As I was cleaning out my closet the other day, I came across a candy I had totally forgotten about – Dweebs. I found a sealed (yes, unopened and still sealed) box of Dweebs in my closet! Billed as the “Cousins of Nerds”, Dweebs were also made by Willy Wonka, just as Nerds still are.
Dweebs are both larger and more round than Nerds though. In fact, they look almost exactly like the 6mm Airsoft BBs (any other guys remember those?) that go into air pistols, right down to the bright colors. But instead of the hard consistency of Nerds, they’re soft and chewy.
Coming in a 3 flavor pack, Orange, Strawberry, and Punch, the 1.65 oz box had 3 separate (and closeable!) compartments to keep each of your flavors separate. Brad Kent also has a Dweebs package with Cherry listed so we know that Dweebs came in at least four different flavors.
My package has a copyright date of 1990, which means they’re 17 years old at this point, and I more than likely bought them from the general store at the summer camp I went to ever year. How do they taste? Yes readers, I actually tried my Dweebs that have been sitting in my closet for 17 years. Surprisingly, they were still soft. Good job, Willy Wonka! The consistency reminds me of Chiclets, but I don’t know if that’s how they were originally supposed to be. I can honestly say, that if these were a little fresher, I’d definitely eat them over regular Nerds.
Sadly, Dweebs were discontinued in the mid 90s, though they seem to still have a decent following. It seems CandyDirect still has them listed as available, but that must be an old, outdated webpage. No way they still sell them and if they did – wait – mine were still good. Maybe theirs would be too!
- Brad Kent’s Dweebs package (different than the one above)
- Dweebz at Wikipedia (spelled wrong)
you must be very devoted to try 17 year old candy lol. kudos to you! :D
-jon
Good for you. If you want to sell the box let me know. I collect that stuff.
Rich
I vaguely remember this candy. I don’t remember them being soft though, but it’s been a long time. I wanna try some now. Good job for taking the dive and trying nearly 2 decade old candy.
Lucky. All the old candy I’ve ever found has
been melted chocolate candies in Christmas
stockings : X
Oh, I really like this old candy ephmera. Do you have more? Is this something you collect? This is an exciting area of ephemera that I’d like to see more of.
hehehe…. those candies were as old as I am.
Really, that was brave.
I love nerds. Why do companies always discontinue the good candies? :(
I will be willing to pay anybody for a pack of dweebs. I am not afraid to eat them even though they are old, they are the best candy ever!
u r like totally brave to eat such old candy, Dude!!!
I forgot this in the other one, wer they any good?
hi i was wondering if i can use your picture of the dweebs candy for an article on wikipedia? I would like to post the picture but for me to do that i need your permission, you can either upload the image yourself to wikipedia and release the rights to the image or make this page on your site free for use so that i can upload the picture to wikipedia. Whichever you do can you please email me and let me know. Thank You
Dweebs were great! For my 14th birthday, I got 14 boxes of Dweebs and I was in heaven. I’m pretty sure that I ate them all. I wish they were still around.
I’m tempted to go out and get a box of their cousins in order to reminisce, but I know it wouldn’t be the same. Plus Nerds make my teeth tingle these days, I can’t eat them anymore.
life sucks now that dweebs are gone
Oh please, please, please someone tell me where to get this candy!! Or what I can do to get Willie Wonka to make it again. YEARS ago I bought the last stock that Rite Aid was selling of the Dweebs candy and have missed it ever since!
first of all how cold you post history re: ‘dweebs’ w/out even listing an existing cany store that sells them? do you know how long I have been searching for this particular cany? individuals do not even recall such a candy! seriously, I am kinda sad about it. Just this evening I was thinking, “hey, I have internet access,why have I not ever googled ‘dweebs’ before? so I did & this is what I receive as a response….
Bring back the Dweebs Wonka!
I remember them too! I must have been 10 or 11 (1994,5) when I found them hidden in a grocery outlet store. I’ve always been looking for them ever since, but figured they were never made again. Don’t remember them being soft, thought they were like nerds.
I LOVE CANDY. ESPECIALLY WONKA….WOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!
Dweebs were great! I missed those days where I can get from my neighborhood grocery outlet.