Chad Jones was lucky enough to stumble upon a store in Solvang, California, which sells Drop Mentos imported from Holland for $1.20. The store is:

Vinhus
440 Alisal Rd
Solvang, CA 93463-2726

When he told them about how excited he was to find Drop Mentos in the United States and his relationship to the Mentos FAQ, the kind woman who runs the store was rather unimpressed. (That excitement went away as soon as he tasted Drop...mint on the outside, licorice on the inside!)

You can now buy Drop online from Sweety's Sweets. Other flavors are available from Candy Direct Jesse Torres reports that at the 1996 UCLA "Spring Sing" Chris Hardwick (of MTV's "Singled Out") and his roommate, Mike Firm (Under the stage name "Hard & Firm") performed a medley of famous commercials, including the Mentos jingle (complete with tambourine accompaniment.) Following this, was their interpretation in Spanish! ("Mentos, El Freshmaker!")

Mentos were number 4 in the Top 5 non-chocolate bar list from Candy Industry Magazine. Check it out at http://www.candyindustry.com/Cl08/08-03.htm

Russia came up with an interesting way to promote Mentos: Bus painting. While riding on a bus in Russia, Karen Molye' saw another bus travelling down the street--the bus was COVERED in Mentos! Pictures of it are available at http://www.pond.com/~uhjeff/bus.html

A United Artist movie theater in Philadelphia, PA has a Mentos dispenser. The Mentos in this dispenser are Mixed Fruit Mini-Mentos. These are about 2/3 the size of your standard Mento, and pack quite a bit of Freshness. A similar dispenser was spotted in a leather-goods shop in Princeton, NJ.

Mentos are $0.48/tube at Phar-Mor in Franklin Mills Mall, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Heath has been working on this for years, but hasn't gotten anywhere yet:

I am currently negotiating with the Psychology department here at Purdue, in an attempt to obtain a research grant for the purposes of studying what I have termed 'the freshness effect' caused by consuming Mentos brand candies. Although there seems to be no mind altering substances contained in Mentos, individuals suddenly become aroused, inventive, and lose all regard for the norms of society a short time after using them. I've asked for $23,729.

Jim Howard writes: I've figured out the secret of the Mentos commercials! They never made any sense to me until I made the connection: The sword-like presentation of the Mentos tube to the inevitable villain is actually a politically-correct substitute for the one-finger salute! Think of the possibilities! Hey boss, check out the Mentos! That jerk cut me off in traffic - have a Mentos, buddy! You, the idiot with the attitude, Mentos this!

Tim Verry has confessed interest in hammering out the details of 'the freshness defense' for criminal acts committed while under the influence of Mentos. Good luck, Tim.

The teen that 'Evades Mom' does so by donning a New York Yankees cap. Ralph Berman pointed out that the cap had a different color scheme than the New York Yankees caps here in the States. He says that the NY symbol is in a silverish color instead of white, as is the visor of the cap, instead of being navy blue.

Tyler K. Wong listens to Alexx Bennett on Live 105 (105.3 FM) in San Francisco from 6am to 10am, and tells me that during his show, Mr. Bennett receives and reads E-Mail on the air. Tyler apparently came close to getting some of this FAQ read on the air. Live 105 isn't as fresh as some of the other stations in the Bay area, however, because Tyler couldn't sell him, and Alex later answered a phone call he wanted to put on the air instead.

At Florida State University, Isaac Salpeter gets to view 'Soccer Freshness' at the free movies show in the student union. They apparently show it frequently before the feature. The ad is an actual 16mm print of the commercial and is often received better than the feature film itself, according to Isaac.

Shane "Big Daddy Polite" Feldhaus also reports seeing "Soccer Freshness" at the Drake University last year. It seems this phenomenon is growing fast...

The United States is apparently very lucky--Just Schimmelpenninck from the Netherlands reports that the only ads they have are 'The 3 Second Car-Jacking', 'Overalls and Mentos', and 'Those Crazy Kids' (parts 1 AND 2)

H.D. reported that on the 'Steak and Shake' on Highway 52 in Lafayette, they have a candy machine that dispenses Mentos. The flavor was mixed fruit, he found after testing them. The dispenser simply read "MENTOS" It charged 25 cents, and when he turned the crank got 7 candies. "But," he says, "your mileage may vary.

Also, Susannah Strang writes "In our student run coffee shop there is a 'insert-coin-get-candy-through-hole' style dispenser that grants a large handful (probably 12-15) of Mentos (Mixed Fruit) for only a quarter. As you know, this is quite a bargain, but there is a catch; the Mentos are 'seconds'--deformed, shriveled, discolored, strangely crusty, sometimes to the point that it is difficult to look at them."

Hmmm... 'Old Mentos never die, they just get dispensed.'

Van Melle sent the following text to the E-Mail autoserver back when they had their AOL account:

"Please send all text pertaining to Mentos to VanMelle@aol.com"