Why were they called humbugs?

Question

The old English boled sweets called mint humbugs,is it because they resemble bees or chafers?

Answer 1

Another interesting old meaning for humbug in the 19th c espedially in British Political circles was as a liar or hypocrite  

Answer 2

Don't know but they taste good !

Answer 3

Because they don't know the words?  

The use of the word humbug for a stripy peppermint-flavoured boiled sweet seems to date from the nineteenth century: the Oxford English Dictionary notes it as being ‘remembered in common use in Gloucestershire’ in the 1820s, while Elizabeth Gaskell in Sylvia's Lovers (1863) explained: ‘He had provided himself with a paper of humbugs for the child—“humbug” being the north-country term for certain lumps of toffy, well-flavoured with peppermint

The name of the candy is not related to the phrase "Bah, humbug", quoted in popular culture from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. That expression implies a general dissatisfaction with the Christmas season. However, offering humbugs around Christmas time is now seen by some as humorous or ironic.