What does Pez mean?

Today, Pez candy dispensers are a sweet treat for children and a novelty for adults. Originally, however, they were created to help adults quit smoking. Learn more about the fascinating history of Pez in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff works dot com where
smart Happens. Hi am Marcia Brain with today's question what
does PEZ mean? Most people have had Pez candy at
one time or another as kids, and a surprising number

(00:23):
of adults are hooked on the stuff as well. It
turns out Pez was originally intended to be used by
adults and didn't move into the kid's market until twenty
five years after its creation. Pez candy was invented in
nineteen seven by an Austrian food company executive named Edward
has the Third. The original candy, basically a compressed sugar

(00:47):
tablet flavored with peppermint oil, was marketed as an alternative
to smoking. The name came from the first, middle, and
last letters of the German word for peppermint. Originally, Pez
came in small tins, but in nineteen Hassas Company introduced
the first Pez dispenser. The original dispenser was designed to

(01:10):
resemble a cigarette lighter. To make an appeal to the
intended market of adult smokers, The company introduced the character
heads and fruit flavored candy in nineteen fifty two when
it brought Pez to the United States. The appeal to
kids was obvious candy that's also a toy. Over the years,

(01:30):
hundreds of different character dispensers have been introduced and then discontinued.
The dispenser body or stem has also changed slightly. In seven,
for example, supportive feet were added to the base so
that these things could stand up on your desk. One
way to roughly date a particular PEZ dispenser is to

(01:51):
check the patent number molded on its side. The main
numbers on US dispensers are Patent number two million, six
hundred twenty thousand, sixty one, issued in nineteen fifty two,
Patent number three million, four hundred ten thousand, four hundred
fifty five issued in nineteen sixty eight, Patent number three million,

(02:12):
eight hundred forty five thousand, eight hundred eighty two issued
in nineteen seventy four, Patent number three million, nine hundred thousand,
six hundred eighty three issued in nineteen seventy six, and
Patent number four million, nine hundred sixty six thousand, three
hundred five issued in nineteen nine. PEZ dispensers are a
major collector's item today, most likely because of a combination

(02:35):
of personal nostalgia, the connection to pop culture, characters and
the limited run on individual dispenser designs. Many individual dispensers
sell for hundreds of dollars, and a few sell upwards
of a thousand dollars. Be sure to check out our
new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff

(02:57):
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