Scary Sweets: The Origin of Halloween Treats

Other than horror-flick nights, costume contests and excuses to splatter the house with fake spiderwebs, nothing screams Halloween like sweet treats.

Let’s take a look at the olden-timey confections that have survived the ages and explore their historical roots? (And because we’re Breazy, we’re of course going to throw in some e-liquid recos for each one along the way.)

We’re not going to go deep into the history of Halloween. Suffice it to say, it’s a weird pagan holiday tied to the beginning of the “dark part” of the year aka winter. Now let’s skip to the fun part. Candy.

The tradition of children invading their neighbors’ houses and threatening pranks if they didn’t get a ‘treat’ became a thing in the 1930s. But the term ‘treats’ didn’t mean just candy. At the beginning, people gave out toys, fruit, and even coins to the itinerant street urchins who appeared at their doorsteps. Basically, the homeowners pawned off anything they had laying around their houses to the little goblin beggars.

As this is a red-blooded capitalist country, however, candy manufacturers began to recognize a profitable opportunity knocking on the door. They starting promoting their sweets for Halloween. It worked. By the 1970s, all the little creatures (we mean children) started turning up their noses at apples and pocket change and demanding factory-processed goodies instead.

So, that's the general history of Halloween candy. Now, let’s move onto the specific history of some of our favorite classic confections. And while we at Breazy don't have candy to give out (so don’t come knocking), we do have some candy-flavored liquid suggestions to treat yo-self this Fright Night.

Cotton Candy

The original, official cotton candy was invented in 1897 by a dentist (odd occupation to make a candy),William Morrison, with confectioner John C. Wharton. It was first introduced to a wide audience at the 1904 World's Fair as 'Fairy Floss,' which is a magical name they never should have changed because fairies are way more tantalizing than cotton.

Anyhow, if you are in need of Fairy Floss but not in the mood to wait on line at the state fair to get it, get online and order carnival favorite Cotton Candy! by Zonk (not to be confused with zoinks).

Donut

While Wikipedia informs us that the remains of food resembling doughnuts have been found at ancient prehistoric sites, modern doughnuts are generally traced back to the so-called “oily cakes” that Dutch settlers brought with them to New Amsterdam, which is now called New York, which is where Breazy is headquartered, which basically means Breazy invented doughnuts (holla!)

If you’re a Dunkin’ Donuts-oriented type of Old G, donut be discouraged. Try the Raging Donut e-liquid flavor for those, ‘I’m so hangry that they don’t dispense donuts for Halloween’ moments.’

Froot Loops

We don’t want to burst your bubble, but the fact of the matter is that while we also love Froot Loops, there is no actual fruit in them. And despite the rainbow assortment of colors, they are actually all the same flavor. Kellogg's introduced the popular breakfast cereal back in 1963. And while they still haven’t gotten around to adding any fruit since then, in the 1990s they added green, purple, and, most importantly, blue colorings to the original assortment of red, orange, and yellow loops.

For an ancillary vaping flavor experience we recommend Blue Razz Air Factory E Liquid. Why? Because it’s yummy and it’s blue!

Milkshakes

Now, if that nougat of history is too old for you, we can fast forward to a slightly more recent treat. The original “milkshake' was actually geared for adults with boozy ingredients such as whiskey. But by the 1900s, the concoction got a family-friendly reband with flavored syrups and ice cream in lieu of hooch.

For the old school peeps who want a flavor that’ll bring all the ghouls to the yard, Breezy Shake by Milkshake is a flavorful hip hop throwback.

Pancakes

The history of pancakes goes back. Way far back. Nat Geo taught us that starch grains found on a 30,000-year-old grinding tool are evidence that Stone Age chefs were making flour, mixing it with water and baking it on a hot, greasy rock. We don’t know about you, but that sounds like a prehistoric version of a pancake to us.

And because no one is going to be handing out pancakes on Halloween (we hope), try Pancake Man E Liquid to get your flapjack groove on.

Sour Patch Kids

Sour Patch Kids were born in Canada in 1970s and originally started out shaped as little Martians because kids back then were deep into outer space. But when the “Mars Men” as they were then called, decided to invade the US in the mid 1980s, America was in the clutches of the Cabbage Patch Kids craze. Hence, the name-jacking to Sour Patch Kids.

If you a hankering for a strawberry something, how about the Strawberry Sour Straws for that bit of pucker like a sucker without actually ruining your teeth of Martians masquerading as Cabbage Patch Kids?

We hope you guys enjoy your old-school candy inspired vapes this Halloween. Happy haunting!