So, Chex Mix has been around for like, ever right? Therefore it’s obviously been ripped off, jacked, jip’d, or even stolen, for you people who aren’t as street smart as me. Brad and I were in the grocery store the other day, and noticed two brand new types of Chex Mix (Barbecue and Sour Cream & Onion). As always, we debated buying them but ended discussing the question of how much there is to actually say about BBQ Chex Mix. We all know what pieces make up the mix, and Barbecue is such a plain flavor you can practically imagine what it tastes like. Well among the competitors of Chex and their infamous mix comes a strong contender who I plan on making some big bucks on in Vegas in these inevitable snack battles: Cheez-Its.

The very loveable brothers in snackage at Cheez-Its must’ve had a similar conversation, where they totally realized how much better a Cheez-Its snack mix could be. It is of course similar to Chex Mix, but with many more cheez-its instead of chex, which haven’t been eliminated entirely, there are just a lot less of them. Pretzels and those little slices of dry bread are in this too, but what really makes this an elite mix of edible delights is two simple factors, the first one being the awesome addition of Cheetos; well not actually Cheetos, but they’re very, very close. They combine to make such a great cheesy blend of texture and taste with the Cheez-Its. The second thing is what really wowed me, which was the uniqueness and creativity of their flavor choices as opposed to a plain BBQ and Sour Cream and Onion-based world. Extra Hot and Spicy is a blend of the aforementioned ingredients with a nice spicy layer of green chili tabasco sauce, much like you would find in the tabasco cheez-its, which also may not be that daring, but that leaves us to our next flavor, which seemed pretty unique to me – Barbecue Cheddar. An almost obvious combination, but one seen about as often as the god damn loch ness monster, who still owes me tree fitty. Barbecue Cheddar is a new flavor to the Cheez-It and it wears it deliciously. With a smokey taste from the Barbecue mixed with a delicious cheddar from the crackers, it’s almost a shame they don’t make Barbecue Cheddar Cheez-It’s in the first place.

With all of those elements, my complaints are few and far between. The “extra” in the hot and spicy blend is kind of an overkill word and it was slightly depressing when they weren’t as spicy as I thought they’d be, but then again to some people, things that spicy might actually lead to medical probelms. Letting that slide, the pretzels and dried bread slices are much smaller than their Chex Mix counterparts, leading to a much better snacking experience, never accidentally resulting in “the crunchberry effect” (ed. note – thanks, anonymous commenter!), which is really a pure win. If I wasn’t such a fan of spice I would almost not be able to pick one, but nonetheless, this is easily the best snack I’ve had all year. I think they may have actually made the Chex Mix Killer.

On top of it all, I can’t believe I didn’t notice it, but they’re baked, not fried. Still probabaly not as healthy as Chex Mix, but hey, at least they’re trying. Anyone willing to compare the facts wins +10 internets and our eternal love.