Found Chewing Gum

[IMAUDIGGER]

Was standing in a fire break on my property that runs through a NA camp.
I had recently ran a box scraper along it. I was staring at the mussel shells laying in the dirt along side obsidian, when an odd shaped piece of quartz caught my eye.

I picked it up and immediately realized it was a piece of gum someone spit out.
It was soft and pliable. Figured my niece spit it out on a hike. I'm aware of the poisoning risk to my puppy with artificial sweeteners and for some reason I put it to my nose.

Instead of spearmint I got a faint (but definite) wiff of pine pitch.

Is this possible or should it be long hardened?
It's very milky white and not sticky at all.

 

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[IMAUDIGGER]

I was looking at this stone thinking it had been used to pound on something..

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Was standing in a fire break on my property that runs through a NA camp.
I had recently ran a box scraper along it. I was staring at the mussel shells laying in the dirt along side obsidian, when an odd shaped piece of quartz caught my eye.

I picked it up and immediately realized it was a piece of gum someone spit out.
It was soft and pliable. Figured my niece spit it out on a hike. I'm aware of the poisoning risk to my puppy with artificial sweeteners and for some reason I put it to my nose.

Instead of spearmint I got a faint (but definite) wiff of pine pitch.

Is this possible or should it be long hardened?
It's very milky white and not sticky at all.

View attachment 1827301

I’m VERY curious if it were chewing gum if it still has a honey taste.
I’ve never came across such gummy whitish pitch that isn’t sticky or crusty like straight pitch gets.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

This guy thinks he has the recipe down...equal parts pine pitch and honey comb wax...then sweeten with honey...simmer and let cool..

Hmm might be something to try.

If it were not for the context, I’d never be suggesting it was gum. I may cut a piece off and test it out.

 

[newnan man]

I lost my chewing gum in the hen house once. I found it 24 times!

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Back in the 1920's & 30's, the country peddler only came around
about once a month, once every 2 months, in the deep south.
Dentyne gum was a nickel a pack, and that was some cherished stuff.
My Mom & her brothers, had their designated place, behind the bedroom door,
where they'd stick their gum at night.

But when you run outta Dentyne, there was always pine resin.
Fast forward, some 50 years, my Mom would tell my Dad,
every now & then, "Go out there a pick me some pine resin, pls".
If he didn't pick the right one, Mom would take him back outside,
show him which tree & which bleeding resin, she wanted.
Yup.

 

[Tony in SC]

My mom told me about making gum. She also told me about chewing on the end of a sweetgum twig to make a toothbrush. Sometimes we forget how easy we have it now!!

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

So is it outlandish that this could be a piece of gum someone spit out hundreds of years ago?

Nobody really addressed that..

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

So is it outlandish that this could be a piece of gum someone spit out hundreds of years ago?

Nobody really addressed that..

I couldn't honestly tell you, I know.
I'd stick it in a baggie, perhaps some lab could look at it, tell more,
do some DNA extrapolation, I mean, I really, don't know for sure.

Thinking about it, I want to say, I thought resin would get harder when chewed,
not to the point of turning into fat-lighter, but none the less, somewhat harder.
I seem to remember Mom saying something about, it "gets worked out",
kinda like when regular gum losses it's flavor, goes, "not so soft" anymore.
Plus, pines are plentiful in the south, no shortages of resin.
My Mom never spoke of mixing it with honey, as honey was a commodity.
I'm sure her Mom wouldn't give them any, just to mix with "ole pine rawson".
I would think, some honey, would keep it more supple, though.
and serve as an antibacterial...

 

[gunsil]

I used to buy pine pitch chews, they may still be available. I am 72 but bought the pine pitch chews in my 20s. Just googled it, it is still available.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I used to buy pine pitch chews, they may still be available. I am 72 but bought the pine pitch chews in my 20s. Just googled it, it is still available.

I’ll have to give those a try to see what we have been missing. A piece of Wrigley’s gum can kill a puppy if they eat it. The sweetener is poison to them. Good old fashioned pitch pine sounds a lot better...maybe.

 

[joshuaream]

If it's still soft and pliable I don't know that it would be pitch gum, that stuff gets hard quickly (and ancient would be at least 100+ years old even in California.

Some types of old caulk, silicone and sealers can stay pliable like that for a while if you are sure it isn't recent.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

If it's still soft and pliable I don't know that it would be pitch gum, that stuff gets hard quickly (and ancient would be at least 100+ years old even in California.

Some types of old caulk, silicone and sealers can stay pliable like that for a while if you are sure it isn't recent.

It’s definitely smells of pine pitch and was only soft when it was laying in the sun.
This morning it was hard. I’ll chalk it up to one of those things I’ll never know for sure.

It it was pine gum, it’s possible it came from the people associated with some of the 1900’s tin cans that are laying nearby.

