Chewing gum Food

Review: Trident Layers gum

Trident Layers gum
Trident Layers gum, just waiting to be unwrapped and sampled.

Trident Layers gum is like a regular stick of Trident chewing gum, but with a layer of favour goo in the middle that holds the other two layers together. It’s like a sandwich, but where each slice of bread is actually a slice of gum, and the filling is a sweet, sticky flavouring instead of peanut butter. Comprende?

The gum comes in two flavours:

Wild Strawberry + Tangy Citrus: Leans more toward citrus than strawberry. Think grapefruit with a hint of strawberry.

Green Apple + Golden Pineapple: A nice mix of flavours. I can’t remember seeing pineapple gum around before, but the flavour is nice and blends well with the apple. Neither one dominates. A marriage of equals.
Both give off a minty, cooling feeling in your mouth. It’s still there after a lot of the other flavour fades, and it’s pleasantly refreshing.

I know what you’re asking yourself. You’re saying, “Yes, yes. But can you pull the layers apart and eat it like an Oreo cookie?” No, sadly, it doesn’t work like that. You can try to pull it apart with your teeth, but the inner layer is super sticky and you’ll make a mess. Besides, the outer layers aren’t flavourful at all, so eating them separately isn’t yummy; the goodness is in the goo.

A couple of practical considerations: If you’ve had an open pack around for a while, the filling layer can start to stick to the wrapper. It’s an annoyance, but it’s minor. Also, the wrappers are glued into the package in a way that part of the wrapper sometimes tears off when you remove a piece. If you’re like me and you save the wrapper for careful gum disposal later, that’s also a minor annoyance.

Trident Layers gum
The layers in Trident Layers gum, clearly visible. It's like a gum sandwich.

RATINGS AND DETAILS

Cost: $1.79 at a local convenience store.

Value for cash money: 14 pieces in a pack is good, and the flavour lasts.

Availability: Everywhere.

Nutrition?: Thanks to all those sugar-free sweeteners, each piece checks in at a mere 5 calories. Mind you, the wrapper probably has more vitamin goodness than the gum.

Safe for vegetarians?: Gelatin is a listed ingredient, so no. Good to know.

Flavour longevity: The flavour lasts for a long time, to the point where you’re sick of the flavour before it runs out. Sharp hit of flavour at first, especially with the middle goo, that fades gracefully as you exhaust your jaw.

The verdict: Of the two, I prefer the Wild Strawberry + Tangy Citrus, but the Green Apple + Golden Pineapple is also good. Depends on your mood, I guess. A nice gum to mix things up from time to time.

Trident Layers gum
An open pack of Strawberry/Citrus Trident Layers gum. The wrappers often tear while pulling out a piece of gum.

(Update! It looks like Trident just added a new flavour to the Layers line: Cool Mint + Melon Fresco. I haven’t seen it in the wild just yet, so I haven’t sampled any. If you spot it, let me know what you think of the new flavour in the comments. -iain)

2 Comments

  1. my first time tasting this ordinary piece of layered gum was breath taking. I tried the strawberry/citrus gum and it was tangy,delisious,citrusy all wrapped into a small little wrapper

  2. why cant you find layers gum you could find it anywhere now you cant can you tell me why I like this gum very much. I hope you are not going to stop making it.