Thomas Adams, a photographer, glassmaker and hopeful inventor had an infamous Mexican exile as a houseguest at his home in Staten Island, New York. Mexican General Santa Anna was staying with him. Santa Anna introduced Adams to chicle which is made from the sap of the sapodilla tree. The general was hoping to sell the chicle to Americans to use as an additive to natural rubber to reduce its cost. Natural rubber was very expensive and finding a way to reduce the cost would be very profitable.
Adams began experimenting with the chicle. He tried to make tires, rain boots, toys and masks out of the sap. Every one of his experiments was a failure. Adams became very discouraged and thought about dumping the chicle into the East River.
One day, Adams saw a young girl purchasing paraffin gum at the drug store. Thomas remembered how much Santa Anna had enjoyed chewing the chicle. He decided to try chewing the chicle.
That very evening, Adams mixed up his first batch off chicle gum in his kitchen. The gum he concocted was smoother and softer than the paraffin gun which was currently popular. In 1871, Adams received Patent #111,798 for his Improvement in Chewing gun.
Adams rolled his new gum recipe into balls and wrapped them in colored paper. He convinced stores in his neighborhood to sell his new product, Adams New York Snapping and Stretching Gum, for a penny a piece. The gum, despite having no flavor, sold extremely well.
In 1874, Adams began experimenting with adding flavors to his new gum. He began with sarsaparilla and then tried adding licorice flavor. He called this new gum Adam’s Black Jack. This gum was the first to be offered in sticks. To help with the sale of his new flavored gun, Adams hired attractive girls to pass out samples on the streets of New York.
Adams and Sons Company was formed by Adams and his two sons in 1876. In 1899, Adams helped create the leading American chewing gum company by merging the six largest gum manufacturers. The American Chicle Company was very successful. After Thomas Adams death in 1905, his two sons continued to run the business until 1960 when it was purchased by Warner Lambert.
Adams discovery of the modern day chewing gum left quiet a mark on American culture. More than 1,000 varieties of gum are manufactured in the United States. American’s chew 195 million pounds of chewing gum each year.