Our Story

I built SAPPI to be the gum I wanted.

I struggled with cavities as a teenager, despite eating healthy. Unwilling to accept that status quo, I began researching all things oral health related. Through my research, I discovered Hydroxyapatite. A naturally occurring mineral widely used in Europe and Japan, and incorporated into toothpastes and mouthwash, I saw an opportunity to put Hydroxyapatite into a new medium: chewing gum.

I almost gave up once I began researching the chewing gum industry. The innocuous “gum base” listed on ingredient labels might be anything but. I learned that modern gum is made from petrochemicals, essentially plastic - and contains industrial chemicals like Polyvinyl acetate, Polyisobutylene, and Butylated Hydroxytoluene, which we then put into our mouths and chew for extended periods. It went against my principals to create a product like SAPPI with ingredients I wasn’t comfortable with.

Luckily, there is an alternative. For thousands of years the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica have harvested the sap of the Sapodilla tree, known as Chicle, for use as a chewing gum. In fact, up until the 1950’s, almost all chewing gum was still made with Chicle, before industrial chemistry made synthetic gum bases more profitable. Fortunately, Chicle is still harvested, the traditional way, in Central America, and combined with the highest quality European hydroxyapatite to make SAPPI.

I hope you enjoy SAPPI as much as I have creating it.

 

       -Tom