Some of the best inventions go through plenty of trial and error before they become the things we know and love today. For example, PEZ is a common favorite candy, enjoyed by kids and adults alike. With different characters gracing so many PEZ dispensers throughout the years, they and the candy have become quite popular items amongst collectors. A vintage PEZ dispenser will fetch quite a pretty penny today.

However, according to the official U.S. PEZ website, the candy didn't start out as a sweet treat at all. PEZ creator Eduard Haas III was originally developed as an "alternative to smoking." At first, PEZ was only offered in a peppermint flavor and was marketed to adults.

According to David Welch's book, Collecting Pez, former PEZ president in the U.S., Scott McWhinnie explained the candy's minty origins.

"PEZ candy was developed and first marketed in 1927 over 60 years ago in Vienna, Austria, as a compressed peppermint candy," said McWhinnie. "In fact, the trademark PEZ is derived from the German word for peppermint, which is spelled pfefferminz. That's in English, the word, but the rest of it's in German. The automatic PEZ dispenser was developed in 1950, without the character heads on it. This was for a rather adult-oriented market."

It wasn't until PEZ expanded into the United States that it began to take shape into the candy that we know and love today.

"Then over thirty-five years ago in 1952, PEZ was introduced into America," said McWhinnie. "Shortly thereafter, market research with children led to the introduction of the fruit flavors and the immediately popular and collectible character heads. So, it was really a repositioning of the product in 1952 after it had come into America from Austria, from an adult product to a children's product...So now we have fruit flavors instead of peppermint and character heads instead of no heads.