Lay's Air Pops

Will you pop for Air Pops? When you pop Air Pops, can you stop? Are Air Pops a flop?

While there are a lot of ridiculous things I can say based on the name of Lay's new offering, there isn't a lot of good when it comes to eating. I guess I shouldn't be surprised- after all, I'm reviewing a food that advertises itself as having 55% less fat than regular chips. When has that ever worked out? 

But while I initially scoffed at Air Pops, I bought some at the shop to see if they were good or a crock. See, as much as I shouldn't be interested in any diet chips, and while saying so will ruin my indie street cred, I do feel that Lay's has proven themselves time and again to be able to make awesome chips. In fact, I'd argue that they're the most consistently good, adventurous potato chip company out there. So while I wasn't thrilled to taste test a diet chip, I was still happily willing to give them a fair chance. 

Ok, these look weird.

And they don't just look weird, they taste weird too. They kind of tasted like a rice cake that was smashed down into the shape of a potato chip, with the same flavor powder they use on the regular chips. So if I were to lick these then throw them out, I'd get some delicious flavor, but eating them regular, you just get that weird "Is this a cracker? Is it a rice cake? It certainly isn't a potato chip..." feeling.

The Sour Cream & Onion were pretty bad. Time to see if regular can top them.

seriously? 2.48 for this? Should have been a buck 25 TOPS

These sucked. They were maybe worse than the Sour Cream & Onion because those at least had a flavor that was trying to fool me- these were just boring, barely salted cracker/rice cake abominations. As I was testing both flavors at the same time, I went back to SC&O to see which was worse, and poured out a few more chips. AND LOOK AT THAT. 

A GODDAMNED RICE CAKE. And where's the pop in that top thing? THAT'S JUST A CRACKER. 

So basically, these are somewhere between rice cakes and crackers, and so far, they both sucked. 

I'm a big fan of SC&O Lay's, but I'm a bigger fan of their BBQ. Could these pull it off?

Answer: Almost.

This was the most consistent bag in terms of the "chips" all looking alike.

And the BBQ flavor was almost strong enough to take away from the blah of the rice cake. In fact, I felt like it was a slightly different flavor of BBQ than we're used to on the chips. They tasted more spicy, and honestly, because of this, they were the only one I could keep eating. The BBQ flavor ALMOST distracted me enough from the rice cake/cracker bullshirt to make these an enjoyable snack, but truthfully, no amount of delicious flavor powder could truly make these something I'd care about. And I noticed something else when my fat hands fumbled the bag of chips and I dropped a bunch:

Whereas the flavor sticks to the greasy wonder of delicious potato chips in the non-diet, non-crappy version of these chips, with these, it's almost like a dry rub or powder just sprinkled on. Meaning, tons of the flavor just falls off. Why would anyone want that? 

Here, let me translate.

"We started with the mouthwatering goodness of Lay's brand flavor and then made a shitty version of them that we gave a fun name to and tried to fool you into thinking these would be good. 

Our Lay's Air Pops crisps have a weird, rice cake-like soft crunch and a third the taste (or just a bastardized version of it) you've come to expect from us, with 30% taste at best, and a not-that-impressive 55% less fat than regular potato chips. 

So you won't enjoy Lay's Air Pops crisps, and you'll just miss that Lay's flavor you love."

Either go on a legit diet or eat regular chips. Don't subject yourself to diet chips. They aren't chips. 

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Sour Cream & Onion: The crappiness of the chips will actually make you question if this is the same flavor on the regular chips, and make you forget if the original are even good. F.

Original Potato: These don't taste like potato. They're just bland rice cakes in mini form. F.

Barbeque: The only one I'd ever consider eating again, but only if I was starving and broke (2 things I often am) and someone was handing me a bag. The BBQ flavor is awesome, but it's not enough to distract from the chips. D.

Dear Lay's, after this travesty, even though I only bought 1 bag of these (stole the other 2 from Rich), you owe me some of those delicious Chipotle Ranch chips I only ever had one bag of. Thanks.

-review by Mike