Atomic Fireballs: A Brief and Weird History of a Cult Favorite Candy

I loved atomic fireballs as a kid. I didn't use marijuana as a kid... so maybe it worked.

You can't have a discussion about fireballs without discussing the adult version.

I remember these things. As was the case with most cinnamon flavored stuff, I had to have some. They were good and bad. The initial 'yipes' factor faded after a few agonizing moments. Then essentially a fun pleasure to let it start its path to desolvation.

As happens with many hard candies. I suddenly had an urge to chew. That is not a good idea with these. At that point, they would always release all the power and it became a race to finish chewing and then swallowing. (spitting out the remaining pieces would be uncouth).


Been several years since I last had one.

I srinkle cinnamon on my coffee grounds when I'm brewing coffee. Never was fond of those Fireballs....too much sugar.

I think the sugar was the way to get kids to want them. Or maybe not. It may be a method of easing the burning.


Then again, I don't find raw garlic that powerful and I occasionally eat a raw onion like an apple...


...I'm mildly odd.

We used to buy sour onions out of a barrel where ever groceries were sold. They were right by the barrel of whole kosher dill pickles. I haven't seen them in years..loved those big onions.

I can’t eat cinnamon flavoured sweets at all.

I only use cinnamon in cooking, usually with apples.

I’m sure we’ve got sweets you’d find peculiar like rhubarb and custard.

Apart from chains like McDonalds we don’t really do dill pickles. Pickle over here usually refers to Branson pickle which is more like a chutney. The most popular pickles are pickled onions of which there are all different types.

Instead of dill pickles we have gherkins which look similar but are smaller.

“They’re long and green,
And look obscene,
And never stop you burpin’,
But I must confess,
There’s nothing I like best,
Than a beautiful pickled gherkin.”

I can’t believe your delis and deli counters don’t have a variety of pickles to choose from?!

Our delis tend to be mostly meat cheese and assorted savouries like onion bahjis and sausage rolls.



Picked stuff gets sold in jars in the aisles.

I think I tried a fireball or two. Thought they were okay, but other kinds took my penny.

A candy I never figured was Tootsie Rolls. Not delicious, hard to chew, but popular.

For the past several years, I'd buy a big bag of Fireballs and put them out for anyone in our office to take. They're by far (anecdotally speaking) the most popular of candy I put out (not saying I've put out any particularly expensive or classy candy that would actually compete and beat the fireballs in a popularity contest. Definitely no full-sized Snickers either).

If and when my office reopens, I'll start this practice again. Although, we're now in the basement and got less than 5% of the daily office pedestrian traffic/visits (regardless of the free candy or not).

Tootsie rolls and Mary Janes (the supposed peanut butter flavored square) both are annoying. Not just because of the taste, but how hard they get after a few days. Wonder how many teeth have been cracked by tyem.

I hated Mary Janes, patootie.

In Baltimore we used to have fabulous deli's, not so much anymore...deli's are now just a section in Grocery Stores and not nearly as diverse as the originals. As Baltimore residents moved to the surrounding counties, the deli's followed but most of those are gone and also usually only found in big Grocery stores.

I have been living in Annapolis since about 1979 and we only have one small chain that still attempts to mimic the old style deli's. They still have a ton of meats and cheeses to choose from, but the big sour onions have disappeared....rats....they still have the barrels of the big Kosher Dill pickles, but thats it. Fortunately they still make their own salads which are reminiscent of Baltimore, but little by little the old standards are being replaced in favor of trendy stuff. About 6 years ago this family owned/operated grocery retired and turned it over to a younger relative who decided to revamp the 'old' lineup of favorites. Probably in a business sense it was smart, but I miss the old stuff. I's still rather have Moussaka than a fish taco. (lots of ethnic neighborhoods in old Baltimore........now it's just Taco Bell and MacDonalds)

When I started reading this subject line I thought it was going to be a thread about nuclear explosions. Oh well.

They are still available and I still have one on occasion.