Ah, the PB Max. Before being discontinued sometime in the 1990′s, the PB Max had a brief but glorious run as a delicious addition to the peanut butter/chocolate market. It was a lovely slab of all things good: peanut butter, chocolate, and nuts all piled atop a cookie foundation.
The simplicity of it made it easy to love: with its square shape and basic ingredients, it came across as the kind of treat you’d buy at a fundraiser bake sale. It was also the kind of candy bar that, under desperate circumstances in 1989, you could try to replicate in your own home on a Saturday morning, using Extra Crunchy Jif, chocolate syrup, and Lorna Doones, before settling in to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.
The advertising campaign for PB Max wanted us to know what, exactly, the PB in PB Max stood for. Apparently, it wasn’t Platinum Blonde or Pink Baboon. Nor did it stand for Piggy Bank or Plow Boy. No, no: it stood for peanut butter, of course. Or at least that’s what they told us. I like to think it stood for Punked By, as in “I was punked by this stupid and delicious candy bar, which was discontinued about two days after it was released.”
Rumor has it that the Reese’s Big Cup is a decent substitute for the PB Max, but the taste of Reese’s peanut butter is so distinct that it’s hard to imagine biting into one and forgetting that the object in your hand is not, in fact, a PB Max. Your best bet is to hit up some local bake sales and hope to strike PB Max-esque gold.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to stock up on Jif and Lorna Doones.
I LOVED PB MAX! I had forgotten all about it! When I was in Jr. High, anytime I had spare change I used it at the machines in our school cafeteria to get one. I was so sad when they went away.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:30 pmI never had one of these but it looks sooooooo good I wish I could have one right now! :(
July 17th, 2007 at 2:28 pmOh, the PB Max was indeed a big-time favorite of mine, too! It was those and Drake’s Yodels that always got my money (Drake’s products being a New England-area thing, I’ve seriously been missing my Yodels out here in Arizona). I’d love to have another PB Max…thanks for the tastebud memory flashback, Jamie! Having concocted a lot of interesting foods in my life, I’m surprised I never tried to do the PB Max, given how addicted I was to it (I used to buy them by the box at the store near my house, and like a true addict, hide them in my room).
July 17th, 2007 at 7:53 pmI bought the last three cases of these that my local store had when they were discontinued. I miss them – used to eat them every day. Loved Bar None, before the caramel was added, also.
September 3rd, 2007 at 6:09 amI loved PB Max! It was sooo creamy and smooth! Why did they ever do away with them? They need to bring them back asap!
September 9th, 2007 at 10:16 pmI had heard from another website that the Mars family hates peanut butter. If that was the case, why did they go ahead and make this wonderful candy bar, not to mention the Peanut Butter M&M’s?
October 4th, 2007 at 6:39 pmBRING IT BACK
January 27th, 2008 at 5:33 pmthe PB twix that recently came out taste just like I remember these tasting.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:10 pmthese were my favorite!…..is there anywhere or anyway of purchasing them?
March 8th, 2008 at 1:35 pmI liked PB MAX but I thought at first it had peanuts. But it had cookie bites in them not peanuts.Bring them back.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:50 amI need to find some, any one have any idea???
In Orlando Florida
March 16th, 2008 at 10:08 amNo disrespect to the poster above who says PB twix is a PB Max substitute, but I disagree. I do like the PB flavor in PB Twix, but there isn’t a bar that had the creaminess of a PB Max (or is there? Please let me know if that’s the case. Thanks)
March 28th, 2008 at 9:16 amThough it doesn’t have the amount of PB in a PB max the closest thing i could find to taste like these things was a Girl Scout cookie called a “Tag-A-Long” I believe Keebler has a cookie thats close but its with a chocolate cookie rather than a plain whole grain cookie. I wish they’d bring this candy back…
April 26th, 2008 at 5:13 ammy cousin says they have them in New Jersey!!!!!
May 6th, 2008 at 1:33 amPLEASE bring the MAX back. Who made them?
May 14th, 2008 at 8:20 pmi remember this candy bar too. and to this day i’m still searching for it or hoping that it comes back. NOTHING beat it. and it wasn’t peanuts, i believe they were little rice crispy like things in the peanut butter. and yes it was creamy. nothing like a reese’s. and it was TALL. i mean seriously like an inch and a half of creamy peanut butter. piled on top of a twix like square cookie with little crispies in the peanute butter and covered in chocolate. hands down, the best candy bar i’ve ever had. ridiculously good, so much so that i’m still craving it TODAY. can’t believe nobody makes this nowadays.
May 19th, 2008 at 6:08 pmMy daughter and I would make a special trip everyday to buy a PB MAX. It was our favorite candy bar. Most times I would buy them by the box. I don’t recall any peanuts in them. Cookie, lots of Creamy Peanut Butter, and these awesome little round crunchy things that made the candy bar, then covered with a wonderful chocolate layer. “What’s not to love?” Everytime I’m out I scan candy counters just hoping that this delicious candy bar comes back to life. I agree with Vickie “PLEASE bring the MAX back”
June 20th, 2008 at 3:44 pmThe PB Max rocked! And no, it did NOT have nuts.
