Pringles Just Fixed An Age-Old Problem With This New Chip

Whether you consider them potato chips or something else, Pringles have always had a fundamental structural problem. The classic duck-bill shape looks suitable for scooping, and yet, when you hit that ranch, salsa, or bean dip, your Pringle breaks. It happens every time — or it did until now. In an attempt to take on more structurally sound rivals, the iconic bow-tie-bedecked brand is releasing Pringles Dippers. The snacks are thicker and wavier than standard Pringles, with a reengineered shape designed to hold even the heaviest scoopers' favorite dip sans spillage.

After questionable collabs like the Pringles and Miller Light barbecue mashup that was too heavy on the beer and the Buffalo Wild Wings flavored crisps that not even our hot-wing-obsessed writer could get behind, Pringles Dippers may well mark a return to form for the snack brand. Dippers will be available in original, French onion, and cheddar bacon flavors. They're hitting the shelves in September, giving Pringles fans a chance to work out their favorite chip and dip combo before big events in the snackers' calendar, like Thanksgiving and the Super Bowl.

Although it has been a while, Pringles Dippers aren't the brand's first attempt to break into the dipping market. If you were around in the '80s, you might remember Pringles Rippled Potato Chips, which were described in a commercial from that time as "the thicker dipper" (via YouTube). Like the new Pringles Dippers, they were designed to stand up to a good scoop of Super Bowl artichoke dip or guacamole.

But that's not all! Dippers themselves are tried and tested, at least in some form. A very similar product with the same name was sold in the U.K. and Ireland in the early 2000s. The dippable potato parabolas came in original, pepper, and sour cream and onion flavors. A range of Pringles Dips was released to go with them, including two salsas, a sour cream and chive dip, and a curry dip. Dippers and Pringles Dips were launched with a fair amount of fanfare and an impressive marketing budget, some of which was used on collectable plastic chip and dip holders.

Despite this, Dippers and the dips that went with them were quietly discontinued at some point later. It wasn't the right time or place for Pringles' Dippers back then. Perhaps the rerun, which seems to combine the dippable bowl shape of U.K. Dippers and the thick waves of Pringles Rippled, will be more successful.