Cinnamon Apple Hot Tamales — Say What!?!

A few years ago, I created and posted a 1970’s Hot Tamales Kid themed holiday message on Flickr, and on that little graphic, I imagined cinnamon-and-apple-flavored Hot Tamales candies.  It was a fanciful idea that I thought I invented.  But it turns out that a cinnamon apple product from Just Born was actually a real product…all the way back in 1979.

While flipping through a candy trade magazine from 1979, one that was a part of the L.M. Kallok Collection, I found a trade ad from Just Born, the makers of Hot Tamales.  It was similar to the Just Born ads I’d come across before, but this one had an unfamiliar candy box included upon it, and one I’d never seen before; Cinnamon Apple!

Just Born – Hot Line to Bigger Profits – Trade ad – December 1979

Not quite Cinnamon Apple Hot Tamales, but not NOT quite them, either.   I have the trade ad from the year before this, and there was no Cinnamon Apple included on it, nor was there any mention of it in my 1980’s Just Born materials.  That tells me this was a short-lived product.  Perhaps it never even made it to full distribution, I can’t be sure.  I have put an e-mail into my contact at Just Born to find out what they can tell me, though.  [Just Born is one of the few candy companies that I’ve found to keep meticulous historical records.]

The Just Born family of candy packaging is one that is especially close to my heart, and were some of the very first things I started collecting, when I started collecting candy.  So, one of these boxes is at the very top of my current want list.

If you’re curious, here is the Flickr graphic I put together for the 2007 Christmas holiday season.

Merry Christmas Tamales Kid – 2007

And that’s everything for today.  Another bit of our fun candy past uncovered and revealed!