Invented | 1780 | ||||||
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Main ingredients | Sugar or sorbitol | ||||||
Ingredients generally used | Natural and/or artificial flavours | ||||||
Variations | 406 | ||||||
10 kcal (42 kJ) | |||||||
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Other information | Owner: Mars Wrigley | ||||||
Altoids are a brand of mints, sold primarily in distinctive metal tins. The brand was created by the London-based Smith & Company in the 1780s, and became part of the Callard & Bowser company in the 19th century. Their advertising slogan is "The Original Celebrated Curiously Strong Mints", referring to the high concentration of peppermint oil used in the original flavour lozenge. The mints were originally conceived as a lozenge intended to relieve intestinal discomfort.
Callard & Bowser-Suchard once manufactured Altoids at a plant in Bridgend, Wales, but has since moved production to a Mars Wrigley plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States, in order to manufacture the products closer to where they are primarily marketed. [1] [2] They were marketed for a brief period in the 1990s under the "Nuttall's" brand when Callard and Bowser was under the ownership of Terry's.
As of June 2022 [update] , Altoids mints are available in five flavours, namely peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint, cinnamon, and strawberry. [3] [4] "Sugar-Free Smalls", tiny square mints sweetened with sorbitol and sucralose, are also available in peppermint, wintergreen, and cinnamon. In 2007, dark chocolate-dipped mints were introduced in three flavours, namely peppermint, cinnamon and ginger and in 2008, dark chocolate-dipped mints were introduced in crème de menthe. The chocolate-dipped varieties were discontinued in 2010. Also historically made, but no longer available, were liquorice, cool honey, and (non-chocolate dipped) ginger and crème de menthe varieties. Circa early 2011, Altoids altered the ingredients of their wintergreen mints, adding blue food colouring. Altoid mints other than those labelled "sugar-free smalls" contain gelatin.[ citation needed ]
Sour hard candies in round tins were introduced in 2001 but were discontinued in 2010 due to low sales. [5] Flavours included raspberry, citrus, apple, tangerine, and mango. Limited edition passion fruit sours were also released around Valentine's Day in 2005 in a larger 2.3 oz tin instead of the standard 1.76 oz sours tins that had been released up until then.
The sugar-free chewing gum, introduced in 2003, was made in the United States. Flavors include peppermint, cinnamon, spearmint, wintergreen and two sour flavours, cherry and apple. The gum has not been seen in stock in US stores since January 2010 and has been discontinued. [6]
In 2003, breath strips in peppermint and cinnamon flavors were introduced. They were discontinued.[ citation needed ]
In 2014, Eclipse Mints, another Wrigley product, were rebranded as Altoids Arctic, with the tin remaining identical save for labelling. The rebranded mints were released in only Peppermint, Wintergreen, and Strawberry, doing away with the wider varieties of Eclipse such as Cinnamon, Winterfrost, and several other flavors, as well as the chewable. As before, each tin contains 1.2 oz (34g), or about 50 mints.[ citation needed ]
The distinctive tins in which Altoids mints are packaged are often reused for other purposes. They have long been used as containers for household items like paper clips, coins, sewing materials and other small items. Many people make "Altoids Wallets" out of the tins, decorating the interior to add personalization. [7] [8]
Altoids tins have also been popular with outdoor enthusiasts for many years as first-aid or mini survival kit containers. A name for these kits is Bug-Out Altoids Tins, or BOATs. [9]
The tins are sometimes used to house electronics projects. BeagleBone, a single-board computer made by Texas Instruments, is deliberately shaped with rounded corners to fit inside the tin. [10]
A retrocomputing hobbyist computer, the Membership Card is a series of 1802/8080/Z80 based microcomputer kits, designed to fit in an Altoids tin, [11] and CMoy pocket headphone amplifiers often use the containers as an enclosure. [12]
The mintyPi is a kit that uses an Altoids tin to house a portable retro gaming machine. [13]
At the grand opening of The New Museum of Contemporary Art in 2007, Altoids announced the biennial Altoids Award, in which cash prizes of $25,000 are awarded to four artists from around the US. Winners have their art exhibited at the museum after the rigorous selection process is completed. The first winners were chosen by Paul McCarthy, Cindy Sherman and Rirkrit Tiravanija. [14]
Tic Tac is a brand of small, hard mint manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero. They were first produced in 1969 and are now available in a variety of flavors in over 100 countries.
