Gobstoppers get their name from exactly what they do, and the word is older and more literal than most people assume.
What 'gob' actually means
In UK and Irish slang, "gob" simply means mouth. A gobstopper is, quite literally, a sweet large and hard enough to stop your mouth doing much else for a while. The term was already in use among British schoolboys in the first half of the 20th century, well before it had anything to do with chocolate factories or fiction.
Roald Dahl borrowed it, not invented it
Roald Dahl's 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory introduced the "Everlasting Gobstopper" as a plot device - a sweet that, famously, never got smaller no matter how long you sucked it. Dahl didn't coin the word; he picked up an existing bit of British playground slang and gave it a fictional twist. The idea proved sticky enough in its own right that a real confectionery company, Breaker Confections, later licensed the "Everlasting Gobstopper" name in 1971 and began selling an actual sweet under it in 1976.
Gobstopper vs jawbreaker
Across the Atlantic, the same basic sweet goes by "jawbreaker" instead - a name that describes the sweet's hardness rather than its effect on your mouth. The Ferrara Pan Candy Company is most often credited with popularising the jawbreaker in the US in the early 1900s, though the exact origin of the format itself is harder to pin down precisely. Either name, it's the same idea: a very large, very hard, slow-dissolving round sweet built to last far longer than a normal boiled sweet.
What we stock
We carry two sizes: Kingsway Gobstoppers 3kg for the standard size, and Kingsway Giant Gobstoppers 3kg for anyone after the genuinely oversized version. Both are sold in bulk bags, suited to pick 'n' mix counters as much as a single sweet jar. See more traditional hard sweets in our Retro Sweets collection.
Frequently asked questions
Why are gobstoppers called that?
'Gob' is UK/Irish slang for mouth - the sweets were named for being large and hard enough to occupy your mouth for a long time.
Did Roald Dahl invent the name?
No - he borrowed an existing British term for his 1964 'Everlasting Gobstopper' in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Are gobstoppers the same as jawbreakers?
Functionally yes - gobstopper is the British name, jawbreaker the US one, both describing a very large, hard, long-lasting sweet.
What sizes do you stock?
Standard Kingsway Gobstoppers 3kg and Kingsway Giant Gobstoppers 3kg.