Why Do People Chew Gum at Raves? Here's the Not-So-Wholesome Reason Behind the Habit

Raves are like something out of a science fiction story: they're filled with bright, flashing lights, futuristic outfits, glow sticks, LEDs, and that pounding, insistent EDM music that takes you on a journey without leaving your feet. It's a unique experience that people have enjoyed for decades.

Notably, there are some behaviors often seen at raves that might look odd to outsiders.

Namely, the fact that many people seem to be chewing gum, if not sucking on a pacifier or lollipop. So what's up with that? There's a very specific reason why people often chew gum at raves, and it has nothing to do with keeping their breath fresh.

Here's the scoop.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a rave as "a large overnight dance party featuring techno music and usually involving the taking of mind-altering drugs."

According to rave lore and good old-fashioned know-how, if you're planning to take drugs at a rave, such as MDMA, known as "molly" or "ecstasy," you want to chew gum.

The drug can cause you to grind your teeth and occasionally chew on your tongue or cheeks. While this seems like a relatively mild side effect, the chewing can go unnoticed while in the grips of the drug and lead to some pretty gnarly damage to the inside of the mouth.

Additionally, the grinding can cause some jaw pain as well as potential damage to the teeth.

Other options to prevent the rave grind are sucking on a lollipop or keeping a pacifier in your mouth, both of which can also serve to ground someone who might be feeling overstimulated either by the experience alone or with the addition of a psychotropic drug like molly.

Of course, there are people for whom the pacifiers are a fashion statement as well, so it's not one-size-fits-all.

The presence of the pacifiers and unique outfits often makes people wonder if raves are the same thing as music festivals and the seemingly similar culture that follows them. After all, they look quite similar from the outside.

But those who are into both will tell you that a rave provides a very different experience from a music festival.

Tale of Rave writes that there are several factors that distinguish the difference between the two, one being size. Raves are often underground, smaller affairs, while music festivals can host tens of thousands of people over sprawling facilities.

The site also points out that raves are often about the music, while festivals are spectacles of lights, sounds, tastes, and crowd movement. Raves are almost exclusively some form of EDM, while music festivals often focus on EDM but can span a number of music genres.

Yet aside from EDM and wild fashion, one thing they often share in common is the presence of MDMA.

So if you catch people at both raves and music festivals chewing gum or sucking on pacifiers, it's all part of the same EDM experience-centered love of music and the respective communities.