History of Chewing gum

[redwing]

Yes sir pardner and it takes one tough cowboy to blow bubbles with that stuff. :thumbsup:

 

[Riley/MN]

First I heard of it was during a 6th grade class trip to Fort Snelling-they had it for sale in the sutler's store-Nineteen seventy-something. Since then I've tried it whenever I see a good dry glob on the side of the tree. Agreed, it is an aquired taste...


~Riley

 

[renovato]

Pine Pitch sure sounds preferable to what the Coneheads prefered to chew!

I haven't tried it and didn't even know about it till this thread. Next time I'm in the pines, I'll see if I can develop the taste for it.

 

[bnail]

I still can't get over the idea that it tastes like Pinesol, but I'm also going to give it a try when I find some.

 

[Walks Alone]

Glad to see some of you are going to give pine gum a try. Just remember not all pitch is created equal. Pinyon pine and spruce seems to be the best tasting here in the mountain west anyway, although I have used the pitch from many other species as well. Just be sure you only try fully hardened and as clear as possible pieces for your first go (you'll be done with pine gum for good in a hurry if you try to use pitch that is still pliable). When you crush it in your teeth it will turn to a very fine powder, stick to your teeth at first and you'll have to fight a very strong urge to spit. If you spit you'll just be wasting gum powder though and raking your taste buds all the more until it settles down into a chew. It'll be gritty as it forms, but once you get it going it smoothes right out and that "start" makes it much easier to increase the volume of the wad as you add more pieces. Note if you save a chewed wad, it too turns to powder when you restart it, but it won't be as acrid and will settle down much faster than raw pitch.

As I have never tried imbibing PineSol, I can't associate that comparison - can't imagine why anyone with any sense would know what PineSol tastes like. :winking:

WA

 

[bnail]

Hey WA, just got back from T-Day with the family. Managed to get out and look for the sap, but couldn't find any! all the pine trees I saw were freshly scraped, and only had clear, fresh sap extruding. this stuff's a bit harder to find than I first thought.

 

[Walks Alone]

Skagan -

Got to thinking (a dangerous thing) and realized that the general growth habits of eastern pines is quite different than the best western pitch pines, and that may be making it harder for you.

The best hunting is not for sap on the trunks, but rather at the base of large branches where they meet the trunk or where the branches fork, have had a smaller side branch torn off, lightning or critter damage, etc. The smaller beads may look like a dark split pea to split marble and you can tell if they are solid by cutting them off the tree to revel the clear, amber/red cut side.

The Pinyon, Bristlecone and Lodgepole pines I get my best gum from are old mature trees and all have a very craggy and realatively low growth habit with large knarled branches close to the ground - scaly bark. When a real good tree is found (usually growing on a cliff edge) a pint to quart of high grade gum can be had from it with some careful climbing. Ponderosa pine sap is good too, but the lowest branches on mature trees is usually 40-50 feet off the ground. The pine species with a more straight and tall growth habit, smoother bark and high smaller branches are not as easy to collect from and I don't think produce as much useable pitch. At treeline (9-10,000') where these species get stunted by the harse habitat and deep snow for most of the year is about the only place you can easily try collecting pitch from them out west.

Since many of your eastern pines are more along these tall and sparse lines with no low gnarly branches, you may have to look for specific species. I doubt the Red or White pines would be a good choice. Your best bet may be Jack or Fire pine, and some of the southern pines like Pond, Table Mountain and Spruce pines because they are all more compact and knarly and with low larger branches.

Keep at it, and keep us posted on your progress. If all else fails when/if I ever feel up to going on a collecting trip again, I'll try to remember to check if you still haven't scored yet, and send you some Pinyon pitch to try out. Where I live now I can get into Pinyons year round with little or no snow to deal with in less than an hours drive. Bristlecone is about 4 hours away now, and the Lodgepole about 8-9.

WA

 

[ke4usl]

When I was a kid and lived in Morocco (my dad was USAF) I learned about chewing resin from the wild thistles. Tasted good and lasted a long time, too, but it was prickly trying to harvest it. I'd guess they've been doing this for a few millenia.

 

[patch knife]

When I was a kid , me and a friend used to chew the fresh tar from where they patched the cracks in the street . Anyone else do this or were we just :youcrazy: ?

Was that before or after PCB's were banned?

We're talk'in around 1960 , so I'd guess before :shocked2: :haha:

 

[patch knife]

When I was a kid , me and a friend used to chew the fresh tar from where they patched the cracks in the street . Anyone else do this or were we just :youcrazy: ?

Never chewed it off the street but a friends dad built a doghouse when I was about 9 or 10 and sealed the roof with tar. We chewed off that doghouse for a looooong time. :grin:

My dad was from Miss. (Louisville/Meridian area) maybe it's in my blood :haha: .

 

[Many Klatch]

Hey Patch Knife. My Dad was a roofer. We always had 100# kegs of asphalt in our garage. As a kid the old roofers used to chew the stuff. I tried it a couple of times because it was supposed to make my teeth stronger. I never did learn to like the taste of it. I liked Juicy Fruit a lot better.

Many Klatch