Chocolate Flavored Smarties

Non-chocolate "chocolate flavored" candies are quite a conundrum. Sometimes they work out great, like Tootsie Rolls, chocolate-flavored Tootsie Pops, or even chocolate Necco Wafers; but quite often the result is pretty grody. If you've ever tasted chocolate licorice or chocolate bubble gum, you know what I'm talking about. Nevertheless, when I heard about Chocolate Flavored Smarties, I was curious and a little bit hopeful.

I found this roll of Chocolate Flavored Smarties in the well-stocked candy section of a Party City store. If you can't tell from the photo, or just think I have really tiny hands, this happens to be a Smarties "mega" roll where each piece is about the size of a quarter. I'm not sure if this flavor is available in the traditional Smarties size.

As I untwisted the wrapper, the first thing I noticed about the Smarties were the smell. They definitely have a "chocolate" smell, but not real chocolate. It reminded me of a cross between the chocolate-scented pencil erasers that I would get as a kid and the scent of a Cabbage Patch Kid. More recently, I experienced the same smell from the Chocolator, the chocolate bar shaped chocolate-scented calculator that my sister bought me for my birthday. I took the Smarties smelling like plasticy rubber as a bad sign, and my gut was right. Sadly, the Chocolate Smarties not only smell like plastic, they taste very artificial. I couldn't eat more than one and half without getting grossed out.