Science Experiment (Gone Horribly Wrong)

It's become sort of a tradition each year around the time of the National Convention that my friend Stuart and I break a couple boxes of some junk wax set.  Since I skipped pretty much the whole era the first time around, I don't have a lot of sets from the late 80's to early 90's.  So I pick out one that I kinda like and we find boxes for less than ten or fifteen dollars each and see if we can make sets.  We've done 1987 and 1990 Topps, 1992 Fleer and 1993 O-Pee-Chee.

As you know, some of these type packs came with gum.  When they were new, the gum isn't horrible, but is not made to be a confectionary premium either.  If you were a kid back then, did you like the gum?

If you open packs from 1987 in 2015, the gum actually looks the same.  Some candy etc. lasts forever, right?  But if you try to chew it, it disintegrates immediately.  Yep, I tried.  So does the stuff really break down on its own?

Stuart took the experimental concept to a whole other level.  He collected two boxes worth of gum into a jar and filled it with water, wondering if it would dissolve immediately or separate into sugar and chemical compounds.  He let it sit for a long time.

Well, let's just say it wasn't pretty.  After year one...

And just a couple months ago...

Eeeeww.  At least I think he keeps the jar sealed.  I keep telling him he needs to dump it out before it becomes sentient and kills him in the middle of the night.