A mint or breath mint is a food item often consumed as an after-meal refreshment or before business and social engagements to improve breath odor. Mints are commonly believed to soothe the stomach given their association with natural byproducts of the plant genus Mentha. Mints sometimes contain derivatives from plants such as peppermint oil or spearmint oil, or wintergreen from the plant genus Gaultheria. However, many of the most popular mints citing these natural sources contain none in their ingredient list or contain only trace amounts.
The Curtiss Candy Company was an American confectionery brand and a former company based in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1916 by Otto Schnering near Chicago, Illinois. Wanting a more "American-sounding" name, Schnering named his company using his mother's maiden name.
Life Savers is an American brand of ring-shaped hard and soft candy. Its range of mints and fruit-flavored candies is known for its distinctive packaging, coming in paper-wrapped aluminum foil rolls.
Pacers is a discontinued British brand of mint flavoured confection, manufactured by Mars.
Aero is an aerated chocolate bar manufactured by the Vevey-based company Nestlé. Originally produced by Rowntree's, Aero bars were introduced in 1935 to the North of England as the "new chocolate". By the end of that year, it had proved sufficiently popular with consumers that sales were extended throughout the United Kingdom.
Brach's is a candy and sweets brand of Ferrara Candy Company.
After Eight Mint Chocolate Thins, often referred to as simply After Eights, are a brand of mint chocolate covered sugar confectionery. They were created by Rowntree Company Limited in the UK in 1962 and have been manufactured by Nestlé since its acquisition of Rowntree in 1988.
Skoal is an American brand of smokeless tobacco. First produced by the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (USSTC) in 1934 as the first wintergreen flavored dipping tobacco, Skoal is considered a high-priced product within the dipping tobacco market. "Skoal" is an Anglicization of skål, a term used often in Scandinavia to announce a toast of friendship, with connotations of well-wishing.
Eclipse is a brand of chewing gum and breath mint, first introduced in the U.S. by the Wrigley Company in 1999 as its first entrant into the U.S. pellet gum segment. It was modeled after Excel in Canada, which was launched in 1991.
Copenhagen is a brand of dipping tobacco made by the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company. As with all tobacco products, it is addictive and contains several chemicals that are known carcinogens.
Certs was a brand of breath mint that was noted for the frequent use of "two mints in one" in its marketing. The original "classic mints" were disc-shaped without a hole and sold in roll packaging similar to Life Savers and Polo. Certs was one of the first mints to be nationally marketed in the United States and has been a fixture at American drug stores and convenience stores since its debut on the market in 1956. It was discontinued in 2018, possibly due to its containing partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, an ingredient which has not been allowed in food sold in the United States since then.
Callard and Bowser, LLC Inc. is a Chicago, Illinois-based subsidiary of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company responsible for Altoids mints, and other confections. Since the mints became prominent in the mid-1990s, Callard and Bowser has added a number of products under the Altoids name.
The D. L. Clark Company was founded in 1886 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh, by David L. Clark (1864–1939), an Irish-born candy salesman. In 1921, Clark Brothers Chewing Gum Company was spun off as a separate corporation. In 1955, when the family-owned D. L. Clark company was sold to Beatrice Foods, they had production facilities in Pittsburgh and Evanston, Illinois. Beatrice sold it in 1983 to Leaf, and they in turn sold Clark in 1991, though Leaf retained the rights to Clark's Zagnut and P. C. Crunchers bars. The new owner, entrepreneur Michael P. Carlow, would operate it under the umbrella of the Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company.
5 is a brand of sugar-free chewing gum that is manufactured by the Wrigley Company, marketed toward teenagers. The name "5" hints at the five human senses and that it has 5 calories.
Stride is a brand of sugar-free chewing gum introduced in 2006 and owned by Mondelez International, sold in packs of 14 pieces. In 2024, Mondelez discontinued sales of Stride in the United States, Canada, and Europe, but is still sold in China and Australia. It sold most of its chewing gum brands to Perfetti Van Melle in 2023, which didn't include the sale of Stride, to focus on other confections.
Grizzly is an American brand of dipping tobacco that was introduced in 2001. It is made by the American Snuff Company.
For over 100 years, Altoids® were packaged in small rectangular cardboard cartons that were approximately the same size as today's recognisable tins. The tins were introduced in the 1920s to help protect the mints and to stay neatly closed in pockets and handbags.
The good news about these tins is that they also come in handy as small storage containers for things like nails, coins, paper clips and buttons to name a few – the possibilities are endless. We've even learned that the tins have been used for more curious purposes – as hand-held works of art, even as an emergency wilderness stove.