I love them.  Which is why, like a sucker, I shelled out $4.99 for the new premium m&ms.   I thought to myself, “Hmmm, ok, I could buy two 3 pound bags of M&Ms that would last me through 2011 for 5 bucks, or I could buy 23 fancy M&Ms.”  And I bought those fancy pants little suckers because I couldn’t resist.  

Well, they stink.  And here’s why – no candy shell.  The color you see on the outside is spray painted right on to the chocolate.  Now really Mars Candy bigwigs – do you think consumers are eating M&Ms because of the outstanding quality of the chocolate?  No.  It’s the crunchy shell that sets the M&Ms apart from the crowd, so to ditch that was a huge error in my estimation.   Besides the lack of texture, this omission causes the milk chocolate to melt in my hands and not in my mouth.  

Hang on – I just found this review which seems to indicate that the mint flavor does have a crunchy shell.  Dammit, now I am wondering if I just got a reject batch or something.  If anyone else has had them, let me know!!