Remembering Penny Candies

I realized the other day that my first taste of coffee didn't come from a cup, but from a little piece of penny candy called a Coffee Nip. My dad used to take us to an indoor flea market on Saturdays, and one of the booths featured nothing but candy of every description. If we had a quarter or two, we could easily recreate the average Halloween haul. I fell hard for a piece of German-style chocolate called an Ice Cube. It wasn't like your average Chunky or Hershey Bar- it was incredibly smooth and creamy with a strong hazelnut flavor. At three cents a pop, it was the Cadillac of penny candies but I couldn't get enough of them. Our first and only goal on Saturdays was to seek out the "Candy Lady" and load up our small brown paper bags.

On other days, we would ride our bikes up to a store called Reinker's, which was owned and operated by a sweet old German man. Mr. Reinker ran his store old-school style, with clerks that always knew your name and the best ice cream section in town. He would always insist on patting us on the head, which would simply offend our four year old sensibilities. As I grew older, I discovered that Mr. Reinker also stocked an incredible assortment of penny, nickel and dime candies. Just behind the cashier stood the Wall of Paradise, complete with Ice Cubes and Coffee Nips. But it didn't stop there, no sir. Reinker's carried the Holy Grail of collectibles for an eight year old kid- Wacky Packs. These were cards featuring spoofs of well-known products, like Dunder Bread and A-Jerks Cleanser. Each pack contained the ubiquitous stick of cardboard bubble gum, at least 5 stickers and a piece of a much larger puzzle. It was a glorious day when I actually had enough pieces to finish the mother of all things Wacky- the big puzzle.

I did some checking around the other day and found a supply of Ice Cubes online. They now go for thirty cents a piece. The Wacky Pack manufacturers cranked out their last run sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. The stickers I wasted as a child are now worth a fortune to serious collectors. I could be very sad about these twists of fate, but I'd much rather get another pat on the head from Mr. Reinker as he casually slips another Ice Cube into my mother's purse.