Charms Blow Pops
| Product type | Confectionery |
|---|---|
| Owner | Tootsie Roll Industries |
| Introduced | 1970s |
| Previous owners | Charms |
Charms Blow Pops are lollipops with bubble gum centers surrounded by a hard candy shell. The candy was popularized by The Charms Company, which was acquired by Tootsie Roll Industries in 1988. Invention of the candy is attributed to Thomas Tate Tidwell in 1966, with the patent issued in November 1969.[1] The candy was originally manufactured by the Triple T Candy Company (Atlanta, Georgia) and sold under the brand name "Triple Treat." The new brand name, "Charms Blow Pops," was introduced in 1973.[2]
- ↑ US patent 3477394, Thomas T. Tidwell et al, "Method for making candy with gum inside"
- ↑ "Charms Blow Pops". Candy Crate.com. Candy Crate, Inc. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
Walter W. Reid Jr. founded the Charms Candy Company in 1912. The company was originally called Tropical Charms, a reference to the individually wrapped square shaped hard candies, which were one of the first to be individually wrapped in cellophane.
Tropical Charms was founded in Bloomfield, NJ. The company name was eventually shortened to Charms.
During World War II, the U.S. Army began including Charms candies in combat rations (MREs – Meals Ready to Eat) as a supplemental energy form. That tradition has continued with a few interruptions.
After the war, Walter Reid III, the son of the founder, took control of the company and made it the leading producer of hard candy in the world. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the company developed the Charms Blow Pop…the first bubble gum filled lollipop in the world.
The company was led by Reid III, Ross B. Cameron Sr. (Walter W. Reid Jr.’s son-in-law) and his two sons, Ross B. Cameron Jr. and Reid B. Cameron.
The Charms Candy Company moved its manufacturing plant from Bloomfield, NJ to Freehold, NJ in 1973. The company eventually purchased and built a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Covington, TN, which is currently still being used to produce Charms candies.
Blow Pops became the company’s best-selling product of all time.
Besides the Blow Pop, the candy company produced Charms Squares, Sweet & Sour Pops, Sour Balls and many other smaller candy projects.
The Reid/Cameron owners and management team hired a business consultant in the 1980s who suggested Charms consider a merger with a similar candy company. Coincidentally, that consultant was former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
In 1988, the Charms Candy Company was sold to the Tootsie Roll Company.
With Blow Pops and Tootsie Pops, the Tootsie Roll Company became the largest lollipop manufacturer in the world.