How many licks does it REALLY take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? The world may never know. Right? Who remembers seeing that commercial, the one with the little boy and Mr. Owl? I know I do.
Did you know that the commercial is actually a lot longer than the one we know and love today? The original commercial has the little boy first talking to a cow, then a fox, a turtle, and finally Mr. Owl.
After this campaign came out, different groups of people decided to test how many licks it really took. Purdue University, University of Michigan, and Swarthmore Junior High School all did experiments of their own. Purdue found that it took 364 licks for a licking machine that they had built, but 252 licks from some of their volunteers.
On the other hand, Michigan’s licking machine took 411 licks to reach the center. Swarthmore did everything with human tongues, reaching an average of 144 licks. So after reading about all of these fascinating experiments, I decided that I wanted to get in on the fun. I gathered my people, gave them all lollipops, and we were on our way. I expected us to reach an average of about 500 licks per pop, but the results proved otherwise.
I enlisted 10 people, myself included, between the ages of 14 and 24, to help me discover how many licks it took to get to the center of the tootsie pop.
To advance the experiment, I gave out regular Tootsie Pops, chocolate Tootsie Pops, candy cane Tootsie Pops, and Charms Blow Pops. I gave each person two pops and had them record the number of licks it took to reach the center of each one, while only licking one side of it. Although it may seem fun, the lollipops took a toll on everyone rather quickly.
My oldest sibling said their headache started around 560 licks on the candy cane Tootsie Pop. They had fun anyway though, saying that they “love that last part getting the remains off the stick, like the last meat from a chicken wing.” The general consensus was that everyone’s tongues hurt and that they all desperately needed water. No one was happy at the end. I got statements from my friends like “it was totally bland”, “the orange became worse at the end”, and “my tongue went numb!” All in all, the experiment was very hard to get through, but I’m glad we did it.
Tootsie Pops were invented in 1931 by the Tootsie company, which had been producing Tootsie Rolls for many years already. There are a bajillion flavors of Tootsie Pops, including cherry, grape, orange, chocolate, raspberry, blue raspberry, strawberry watermelon, lemon, pomegranate, caramel, wild cherry berry, wild apple berry, wild blueberry, wild blackberry, and wild mango berry. Even the Tootsie Pop wrappers have a large variety of things going on them.
There are kids playing tennis, baseball, swimming, and running, but the most special wrappers are the ones with the Native American shooting a star. Although there is nothing actually important about the slightly rare wrappers, it is still fun to make a wish on each shooting star.
So when the experiment was done, the results were not at all what I expected. The average number of licks it took to get to the center of the regular Tootsie Pop was 678. It took 881 to reach the center of the chocolate Tootsie Pop. To reach the center of the candy cane one, it took about 617 licks. The Charms Blow Pops took 638 licks to reach the center. What makes the chocolate ones take so many more licks? Why were all the others in the 600-700 lick range? Why did anyone even agree to help with this experiment in the first place? So many questions surround Tootsie Pops.
The truth is that each Tootsie Pop and Blow Pop is made differently, so there will never be a definitive answer about how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of the Tootsie Pop. So the world really may never know.
If you feel the need to test this yourself or are just craving some sugar on a stick, you can always shop our amazing assortment of Tootsie Pops, and over 3000 other candies, right here on CandyFavorites.com.
Make sure to comment on your favorite flavors down below. I hope you have a licktastic day!
49 Comments
Well written and hilarious!! And it provides the answer to that age-old question (the answer being, We’ll never really know, but it’s fun and painful all at the same time to try to find out 😉). I love this blog!
I never paid attention to the Tootsie Roll wrappers–I will be taking a closer look now. Great article!
Yum look at those sweet juicy lips lick lick lick
‘So many questions surround Tootsie Pops.’ Indeed. Fun to read these candy blogs. They are sweetly written!
it took me 1210 licks…i swear idek how
2, crunch!
Well, it seems that you have this experiment licked.
I won’t be any help with this experiment because I don’t lick them, I suck them like a sucker!! Taste a lot better that way because your sweet taste buds aren’t on the part of the tongue where you just lick. You gotta wrap your whole tongue around that sucker!!! Hahaha!!! And as to how many licks does it takes? Actually, I really don’t care!!! 😊😄😂
It depends how hard/soft you are liking
It depends on how big your tongue is also my friend and I try it and one of my friends said it took him 322licks
Wrong, wrong , wrong. If you lick, there’s not enough water to dissolve the candy and therefore no taste. Best is to put the candy end in your mouth, close your lips around the stick, let the saliva build-up in your mouth and massage the candy with your tongue until it melts into the saliva. Spend a few seconds tasting the flavored saliva, swallow and repeat.