It was a glorious cookie bar smoothered in the creamiest butter of the peanut-gods with tasty-little-puffed-rice-crispy-morsels all perfectly piled atop gobs and gobs of peanut butter and then alast….covered in milk-chocolatey-goodness. INSANLY GOOD!!!
I like to think of the PB Max as the Play Boy in my life cause I got played. He gave me a taste of the best thing ever and then riped it away from me leaving no trace at all.
Come back Play Boy Max, Come back….
July 25th, 2008 at 3:06 pmP B Max!!! I loved them! They were big, creamy, crunchy, smooth peanut butter with crispies and chocolate! I wish they would come back out with them!
September 13th, 2008 at 10:16 pmp b max is and was my fav. I wish i could have one right now!!!!!!
October 9th, 2008 at 5:19 amIf Mars didn’t like peanut butter, why do they make candy with PB in it? Bet they like the profits.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:46 amIf anyone knows where to get one, or how to make it homemade, let me know!! They were the best!!!
(Maybe Hershey’s will read this, and start making them!)
If you really loved the PB Max this much, go to the Mars, Inc. Website and send them an email letting them know how much you miss the PB Max. If they get enough of these emails, maybe they will consider making them again.
P.S. I just sent a email myself.
Lets fight to bring the PB MAX back to life.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:29 pmI ate those PB Max everyday when I was pregnant, Id walk to the conv. store in that hot desert sun, Id buy 3 or 4 at a time. They were so good,I wish they wld bring them back.
December 20th, 2008 at 6:01 amFunny.. I HAD to look up info on PB Max candy bars to find out what the hell had happened to them and to see if I could somehow find them.
October 19th, 2009 at 2:20 amI had suddenly found myself craving them after talking to my finace about how it was my favorite candy bar when I was younger.
I would by a box of them at a time when I could and try to make them
l A S T, but it was impossible..I would gorge on them until my poor tummy was miserable..I read that they were discontinued due to the Mars family’s hatred for peanut butter…BOO!
Sorry to burst your bubble, folks… I too loved this candy bar as a child, but if it were to come back today there is absolutely no way in heck that it would be like the original.
In case you haven’t noticed, candy bars have become increasingly smaller and of a lesser quality throughout the past two decades or so, ESPECIALLY in the 2000′s.
Ingredients like a whole grain cookie and globs of real peanut butter have gone to the garbage in favor of synthetic processed food-like stuffs that comprise most candy bars we encounter today. The food science industry has developed tons of substitutes for wholesome ingredients that are far cheaper for the candy companies to utilize.
The exception here may be premium candy bars.
R.I.P. PB Max
November 11th, 2009 at 5:13 pmI love them I will love for it to be back …i want one so bad I just remember when I was a little girl how I just go and get one after school.
July 25th, 2011 at 10:47 pmPlease bring them backkkkkkkkkk
i only wish i could find these again some where in this world…… i would probably by a palet at least of them….. my dad would get half of them….. didnt think about making them with jif pb and lorna doone… maybe i should try it….. wouldnt even care how much they cost … they were awesome!!!! please please bring the goodness back!!!!!
November 2nd, 2011 at 2:39 pmi remember haven these as a kid, was my all time fav candy, like EVER!!! i crave them from time to time. and it sux cause nothing comes close
December 9th, 2011 at 7:04 pmWhat made PB Max sooooo good was that they used real creamy peanutbutter and not some nasty substitute like Reese’s cups. It would not surprise me if PB Max was discontinued because it was putting Reese’s cups out of business.
December 10th, 2011 at 4:05 pmWhat made PB Max sooooo good was that they used real creamy peanutbutter and not some nasty substitute like Reese’s cups. It would not surprise me if PB Max was discontinued because it was putting Reese’s cups out of business.Or maybe because it cost too much to use real peanutbutter.
December 10th, 2011 at 4:14 pmGod I loved these things. Still the only candy bar I’ve ever had that used smooth, creamy peanut butter like you would scoop out of a jar and spread on a sandwich.
Most peanut butter candy bars use that gross solid peanut stuff that comes closer in texture to an oil soaked Butterfinger without the crunch.
What I wouldn’t give for a box of PB Maxes. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups don’t even come close.
February 21st, 2012 at 12:30 pmThese were good, good candy bars. My sons would love them, but alas, they may never get to taste a real PB Max. It would be awesome if some smaller name chocolate company tried to replicate them. It would have to be the real creamy peanut butter, though!
March 22nd, 2012 at 3:50 pmFirst saw the ad’s on video tapes, friends had sent me in Desert Storm. Didn’t get to eat one till I made it back to Texas. Got hooked, and then they went away. Shame on you mars.
April 17th, 2012 at 1:29 am