 

[Force_of_Iron]

I worked at an old style soda fountain as a teen. Whenever I was looking for gum I could just look under the counter. 100's of pieces for the taking.

 

[No gold in NY]

Could very well be chewing gum. It was used by the ancients. Thought I read once where it was found in Egyptian pyramids.

 

[sandchip]

I worked at an old style soda fountain as a teen. Whenever I was looking for gum I could just look under the counter. 100's of pieces for the taking.

...and under the desks in school. Don't for get big landscaping rocks by the waiting line for rides at amusement parks!

 

[Noah_D]

I worked at an old style soda fountain as a teen. Whenever I was looking for gum I could just look under the counter. 100's of pieces for the taking.

Have you ever seen the movie Elf...

 

[redbeardrelics]

Has anybody else here tried chewing sweet gum sap? Several years ago I tapped a few sweet gums that were growing near some red swamp maples I was tapping for syrup, in hopes of getting some sweet gum sap to chew, but the gums never produced any sap or gum from those typical tap holes I had drilled that winter. Later that following fall I girdled two sweet gums with an axe at chest height, to let them die standing, and hopefully drop somewhat in place. There was no sap/gum produced anywhere around that wound until after both trees had leafed out the following spring, and the leaves started dying off that summer. Then I got good gummy sap drips coming down out of the tree.

I tried the largest cleanest looking wad I had, and it didn't taste bad, mostly resinous but not unpleasant. The gum consistency wasn't really chewy, as it was thinner, and pretty much just sort of glued itself permanently to whatever teeth it touched and stayed there. It becomes pretty much concreted to the teeth beyond the capacity of a tongue to loosen it, before you have a chance to figure out that is what is happening, and try to stop it. I didn't panic at first, just licked at it, and sucked on it figuring it would dissolve like a thick syrup. After 10-15 minutes of that with not much erosion of the resin from where it was stuck, I had a good idea. I had a half full (or half empty I should say) bottle of home made condensed pear wine cordial stashed away in the shaded hollow of a swamp maple nearby, for winter emergencies of course. I am guessing it is about 50 proof and it seems logical a good rinsing with some of that might clean the sweet gum glue from my teeth, and potentially cure what ailed me.
Well, the alcohol rinse and swallow, rinse and swallow, repeat cycles helped some, the resin was still pretty much there un-phased, but I saw the situation in a new light. A toothpick and time eventually ended the experiment, but I gotta tell you, it was so much fun to get a good friend to try some of my fresh sweet gum... um gum.. a few weeks later, and watch someone else go thru the same motions, pear cordial rinse and all, rinse swallow repeat, rinse swallow repeat.. hehehe..

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Has anybody else here tried chewing sweet gum sap? Several years ago I tapped a few sweet gums that were growing near some red swamp maples I was tapping for syrup, in hopes of getting some sweet gum sap to chew, but the gums never produced any sap or gum from those typical tap holes I had drilled that winter. Later that following fall I girdled two sweet gums with an axe at chest height, to let them die standing, and hopefully drop somewhat in place. There was no sap/gum produced anywhere around that wound until after both trees had leafed out the following spring, and the leaves started dying off that summer. Then I got good gummy sap drips coming down out of the tree.

I tried the largest cleanest looking wad I had, and it didn't taste bad, mostly resinous but not unpleasant. The gum consistency wasn't really chewy, as it was thinner, and pretty much just sort of glued itself permanently to whatever teeth it touched and stayed there. It becomes pretty much concreted to the teeth beyond the capacity of a tongue to loosen it, before you have a chance to figure out that is what is happening, and try to stop it. I didn't panic at first, just licked at it, and sucked on it figuring it would dissolve like a thick syrup. After 10-15 minutes of that with not much erosion of the resin from where it was stuck, I had a good idea. I had a half full (or half empty I should say) bottle of home made condensed pear wine cordial stashed away in the shaded hollow of a swamp maple nearby, for winter emergencies of course. I am guessing it is about 50 proof and it seems logical a good rinsing with some of that might clean the sweet gum glue from my teeth, and potentially cure what ailed me.
Well, the alcohol rinse and swallow, rinse and swallow, repeat cycles helped some, the resin was still pretty much there un-phased, but I saw the situation in a new light. A toothpick and time eventually ended the experiment, but I gotta tell you, it was so much fun to get a good friend to try some of my fresh sweet gum... um gum.. a few weeks later, and watch someone else go thru the same motions, pear cordial rinse and all, rinse swallow repeat, rinse swallow repeat.. hehehe..

That is probably why they add the bees wax to it.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

...and under the desks in school. Don't for get big landscaping rocks by the waiting line for rides at amusement parks!

For you comedians..it was the fact it was laying with bones, shells, and obsidian flakes and smelled of pine pitch, that had me excited that it could be gum from long gone people. To me, if that was what it actually was...it would be far more rare than the tip of an arrow.

Honest, I can afford a pack of chewing gum.