could chews, there was a sour bubble gum flavor. It was a little fruity, a lot of sweet, and had a bouncy chew. My husband called it a more refined bubble gum flavor. Most of the tang was gone after a few minutes, and the remaining flavor was more typical bubble gum.

Unfortunately, the bubble gum didn't actually work well for blowing bubbles. Although the nostalgic flavor was tasty, bubble gum without the bubble seems a little pointless to me. At least it was a good bubble gum flavor. I guess that's what "Uber Bubble" means.

B-

Stride Gum Website

Stride Sweet Berry Gum

I have a problem with chewing gum. I like it too much. Packs of good gum last me only a couple days because I just chew and chew, which isn't good for the jaw. My favorite is Orbit gum, in pretty much all flavors, and I plan to review some in the future. But today, thanks to a friend, I have Stride Sweet Berry gum.

The website says "Is it strawberry? Is it raspberry? Or maybe it's blueberry? Who knows?" Well, I know. It's Wild Berry Skittles. Imagine putting half a pack in your mouth at once, and that's just gum smells like when you open the box. The actual flavor isn't all that intense, but I suppose it is fairly long lasting. Like a dull roar. It's just not a flavor I enjoy, and I gotta say, I like the Orbit Raspberry Mint better. There's not a hint of mint at all in the Stride, and I suppose that's not a bad thing, but it left my mouth feeling a little murky.

It'll do in a pinch, but I don't think I'd buy it.

C+

Stride Gum Website