I really enjoy the idea of caffeinated gum. They provide the consumer with a fantastic value and a a decent buzz, without having to deal with carrying around little metal cans everywhere. This mini-thin-rush gum is right along par with most other energy gums, providing a decent chicklet sized buzz and tastes pretty good, as long as the sweetener lasts. For around 2 bucks you can get the equivalent of 4 energy drinks worth of the good stuff, which is a great bargain if you can handle the flavor. Fortunately this gum is pretty tasty, as long as you don’t let it hang around too long.

Taste:6
Like most other energy gum, this stuff tastes fine as long as the xylitol or whatever sweetened is still present. As soon as that chicklet hard coating is dissolved away the gum turns onto a overly bitter, sour, slightly spicy chunk of chewy wax in your mouth. That’s about what all of these do though, where 5 minutes is just about enough for your mouth to absorb all the caffeine out of it. This Gum is particularly nasty after the 5 minutes are up though. It tasted much like a peppered used dishtowel – a flavor which is bound to make the user spit this thing out forcefully. It’s not a pretty site. So as long as you are not in a place where getting rid of your wad of gum is impossible ( most symphony orchestras don’t like gum on the bottom of your chair, and most mosh pits don’t have garbage bins near the stage) then enjoy the flavor while it lasts. This goes for both flavors as well, as there is very little difference between the cinammon and the mint after the candy coating wears off.

Nutrition/buzz:7
This is about average for most caffeinated gums. You can find 40 mg of caffeine in just about all the chicklet gum I have reviewed, excepting from think gum. This also has your energy drink nutrients packed in here, from Taurine and B vitamins to niacin and riboflavin. The candy coating is barely caloric, and provides all the flavor and sweetness found in the gum, so it is something you definitely want more of. The base gum is a mess, so I would opt for even more sweetness up front if it meant more time it could hang out in my mouth, letting me absorb the good stuff from the gum base.
All in all, the rush is quite nice when you pop 2 in your mouth. While not explosive, it is much easier chewing these after a meal than trying to down an energy drink. Mini Thin Rush also acts very quickly, not having to travel all the way down to your stomach to be ingested before you get the rush. The buzz does not last very long ( for me it was about 2 hours), but there is no crash and the pickup is not overly strong. If you find yourself nodding off and need that little boost to get you through, this will give you what you need.

Packaging:6
Again, this gum is going for the usual, not taking any chances with anything out of the ordinary. Little cardboard sleeve with blister packed chicklets. If I did not know any better, I would think that 90% of all caffeinated gum comes from the same company, but with different printing…
They list the company info and the caffeine content, which I appreciate, but certainly don’t provide anything original or unique to the mix. The print job is OK, but nothing that special – using the same bland athletic collage you can find on their 6 hour energy shots.