Archie McPhee Probably Violates Some Kind of Law of Flavors

We've heard -- at least 2280 times -- that bacon makes everything better. But seriously: bacon mints? Bacon mints? Archie McPhee's new candy is certainly demented, but is it genius?

Each one of these mints tastes like a delicious slice of crispy bacon with just a hint of mint flavor to give it that extra punch! It may sound weird but once you taste it, you'll see that mint and bacon is a match made in China.

"That's right," said their latest cult bulletin, "you asked for bacon flavored candy and we listened!" Fess up now -- who? Who asked?

Most web reaction seems less focused on "mmm, sounds tasty," and more focused on whether they're likely to get you mauled by your bacon-seeking dogs or would go well with Marmite Guinness.

The inside scoop, though, indicates that they taste more like real bacon than McPhee's pioneering bacon-candy product, Gummi Bacon, which apparently tastes of strawberries.

They arrived yesterday, pallets and pallets of them. Unfortunately they had been flagged by the FDA so we couldn't sell them immediately, so they sat bound in plastic overnight. We had to wait for the FDA official to show up and do some tests. They never told us exactly what they were testing for, they just opened a few boxes and put a drop of a chemical on a mint and wrote something on a piece of paper. Our guess is that they were testing to see if there was actual bacon in the product. They have to be careful that we aren't importing cheaper Chinese bacon to flood the American market. Just imagine, someone somewhere might have a bacon testing kit that's as simple to use as a home pregnancy test. I know a few vegetarians who would love one of those.

Here comes the disadvantage. As soon as the plastic was pulled off the pallets, the whole building was flooded with the overwhelming odor of bacon. My hands smell like bacon, my clothes smell like bacon, my hair smells like bacon. I'm afraid to go to lunch as I may attract a pack of wild dogs. The smell of bacon is so overpowering one guy actually had to sit down for a few minutes to steady himself. This is powerful bacon mojo at work.

The inside scoop's verdict: "disturbingly delicious." We'll just see about that.