Nestle Smarties Hexatube

...of products they manufactor - Nestle is the second largest company in the UK's yogurt and fromage frais sector, with brands such as Ski and Munch Bunch. They also have Nestlé businesses of milks and creams, pasta, Herta and Maggi.


Henri Nestlé was the man behind Nestle, originating in Switzerland but now has factories all over the world, thanks to its great popularity with its consumers. The UK headquaters is situated in Croydon, ...
...since 2005.

Nestle recognise that the round Smarties tube was an icon in packaging design and has had an array of fun uses for generations. Along with washing up bottles, baking foil and egg cartons, the Smarties tube has always been an essential part of every kid's DIY modeling kit, used to create all manner of things from space rockets to castles - a true Blue Peter essential! They now think that, with the development of the Hexatube, ... more

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Smarties
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Smarties are sugar coated chocolate sweets that come in 8 different colours - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Lilac, Pink, Brown & Blue. Personally as I'm a girlie girl pink was always my favourite, and although all the Smarties taste the same, I used to stay away from 'boy' colours like green and blue, which my mum was thankful for!! The blue smarties used to contain a high amount of additives and used to send children into hyperactive mode, they were removed for a short amount of time, but have now returned and all the colours and now additive free. 307 tubes eaten per minute in the UK, proving they are very popular, and still ever as popular as they used to be.

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About Nestle
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Smarties are made by Nestle, famous for NESCAFÉ and Kit Kat which are the two main brands of the UK company, but this is not all they do, they have a huge variety of products they manufactor - Nestle is the second largest company in the UK's yogurt and fromage frais sector, with brands such as Ski and Munch Bunch. They also have Nestlé businesses of milks and creams, pasta, Herta and Maggi.

Henri Nestlé was the man behind Nestle, originating in Switzerland but now has factories all over the world, thanks to its great popularity with its consumers. The UK headquaters is situated in Croydon, Surrey, which I interestingly found out the other day when driving through East Croydon train station on a train to London, as it clearly displays it under the sign for East Croydon.

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Invention of the Hexatube
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The famous Smarties tube has been given a contemporary new look with the launch of the six sided Hexatube. This is the first ever change to the traditional Smarties tube since the product hit the shops 67 years ago. Hexatube has now been available in the shops since 2005.

Nestle recognise that the round Smarties tube was an icon in packaging design and has had an array of fun uses for generations. Along with washing up bottles, baking foil and egg cartons, the Smarties tube has always been an essential part of every kid's DIY modeling kit, used to create all manner of things from space rockets to castles - a true Blue Peter essential! They now think that, with the development of the Hexatube, a new chapter has begun for Smarties and along with it a whole new range of possibilities for the tube. I just can't quite see this, children don't get as excited as they used to over little things like a cardboard tube. They have bigger, better and more expensive things so why would they want a cardboard box, that they could just throw in the bin! I'm not sure about Nestles theory on this, but only time will tell, we will just have to see!

The packaging of the Hexatube is the colouring to the original packaging which contains a dark blue background with smarties erupting everywhere, like a Smartie volcanic eruption and the word Smarties largely and clearly written over this eruption in white with a chocolate brown outline. The packaging is bright and stands out and is clear to see. It stands out from other brands, with it's multicoloured Smarties.

One thing I do miss about the old cylindrical tube was the plastic coloured lid has gone, it is now purely a 6 sided 'Hexagon' cardboard tube which does up at the ends. I can't see this been quite as secure as the plastic lid though, especially been carried around by excitable children! Although I did used to squeeze the tube for the plastic lid to pop out and hit my friends, maybe a reason for them changing it! The plastic coloured lid used to have letters on, and me and my friends used to collect them to spell out our names, it was just another little novelty of the product when you were younger! The 'lid' on the Hexatube, instead of having the novelty coloured letter, now contains stickers, images or quirky phrases. I suppose this is a lot more exciting to a child these days, but for us adults still eating Smarties, a plastic lid with a letter satisfied us more than enough! The tube is also now bigger, although it is now recycable, it just doesn't quite have the same feel, memories and fun as the original one. At least you can still do the same things you used to with the Smarties, spelling out words with the colours, eating them colour by colour or picking out the ones you don't like and kindly giving them to your parents! Although the tube appears larger, it still only contains the same amount of Smarties as the previous tube - 48, which is a reasonable amount for the price.

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Who are they suitable for?
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"84 per cent of SMARTIES packs are bought by adults on behalf of children," according to Nestle. Smarties are suitable for both children and adults, but I think now due to their change in tube, they won't be quite as popular with adults as they were, the old tube was a reminder of their childhood and brough great memories, now it seems like it is just a new product, even though Smarties have the same look and taste, without the packaging it just doesn't seem the same. I don't think this will change children's opinions, it is just now good to know that they don't contain any artificial colourings now, so you can safely give them to your children without the worry of them turning hyperactive!

