Most of us gum chewers are guilty of sticking it under the desk or on a wall when no one’s looking. However, when that becomes an obsession and the sole purpose of your living, it gets odd and bizarre.
Barry Chappell is a 50 year old father from California who has a strange obsession of chewing nicotine gum and lumping it each time into a giant gumball. His hobby has lasted for the last 6 years and the result is the world’s largest gumball. The hobby started innocuously at an airport when he had no place to throw the gum he chewed and soon the joke between his daughter and himself turned into one of the grossest hobbies ever. The gumball weighs 175 pounds and has a diameter of 62 inches.
While he obviously can’t remember how many he has chewed exactly, he approximates 95,200 pieces of nicotine gum. His filthy habit has attracted the attention of Ripley’s Believe It or Not and has been awarded the distinction of being the world’s largest medicated gumball. As for the purpose of chewing nicotine gum, he decided to quit smoking 15 years ago and used nicotine gum to stay off cigarettes. He successfully has done so and his efforts have resulted in what I think is the most disgusting sculpture ever created by anyone.
Even more disgusting is the fact that he chooses to keep his beloved gumball in the middle of his sauna, as the steam lets him shape the gumball and also attach new ones without damaging the shape. He later uses a hair dryer to heat it again and continue sculpting it so that it retains the smooth surface. I real don’t have much to say about his favorite pastime but I only know that I would never step inside his sauna ever. You could also take a look at Alien Baby Gum Sculptures which we had featured sometime back. The Spy Cam Gum Pack could be a great way to take pictures in a stealthy manner.