Actually it does take 364 licks of a Tootsie Roll Pop. There was a study done in ‘70’s, where it proved 364 with just a regular old Tootsie Roll Pop. The only reason I can see it taking more licks to the newer flavors is because of the flavoring aspects used
Carol is correct. Tootsie didn’t intend for you to actually lick them. Their goal is to make money. By licking, it would take far too long to consume a large quantity and thus no profit. The commercial was clearly instructing you to bite.
Su k ot!
Chocolate center after eating a sweet candy coating is nothing that I’ve ever tasted before. Or will since. Yuck.
I tried it way back when, and I swear it took over 1000 licks and still I wasn’t sure if the final veneer of candy was licked from the tootsie pop, but it was close- and then I bit it.
All this 364 lick stuff? No way 364 single licks will get anywhere near the center of a tootsie pop-!
I never had the patience. I’m a sucker, not a licker.
It took me ~2200 to be able to touch chocolate. Each lick was just a rub on my tongue tho.
I agree with those that said it was more like 600-700 licks, and yes so many things factor in, like what if I have cotton mouth, (not from smoking weed), or if my mouth is always watery…. So yea, it varies from person to person….
When I did this as a kid it took me 771 licks. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who tried.
We want to see the ad as it originally aired
took me 1460
Took me 362 licks
Sorry to ask this question here. But do you remember a caramel-flavored lolly called Laurel and Hardy? It’s possible it was merely their likeness on the wrapper.
took me 1150
it took me 2,008 licks to get to the center.
it took me 2,008
For math class, we actually are doing this, and it took me 1404 licks. Tomorrow we are doing Blow Pops. Someone in my class got 100 something licks (I’m pretty sure thy bit it at one point.)
What I’ve found curious as I’ve researched this question and the studies, formal and informal, that have sought to answer it, is how often the question is misquoted, and the ambiguity this creates. Pretty much everywhere other than the Tootsie Roll Company’s website quotes the question as, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?” This is incorrect. The proper quote is, “How many licks does it take to get to the TOOTSIE ROLL center of a Tootsie Pop?” This may seem pedantic, but I believe this inaccuracy is responsible for a great deal of confusion as to whether the goal in counting licks is to reach the geometric center of the candy as the first question implies, versus merely getting past the hard candy shell to first taste the Tootsie Roll core as the second question suggests. For this reason, anyone wishing to count licks should be clear about what the objective is first. You do NOT need to get the the very center of the lollipop. As soon as your tongue makes contact with the Tootsie Roll candy inside, you have completed the task stated by the original question. Having seen results ranging from 200-2000 licks, I can only assume that there is wild inconsistency in the stated objective in any particular attempt.
I asked Siri and she sent me here but I’m really with Mr. Owl on that one. “A three”
It’s on YouTube like the 1960’s Prince Spaghetti commercial.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
Any women who have attempted to find out are invited to find out another question requiring a similar skill set.
My grandson and I sat and he wanted to know if I would count, he is 8 yrs old soon to be 9. This year 2021. So I counted for him and counted every lick !!
How many does it take ???
1,537 licks to get to the center… He enjoyed ever lick ,and I enjoyed spending time with him… He really should get something , tonuge was swollen never quit …lol
I never licked lollipops of any kind. I always sucked on them. So this week I decided to just see how long I had to suck before I got to the center.
36 minutes and change.
[…] Mr. Owl is asked how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The Internet can answer all these days. But, before we had the World Wide Web, the owl, a symbol of wisdom, was the one […]
It took me 2,599 licks to get to the center of the tootsie pop
It really depends on how you lick/suck on the tootsie pop. I asked Siri and she sent me here.
Loved the article. Very well written.
When I was a kid, now @52 years old it took me over 1400. Maybe bigger pops then. Sore tounge even with breaks 😛😛 lick away, NO CRUNCHING HAVE FUN !!
As a kid, over 1400. Now 52 years old. Must’ve been bigger back then. Have fun and LICK AWAY. Take breaks 😛😛 or ouch
ACTUAL QUESTION:
“How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?”
ANSWER:
300(±15%)
None!
Just bur Tootsie Roll.
There is a link for nudes in the article. Hope there are no kids on here
Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. It looks as if the post was hacked and someone inserted that offensive link. It has been removed!
I did the challenge on the tootsie pop it takes 275 like to get to the center I love the orange ones and the apple
I did the challenge on the tootsie pop it takes 275 liks to get to the center I love the orange ones and the apple
One day in the cafeteria at school when I was in the 9th grade, an 8th grade girl had a Tootsie Roll Pop, and some other kids and I encouraged her to not bite it, and we counted 900 times when she reached the Tootsie Roll center.
It was so exciting and interesting to read this article! From childhood tootsie pops have been my all favorite candy. When I found this article I knew I had to read it. My grandpapa always told me and my brother “if you already know something it’s great to learn more about it”,so I took his words and learned more about tootsie pops