I’ve had an on again and off again, good and bad relationship with Nibs. They’ve been a part of my candy eating world for as long as I can remember, but objectively I don’t really understand them. One could easily lump these with standard red licorice like Twizzlers or Red Vines, but they’re kind of different. The difference is that one of the main entertaining features of a licorice rope is the fact that it’s a rope. I would even argue that the weird twisty pattern on a licorice rope gives the candy an interesting feature. These Nibs on the other hand are not twisty and are just short little nubs. They’re also solid, this being different than most licorice candies as they’re often hollow.

While the main ingredient is similar, this is truly a unique candy design. The thing that keeps changing for me however is how I feel about this uniquely designed candy. Sometimes I look at them as being a handful of really chewy bits that are extremely satisfying to bite down on, other times I see them as just boring rubbery nubs. Sometimes my feeling changes even while I’m eating them. One handful will be nice and satisfying, another handful will convince me that there must be something more interesting to eat.

The flavour of a cherry Nib doesn’t help either. There is no doubt a cherry flavour, but it’s not something particularly unique, unless you consider how it seems to ebb and flow. It seems like when you first put these Nibs in your mouth you don’t really get any kind of cherry flavour at all, they’re actually fairly flavourless. After a few bites the cherry flavour starts to grow, and just at the moment when you think you’re going to be blasted with an intense cherry flavour, it seems to die down again back to a boring flavourless rubber.

These cherry Nibs are really mysterious, and trying to boil down weather they’re good or not is no easy feat. I might love them at one moment, and then dislike them the next. I keep thinking I may stay away from them for a while, but maybe not.