Doesn't Stack Up

Lay's Stax Buffalo Wings with Ranch

This was the first time I tried Lay's Stax chips. I like Pringles (much to Cindy's bafflement), and Lay's has done pretty well with other flavors, so I figured these would be worth a try.

I would like to note that I prefer the Pringles packaging. The plastic canister that Stax comes in makes them seem even farther from being actual food. That being said, I didn't take the packaging into account for the rating below. It's all about the actual chips, don't'cha know.

On opening the top of the canister I was greeted by a pretty good buffalo scent. Wait ... having seen actual live buffalo that doesn't sound right. I mean they (the chips, not the buffalo) smelled reasonably like buffalo sauce ... which isn't sauce made by or put on buffalo ... but I think maybe the sauce originated in Buffalo, New York or something.

Anyways, I dumped out a few of the chips and the first thing I noticed is that they're not shaped like Pringles. Stax are curved like they were made on the outside of a cylinder, whereas Pringles are shaped like a hyperbolic paraboloid.

The chips also had a heavy coating of orange-red powder ... but only on one side. I've read that Pringles are also only coated on one side, but somehow this seemed more pronounced. Weird.

As for taste, I got a solid sour cream and ranch flavor and a burst of heat. Surprisingly though there wasn't much in the way of buffalo flavor. I was expecting a bit of vinegar and such that just wasn't there.

Cindy turned up her nose at them.

On the whole, I thought they were ok. However the Pringles Buffalo Ranch is better.

Rating: 3/5