Not even Hot Pockets are immune to the tides of change, it seems.
In a recent TikTok video viewed more than 447,000 times, user @magamgams shared that the legendary Hot Pockets no longer come with a sleeve used to help heat up the frozen dish.
“So this wasn’t on my 2023 bingo card. Hot Pocket got rid of the sleeves,” @magamgams said in a video posted on Monday. The video currently has more than 49,000 likes.
@magamgams Never thought I’d see the day. #hot #pockets #no #sleeve #hotpockets #2023 #bingo #card #whoa ♬ original sound – magamgams
The creator started off showing a sleeveless Hot Pocket before pointing the camera at what appeared to be the box that contained the Hot Pocket.
“After over 35 years of experience, we’ve developed the CRISPIEST crust in Hot Pockets history,” a message on the box reads. “So now, our Hot Pockets are just as good without the sleeve, and we eliminate waste too. Win-Win.”
“Never thought I’d see the day,” @magamgams wrote in the caption.
People were simply not having it in the comments.
“My finger tips have not evolved for this kind of change,” one person commented.
“Burn central!” the creator agreed.
“I didn’t vote for this nonsense. We should have been able to vote!” another person wrote.
“Literally fell to my knees and screamed,” another commenter said.
No announcement about the elimination of the sleeves appeared on the official Hot Pockets website and social media accounts Tuesday morning. In fact, the brand’s FAQ still touts the use of the sleeve to make your Hot Pocket crispy and discourages reuse of the sleeves.
The Daily Dot reached out to @magamgams via TikTok. We did not receive immediate responses.
Paul Merage started developing the Hot Pocket in the early 1980s, and the snack hit the market in 1983, according to the Haas School of Business at the University of California. Merage and his brother, David, sold their Chef America company, including the Hot Pockets brand, to Nestlé in 2002.
According to a 2017 Insider article, the snack’s famous sleeve is actually called a susceptor, and it absorbs microwaves in order to crisp up the Hot Pocket with concentrated heat. Mashed reported in 2020 that William A. Brastad invented the susceptor, which is used in plenty of other frozen snack packages, in 1981.
And to think, just 10 years ago, our biggest concern about Hot Pockets was a bizarre ad starring Kate Upton and Snoop Dogg.
If you take @magamgam’s word for it, snacking isn’t the same without the lost Hot Pockets sleeve.
“I’m gonna need some confirmation that they’re crispy,” a commenter wrote.
The creator responded, “Taste was the same…but the crisp? It was lackin.”
Update 3:03pm CT, May 16: When reached for comment by the Daily Dot, a spokesperson for Hot Pockets confirmed the company “removed the crisping sleeve from the Hot Pockets Big and Bold line last June.”
“Our chefs found that with a bigger product, optimal crisp could be reached without the sleeve,” the spokesperson continued. “However, Hot Pockets still uses the iconic crisping sleeve on all other product lines to provide the crispy crust and unique product experience that our fans love.”
