It was over 60 years ago that a man named Eduard Haas created a compressed peppermint candy. By using the first, middle and last letters of the German word for peppermint (PfeffErminZ), the name Pez was derived. Then in 1952, Pez was brought to the United States, and the introduction of fruit flavors and character heads made their debut. Prior to the early 1950s the dispensers had no character heads, these early versions were actually made for adults and came with a thumb grip.
The early dipensers are known by collectors as "Regulars." Since the creation of character heads, there have been over 250 different types. Besides the popular T.V.and cartoon characters, there have been several of the company's own creations, one in particular is the Pez pal series. These were done in part with a comic strip character named Pezi. He would change into several disguises and solve mysteries. The popularity of collecting pez dispensers has increased dramatically in recent years. And it's no wonder, with pez being mentioned in movies, T.V. and newspapers. There are even organized conventions that you can attend.