… and the less said about it, the better.
Finally, one bastion of sanity in a lunatic world:
P.S. All of the previous appearances of Pumpkin Spice at CIDU were posted by Bill in the Fall of 2019; three of these presented some fairly hideous pumpkin spice flavored products (some real, some fictitious); click on the link if you are interested in seeing them. (Please note that the whole “pumpkin spice” collection will be presented in reverse chronological order, so you will have to scroll down past this one to get to Bill’s “spicy” material.)
P.P.S. – Edit: both links have been corrected, thanks to deety!
Comics I Don't Understand 
Sorry but, links need checking. Both of the links in the bottom bit just lead to the same cartoon as already appears in that section. (Or was this a “can you spot the subtle differences” puzzle?)
I vaguely recall a time when I actually liked pumpkin spice in things.
@ deety (1) – Thanks for the tip, I’ve corrected both links. This is exactly why I queue my posts to appear at 9am (my time), so that I can review them in the morning and fix any issues that I’ve missed.
A local carwash chain offers Pumpkin Spice Carwashes.
For years I didn’t want to try pumpkin spice because I assumed it tasted like pumpkins, which I hate. When I finally broke down and tried a pumpkin spice cookie, I realized I’d been eating it all my life at family Christmas parties. It’s a flavor I strongly associate with Christmas, so it’s weird to me it gets so heavily promoted in the fall.
@Fury, much the same for me! Just a minute ago I popped a pumpkin-spice scent wax melt cube into our scent melter, as I have learned I really like that scent, and sometimes the spice flavor for baked goods or drinks. But I won’t consume pumpkin pie, and while I tolerate decorations of dry and stable jack-o-lanterns I will run from the room if somebody is opening up a fresh pumpkin and exposing the swarming mass of pulpy seeds.
The same distress over swarming pulpy masses of seeds applies to aubergine (eggplant), and – though I know it’s rather different – pomegranate. I can enjoy pomegranate as an added flavor to a grape or berry drink, but don’t make me look at the fruit!
Have you ever seen those horrifying click-bait ads warning of Krohn’s disease but showing creepy pictures of an arm or leg or backside covered with erupting pustules? (How an internal bowel disease is supposed to have those disgusting skin symptoms I have never clicked and read far enough to find out.) Well, that’s what fresh pumpkin innards make me think of.
I don’t get the Brevity with the woman and the kid (who looks like Charlie Brown?!). Is it night?
Meanwhile, for the ultimate in stupid pumpkin spice: https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/special-kitty-scoopable-clumping-odour-control-cat-litter-pumpkin-spice-scented/6000197147854
That appears to have been real, if short lived. And I can’t imagine any cat not taking one whiff, turning around, and peeing in your closet or bed instead.
@phsiii
The woman sipping the coffee in Brevity calls her drink a “Great Pumpkin spice latte”, to the alarm of Linus from Peanuts. In Peanuts, Linus is a fervent believer in the Great Pumpkin, a figure that comes on Halloween to deliver toys to faithful children who wait in “sincere” pumpkin patches.
I think that the gag is that Linus believes the woman’s reference to her coffee as a “Great Pumpkin” spice latte means that the entrails of the Great Pumpkin were used to make the drink. It does look like it is night, but I don’t know if that has any meaning to the gag (Linus would wait for the Great Pumpkin at night, I suppose).
phsiii, the kid is Linus. He hears “great pumpkin spice latte” and thinks it means “Great Pumpkin spice latte.”
Ah, thanks, Usual John! That makes more sense–I knew it wasn’t Charlie Brown but obviously some part of [what’s left of] my brain recognized Linus.
A long time ago, a store offered what they called “Tan-Pops” which were a vegetarian lunch product. It was a sort of breaded tofu thing on a stick.
A vegetarian friend ate one, and afterward was upset that he had been tricked into eating turkey. It tasted like turkey to him. But I told him there was no turkey in it. What he tasted was sage, and there was a LOT of sage, making it the dominant flavor. There is also a lot of sage in turkey stuffing. When you smell sage, you think of turkey stuffing, and when you think of turkey stuffing, you think of turkey.
Pumpkin spice is to pumpkin what sage is to turkey. A lot of the pumpkin things you eat, like pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread, taste the way they do because of the cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves and allspice. There is some pumpkin flavor but the spices dominate. “Pumpkin spice” is all those spices without the pumpkin.
Please don’t get the idea that “turkey spice” would be a good idea. Tan-Pops are long gone and have no reason to return.
I love the one with the gas pump!
Pumpkin spice pie is pretty good.
Pumpkin spice pie is pretty good.
I’ll have to disagree there. That’s one of the worst uses of the spice. Unless you’re making the pie without pumpkin. I guess you could use it in apple pie or perhaps a custard pie seasoned with spice.
@ Boise Ed (12) – There were several “pumpkin spice gasoline” comics to choose from; I decided that my prejudice against squirrels should not deter me from selecting the one with (by far) the best delivery. Besides, the rodent kept his mouth shut.
A quick search indicates that spiced custard pie is definitely a thing.
Sunday’s Brewster Rockit: Space Guy had pumpkin spice kitty litter as the entire joke. Clearly it was such a ridiculous idea that Tim Rickard didn’t even think to Google to make sure it wasn’t real!