Here you go Ang:

My mom told me they produced great black licorice cough drops.
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Tax, You Rock!!!

Yep, they did. And the cherry was amazing!! Gram had a bunch of diff flavors of the cough syrup when I little--Much better than the drops, and it WORKED, too.

One swig and the cough was gone for the day.....

Wow - my mom worked here, maybe when she and my dad first got married. And Ang, I definitely remember those cherry cough drops - they rocked!

I'm wondering what was the active ingredient that they put in that Smith Bros. cough syrup that made it so effective. Most likely something that either has been since banned by the FDA, something you would need a prescription for or something that you would have to sign a waiver for at the pharmacy counter stating that you will not take the stuff home and cook up a batch of meth.

Most likely the latter!

Heck in those days, it probably was meth.

The Smith Bros. are still in business to some degree, seeing as I have a big bag of the cough drops in licorice and wild cherry.

When I read the label they didn't seem to have an active ingredient. unless pectin counts.

The recipe may not be what it used to be. Anyone else remember Parke Davis Throat Disks? Those weren't the same after they took out the active ingredient, which made them taste all tingly.

The active ingredient in those was chloroform.