Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The feel of this gum is hard to describe. It has the texture and flavor intensity of a piece of gum you’ve been chewing for a long time - it’s kind of rubbery and dense with a very faint flavor. While it’s definitely not “normal” for someone used to American gum (as I am), the taste can be acquired if you want to like it. I’ve been addicted to sugar-free gum for years, and have grown more and more sensitive to sorbitol and xylitol, so I had to find another option. I didn’t want anything with sugar, but couldn’t find an artificial sweetener that agreed with my stomach. Even the “organic” varieties upset my stomach, not to mention that they’re way too expensive to chew regularly, and the flavor goes away in less time than normal gum. So Falim was the perfect solution - it’s affordable through Amazon, 0 calories, sugar free, and has no artificial sweeteners. In fact, mastic gum is supposed to be good for the teeth (unlike sugar) and good for the stomach (a stark contrast to sorbitol). It takes a little time to acquire the taste, but I was/am willing. Each piece of Falim lasts a lot longer than normal American gum because American gum is chewy and flavorful initially, which makes you want to spit it out and get a new piece when it gets rubbery and loses its flavor. With Falim, it’s rubbery and only faintly flavored from the very beginning, so spitting it out and getting a new piece won’t change anything. That may sound strange, but there’s a steadiness to Falim that’s kind of nice in comparison to the roller coaster experience of American gum. Regarding the flavors: I ordered pretty much all of the flavors - plain, mint, forest fruits, mixed fruit, and strawberry. I thought I’d prefer the mint flavor (since Trident spearmint gum is my long-time favorite), but the “mint” is not really “mint” - it is what I would think of as “plain” gum. I would describe the various flavors from an American perspective as follows: -Mint Falim= plain/unflavored/pure plastic -Plain Falim = hint of oregano-like herb (I have never had mastic gum before, so I don’t know if that herby mix is the natural flavor of mastic gum) -Forest fruits Falim = hint of Berry Burst (the flavor of Wrigley’s Extra) -Mixed fruit Falim = hint of Banana Laffy Taffy -Strawberry Falim = hint of freeze-dried strawberry flavor (including the freeze-dried aftertaste) All of the flavors are worth trying except for mint, which is just too blah. I hated the “plain” at first (it’s definitely unlike any American gum flavor), but now it’s my favorite - the others remind me of American gum enough that I find myself wanting to spit it out and get a fresh piece of full-flavored American gum. The “plain” flavor is very clearly it’s own thing so I can chew it for a long time without the same craving. Regarding the nutritional content: This was the biggest concern for me when I first purchased the gum, because I had trouble finding the label to verify that the gum lacks calories and sugar. Each individually wrapped piece (or each 5-pack when you buy the sets of 5-packs) actually has the ingredients and nutrition content printed on it, although the information is in really small font and in Turkish. I put it into Google Translate to confirm that 100g (way more than 1 piece) has 0 calories, 0g of fat, 0 carbs, and 0g of sugar. Regarding the 20 x 5-pack v. individually wrapped: The individually wrapped pieces are slightly larger than the pieces in the 5-packs. Also, since the gum expands when you chew it, the internal wrappers around each separate piece in the 5-packs are not big enough to hold your gum when you spit it out. The individual wrappers (when you buy 100 individually wrapped) are big enough to hold the gum; in fact, each individually wrapped piece is covered in 2 layers: an internal wrapper (slightly larger than that covering the pieces from the 5-pack), and an external wrapper (which is shown in the photos). This comes in handy if you want to chew 1/2 piece at a time. I only buy the individually wrapped variety now, as I much prefer that size and wrapper.