A Pinex ad from Nov. 1960, a few weeks before I was born
Oh, lucky me, it was my turn to catch the bugaboo that has been going around. I guess I should complain as I can't even remember the last time I was sick, but this lousy head cold hit me hard, I've certainly been coughing my head off. So what to do for a cold? I hate cold medicine, it makes me feel lousy, so I only use it when I'm desperate, as I was this week. I've been putting myself to sleep with Nyquil, then suffering the Nyquil fog for half of the next day.
All this coughing and hacking got me thinking about a better cure, and I decided to see if you could still get the cough medicine of my childhood - Pinex. Pinex was an old fashioned medicine, a concentrate that mom mixed with a bottle of Karo Syrup. A spoonful of Pinex was sure stop your cough and tasted yummy too, kind of fresh and, well, piney. I remember it being a bit of a treat to get a dose of Pinex.
So I googled for Pinex and found it has long been unavailable, and I'm apparently not the only who misses it. I did find lots of old advertisements and some auctions, like this auction for an unopened antique bottle.(I hope they don't mind my stealing their picture for my blog - thanks!)
I also found the ingredients list: Alcohol, Chloroform, Oil of Pine Tar, Potassium Guaiacol Sulphonate, Oil of Eucalyptus, Extract Grindelia and Glycerine - Not sure what ingredients do what, and wonder if it would still be considered safe and effective but my childhood memory is that it really worked.
I also found another interesting bit of interesting to me history. The Pinex Co. was started in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in 1905 by William Noll, to sell through his families drug store. My birth name was Noll. I have no reason to think we are related, as I am a New York Noll, my great-grand father Henry having immigrated from Germany to New York City in the late 1800's, but I think it is a fun coincidence that my favorite childhood medicine came from a namesake.
Click on the picture to see a bigger, readable version!
5 comments:
"just laxative enough to be helpful in a cough" in the article above. ROFLMAO! Never have I found a laxative to be helpful when I was coughing! Wish there was something that worked too - I have some Delsym, it helps a little but not completely.
Hugs,
Shari
my dad gave us a little bit of oozo in RC when we were sick. don't know if it did anything but put us to sleep, but he made us take it. NASTY!!! it does open up the sinuses, but yuck..
Where can I purchase a bottle?
Where can I purchase a bottle?
OMG I would live to get my hands in a bottle of pinex. Grew up with it back east. It was the best for a cough. Can I buy it?
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