The Atlas Obscura Podcast · Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Before inventing Kool-Aid, Edwin Perkins developed Nixatine, an herbal remedy for smokers that contained silver nitrate and laxatives. This product taught him that marketing was key, and he targeted World War I veterans. He later created Fruit Smack, a drink concentrate sold in glass bottles that proved problematic due to breakage, prompting his search for a powdered alternative.
“His first big break was this product called Nixatine. Nixatine was an herbal remedy that was supposed to help you quit smoking. But the ingredients were pretty interesting. Um, included silver nitrate and laxatives. So whether it worked or not has been lost to history.”
“But in the process, Edwin found that this whole making products thing was less about what you sold and more about how you sold it.”
“It was a bit surprising that their most successful product was something that you could drink. They called it Fruit Smack. Fruit Smack was a drink concentrate, you know, like the kind they would have at soda fountains to make soft drinks. But it was sold in glass bottles and these bottles kept breaking as people brought them door-to-door and tried to sell them.”