Reese's Oreo & Oreo Reese's

Product circa: 2025

The meta shit here is really getting screwy.  The brands are getting cheeky with it, and I'm here for it.

Reese's Oreo - A Reese's cup, half of whose chocolate is "white creme" in the style of Oreo, with Oreo cookie bits embedded in the peanut butter filling.  While the white creme is likely just white chocolate, upon the bite I find that it really doesn't taste much different than the original peanut butter cup.  The Oreo bits add a nice crunch, but on the whole, this snack is perilously close to the taste and experience of the original.

Oreo Reese's - A completely different conclusion than the one above.  Allegedly regular Oreo cookies with a peanut butter filling that is mixed with Oreo cookie crumbs/dust, much like the Cookies & Cream Oreos of old.  As coincidence would have it, I just so happen to have regular Peanut Butter Oreos on hand to compare.  The cream for this product is not the same as the PB Oreos; both my tongue and logic would say that this product's creme is more like Reese's, which is to say crumbly and salty.  It feels softer and fattier as well.  Along with the Oreo crumbs, it's delicious, much better than the PB Oreos.  The cookie is where these truly stand out: they are more brittle and less crunchy than your average Oreo cookie, in a way that is very pleasing to eat.  I find myself reaching for more in a fashion that I don't do with regular ones.  This product is special. 

Gatorade Mashups Cool Blue + Fruit Punch

 

Product circa: 2025

Note: This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

A cool idea.  This sounds delicious, right?  For whatever reason, it's not.  They don't marry at all.  I'd rather have each constituent product individually. 

Spotted in the Wild: Oreo Loaded

 

 

Note: These are a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom. 

I found these in Walmart.

I'm not going to buy them.  They look like a hybrid of the Oreo's The Most Stuf and their Cookies & Cream variety.  I'm pretty confident how they'll taste.  And I know most of its contents would go to waste. 

 

More Permanence

Heinz has pulled off another surprising move by making their limited time product Jalapeño Ketchup a permanent product! (Renamed from "Real Jalapeño.")

If you're wondering if it's worth picking up, you can find my review of it here.

When Ephemeralness Becomes Permanence

Just this weekend my consumer sense tingled as I passed a product package that registered as different to the corner of my eye.

It turned out to be Birthday Cake Oreos, as has previously been seen... but wait!  This product packaging recognizes that it is no longer 2012, Oreo's 100th Anniversary year, but also this packaging does not say "Limited Edition"!

Could Oreo have made Birthday Cake Oreo cookies permanent due to their success?  Let's hope so.  A cursory search on the interwebs do not officiate this permanence, but I will keep my eye out for news.

Will I take down my Birthday Cake Oreo review if it's gone permanent?  No.  That post was the very first one on this site and I can't bring myself to remove it... but also, as a detail of policy, I will only remove Presumptive Ephemeral Nom posts if I see that they are indeed permanent.

Corporations!

This is a neat image I found on the internets. (Click it to make it larger.)

It is a clever collage that shows which conglomerates own our favorite brands.  While I was familiar with soft drink brand ownership, I learned quite a bit from the snack quadrant of this image.

You'll notice that quite a few brands which compete with each other on store shelves are ultimately owned by the same corporation.  My understanding is that despite this, each brand markets independently in an intense competition for market share, shelf space, etc., and the mother company ultimately benefits from all this.

This is all the result of companies buying out each other for centuries along with a relentless hunger for market share.  I guess the ultimate take-away here is that it'd be really hard to boycott any of these companies, but until then, I fully plan to support them by buying their delicious products!


Source: reddit

What Is A Presumptive Ephemeral Nom?

A nom that is presumed to be ephemeral is a product reviewed on this site that, in my opinion, will soon be discontinued due to lack of success.  Whether its production or retail run is weeks or months long, any product that I deem a "Presumptive Ephemeral Nom" is one that you'll not be able to obtain, say, 2 years from now.

How do I know?  Sometimes a company will remark that a product is for a limited time only even if they do not market it as such.  Sometimes such products enjoy success and are later established as permanent ones, and sometimes not.

Aside from that, I'll be using the wisdom that I feel I've gained over a couple of decades of enjoying such products.  Whether the quality is bad, the flavor of the product is not finely tuned to American tastes, or even technical reasons such as when a product is good overall but doesn't have room in market segment, or when a product is too poorly marketed to breach consumer awareness.  It's usually a combination of these factors, along with my memory of what is successful and what is not that will guide me in my decision.

As for hard-to-find and regional products, I can only do my best with the information I'm able to dig up concerning its availability.  Any product that's hard to come by qualifies as "Ephemeral" for the purposes of this site.

I'm not infallible, and I encourage you argue with me in a post's comments on whether any given nom should be presumed ephemeral.  Also, I vow that if any products I review end up being permanent and widely available, then I will take down my post.

About Ephemeral Noms

I've always loved junk food since I was a kid, and that especially includes soda and other soft drinks.  One of my favorite things about processed food products is that brands will often issue experimental or limited time flavors and variations.  I always enjoyed finding these variations and coveted their exclusivity.  Beyond that, I also appreciate the audacity and lack of orthodoxy that companies sometimes have for products that they know only have limited production.

It's to the point where I have a keen eye for product package variations while passing through stores.  Not only am I able to pick out special products innately, but my friends and family have learned to send me pictures and samples of such products when they find them.

It is for these reasons that I started this website.  I shall document all notable ephemeral variations of food products.  The products include but are not limited to candy, cookies, crackers, beverages, and snack chips.  The nature of their variations will generally include but are not limited to special editions, limited time offerings, trial versions, regional variations, or simply rare or hard-to-find varieties.

Not only will I give you pictures, impressions, and any useful information of each product, but I will rate how good it is (along with its original version for comparison) on the NOM scale.  What's the NOM scale?  It runs from 0 to 5, with each level representing a verbal descriptor:

0 NOMS - Unpleasant: Generally bad-tasting or unsettling.  Not worth eating, and perhaps only worth buying for novelty.

1 NOM - Passable: Not disgusting but not quite recommended for consumption.  Either the flavor is strange or bland, or perhaps the brand was on the right track but misstepped.

2 NOMS - Good: Tasty enough to warrant at least equal consideration among its competitors.  Recommended to purchase and consume in order to try it at the very least.

3 NOMS - Great: Well above average and an example of a product well done.  Tasty and special enough to warrant multiple if not regular purchases.

4 NOMS - Outstanding: Worthy of stocking up on.  A product that you'll remember for years.  So tasty that it stands alone and is hard to compare to any peer products.

5 NOMS - Paragon: A singular product that is an example to the industry, and a tragedy if it's not made permanent.  I don't think plan on giving this rating very much.

If you ever find that my opinions are crappy or that I've given insufficient information about something in any post, feel free to call me out in a post's comments!  I'm also interested in your opinions.