Launch Energy Drink Gum: A Product Review

I saw the little cans of Launch Energy Drink Gum sitting at the Big Lots register for a mere 80 cents and thought it was worth a try at such a low price. The can is designed to resemble a mini energy drink and advertises "spearmint energy" fueled mostly by caffeine, taurine and B vitamins.

You get 9 pieces of gum to a can, but the recommended serving size is 2 pieces at a time. The primary energy ingredient appears to be caffeine, though I can't find an actual dosage listed anywhere on the package - it simply claims the can as a whole contains "the amount of caffeine energy in seven energy drinks." But which energy drinks exactly? Who knows.

It also advertises "no sugar added", but unfortunately the sweetener of choice is aspartame (combined with some spearmint and menthol.) Personally, I find the taste of aspartame repellent. The gum has a tolerable flavor for about a minute after initially chewing, but eventually dissolves into a rather unpleasant taste that is somewhat like caffeine pills mixed with aspartame.

Unfortunately this is a major problem for the gum, since their promotional materials on the Web claim that the full energy content is time-released as you chew. Well, if I can't stand the taste of it for more than a couple of minutes, how much of this energy content am I actually getting? My first field test of one piece provided no measurable results (after bravely chewing for five minutes, like a true soldier.) My second field test didn't go well either - after two pieces for three minutes when I was a little tired, I ended up laying down and taking a nap for about three hours. Subsequent tests of two pieces at once for 3 to 5 minutes provide no notable energy buzz or boost at all.

Since I often chew gum, and take plenty of caffeine, I'm partial to the idea of an "energy gum." The problem is that it needs to taste appealing to work, which none of these products seem to have found a solution to yet. Unfortunately, Launch tastes so bad and seems to work so poorly that I can't recommend it, even for 80 cents per can.