Novelty candies are rarely more than that. When I picked up these Sour Smog Balls (from the makers of the uber-kid candy Toxic Waste) at Powell’s Sweet Shoppe, I assumed I was in for the humdrum.

Maybe they’d be sour, I thought, but likely the fake over-sour that ‘funny’ candies do, with a pedestrian texture and no discerning flavors.

Well, this may seem unebelievable to all of us… but I was wrong.

First off the colors are great. Some semi-solid, other with spreckled dots, these brought out the little dude in me and I wanted to try all of them. When you eat them, they are like a mini gobstopper. You can bite them, but they don’t crack as easily as a Skittle or the Chewy Lemonheads family. I sorta wondered whether they would break a tooth, but suddenly they give – and the sour floods in.

The morsels are small so there’s a lot of sour but it doesn’t fill up your mouth in a mess of candy. The flavors aren’t actually that figure-outable. I actually have no idea what they are – maybe a berry, and an orange. The green ones couuuuuuld be a light apple I guess. But whatever they are, they seem to be different with each color, so the experience of each one is unique.

These are fun to eat, and I can’t believe that I may actually go out and buy another package…And that’s my main ding on these: if they packaged them differently — let’s say, like an adult sour candy — I’d have no trouble buying and re-buying. But as it is, they’re doing the whole cartoony Dr. Smog character, and I’ll feel like a freak making these a candy aisle goto.

But if you want big sour in a solid little bite, forget what the other adults around you are thinking and reach for the Sour Smog Balls.