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Taste, Texture & Smell
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Smarties are small milk chocolate discs, covered in a brightly-coloured crisp sugar shell. Smarties are by far the best tasting sugar coated chocolate sweets available, some supermarkets sell their own brand versions, but they just taste plain and a bit too sugary! So it is good to know that there is no change in flavour or even the colouring from the old full of artificial colourings Smarties, they are just the same as they always were, just alot better for you and now not able to send your childen crazy from all the E numbers! I find all the colours taste the same, but this is not everyones opinion, although I do find some of them for example the deeper colours do taste a bit stronger! Orange Smarties are special in that they contain orange-flavoured chocolate but I don't really find I can taste a difference in this to the other colours. In appearance they are a more colourful yet flatter version of an M&M, but have a completely different inside, only pure chocolate. They are easy to eat, you can crunch them, chew them or suck them to get the sugar coated layer off them enjoy the chocolate. The shell crunches in your mouth, then the chocolate melts satisfyingly leaving you with a warm, smooth sensation in your mouth. The chocolate is tasty, it is not too creamy, nor is it too bitter. The only aroma I get is a chocolately smell, but not really anything significant that stands out. If you have too many Smarties though, I do tend to find they start to get a bit much a due to the sugar content can make you feel a bit sick and start to feel them at the back of your throat.

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Free from Artificial Colouring
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In June 2006 Smarties become free from artificial colourings. This came around due to consumer wants for healthier lifestyles, it also makes the product alot more suitable for children, as it will no longer make your childen hyperactive. In the first year since Smarties become free from artificial colours sales increased by 9%, proving that this descision was a wise one.

The "no artificial colours" message is featured widely on packs, and special displays will be mounted in-store to make sure that parents are well informed of the choices available to them.

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Blue Is Back!
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Many people seem to be confused on this and do not think that Smarties any longer contain that overly artificial filled blue colour, but luckily they are wrong! The blue was removed several years ago, due to its content of way too many E numbers, but recently, and since Nestles change to all its Smarties being free from artificial colours due to popular demand the ever loved blue Smartie has returned and like all the other colours, it is also free from artificial colours as the colouring is now taken from a natural substitute from the seaweed Spirulina so now you can enjoy as many blue smarties as you want!

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Nutritional Information
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For a 38g standard Hexatube of Smarties -
Calories - 174 kcal
Protein 1.6g
Carbohydrate - 26.9g
of which:
sugars 24.8g
Fat - 6.5g
of which:
saturates 3.7g
Fibre 1.0g
Sodium 0.0228g
Salt Equivalent 0.057g

175 calories are 10% of a child between 5 and 10 year old's Daily Recommended Allowance of Calorie intake. It is over 60% of the sugar and 25% of the fat Daily Recommended Allowance. 10% of the calories doesn't seem extortionate, but when you look at how much % of the daily allowance of carbs and fat are taken up by one tube of Smarties, it is quite worrying. Although this is a fair amount, it is to be expected from a product such as Smarties, you can't expect 'sugar coated chocolate' to have little fat and sugars in! I wouldn't recommend letting your child have too much of these, just as an occasional treat.

For adults the Daily Allowance is different, for a woman 174 calories is under 10% of their Daily Allowance, sugar content it is about 25% and the fat content is under 10%. For a man, it would be even less than this. When you look at it for an adult compared to for a child, it seems that the product is much more suited to adults.

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Ingredients
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For those that like to know what they're eating, here's a list of ingredients:

Milk chocolate (58%), Sugar, Wheat flour, Modified starch, Flavouring, Glazing agent (carnauba wax).

They used to contain many E numbers but these have now been removed.

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Other Smarties Products
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Smarties Hexatube - single and 4 pack
Smarties Carton
Smarties Mini Cartons
Smarties Hanging Bags

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Price & Availability
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Smarties Hexatube can be purchased for 36p as a single and as a 4 pack for £1.31. In a single tube you 48 smarties. Hexatube is the cheapest pack of Smarties you can purchase. Both single and 4 packs can be purchased from a wide variety of stores, such as supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's (where I purchased mine from), Asda, Morrisions, they can also be purchased from stores like Woolworths and WHSmiths and also petrol and service stations. Majority of stores that supply a range of chocolate bars will stock this, so it is not hard to find.

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Contact Info.
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Nestle
POBOX 203, York England. YO9 1XY
0800 63785385
www.smarties.co.uk

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Conclusion
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Still a popular choice of sweet/chocolate for both adults and children. Hexatube is a reasonable price to pay, and the quality of the Smarties are still the same, just without artifical colours, making them more suitable for children. The only downer is the new packaging, but as I said I don't think this would matter to children! 

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