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.  Drop us a quick text and we’ll reply in the next episode!Support the showDirt Nap City is the podcast about the most interesting dead people in history.Subscribe and listen to learn about people you've heard of, but don't know much about.Someday we'll all live in Dirt Nap City, so you should probably go ahead and meet the neighbors!