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Altoids

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File:Altoids Wintergreen.jpg
Altoids Wintergreen

Altoids are a popular brand of breath mints that have existed since the turn of the 19th century. Altoids are produced in Britain by Callard & Bowser-Suchard at Bridgend, Wales, although Wrigley, the brand's owner, announced in mid 2005 they planned to move Altoids production to an existing plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee in order to manufacture its products closer to where they are sold. The move is expected to be complete by mid-2006. The history of Altoids actually dates back to the reign of King George III. The brand was created by a London-based Smith & Company in the 1780s but eventually became part of the Callard & Bowser company in the 1800s. They are still advertised as "The Original Celebrated Curiously Strong Peppermints".

Altoids come in small tins that many find handy for a variety of uses, including storage of small paraphernalia. Some report that an Altoids tin can be fashioned to be used as an emergency camping stove [1]. They have also been used to create pinhole cameras, house small amateur radios, geocaches, MP3 players, cases for the Zen Micro[2], tobacco or marijuana smoking devices, iPod battery packs, and even Cmoy portable headphone amplifiers. Altoids tins can also be used as containers for small (and quite complete) mini survival kits [3].

The story of Altoids can be found on thin pieces of paper that come inside of certain tins.

Flavors and varieties

Some of the tins that Altoids products come in
Altoids mints on an Altoids tin. Note the irregularity in mint shapes.

Mints

Altoids mints are currently available in the following flavors: peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint, and cinnamon. "Specialty flavors", ginger mints and liquorice mints, were also created and sell in the same size and shape as the originals. Limited edition sets of tins are also available. The first displayed artists from Altoids' "Curiously Strong Art Collection" and was a set of three. The second featured slightly-altered pictures of images from long ago. The third and current limited edition set featured three interesting pop culture choices—two of the minor creatures from the Frosty the Snowman / claymation holiday specials, as well as the more popular icon Curious George. The Curious George tins in particular were immensely popular and sold out at many locations. In mid-2005, the company also introduced "Sugar-Free Smalls", tiny square mints sweetened with sorbitol and sucralose, in peppermint and cinnamon flavors (60 mints per tin). In mid-2006, they released wintergreen smalls, as well.

Sours

In addition to its regular line of mints, starting in the 4th quarter of 2002 the company also started selling hard-candy sours in round tins. Flavors include tangerine, citrus, raspberry, apple, mango, and passion fruit (no longer available).

Gum

In late 2003, the company introduced a line of sugar-free chewing gums (20 pieces per tin). The flavors of these include the standard peppermint and cinnamon, as well as two newer ones. In May of 2006, they also introduced spearmint and wintergreen gum. Cherry and apple are also available.

File:Altoids Citrus Sours.jpg
An Altoids Citrus Sours tin

Altoids Strips

In Spring 2003, Altoids started offering breath strips in peppermint and cinnamon flavors (32 strips per tin) in order to compete with the Listerine PocketPaks Oral Care Strips. Like the other items in their product line, Altoids Strips come in a metal tin, their smallest to-date. In fact, it's so small that it has a safety warning printed on it stating that "this tin may present a choking hazard."

Ingredients and nutritional information

Note: The regular varieties of Altoids (peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint, cinnamon, ginger and liquorice) contain gelatin, and as such are unsuitable for vegans and vegetarians.

Note: from the Altoids website [4], "Keep in mind that ingredients and formulations change, so nutrition information may also change."

Mints and specialty

  • Serving Size: 3 pieces
  • Calories: 10
  • Fat: 0g
  • Sodium: 0mg
  • Carbohydrate: 2g
  • Sugars: 2g
  • Protein: 0g
    • Peppermint: Sugar, oil of peppermint, gum arabic, gelatin, corn syrup. In April of 2006, the ingredients were changed to sugar, gum arabic, artificial flavor, oil of peppermint, gelatin, glucose syrup.
    • Spearmint: Sugar, natural flavor, gum arabic, gelatin, corn syrup, blue 1, yellow 5.
    • Cinnamon: Sugar, gum arabic, artificial flavor, gelatin, corn syrup, red 40 lake, peppermint oil, natural flavor.
    • Wintergreen: Sugar, artificial flavor, gum arabic, gelatin, corn syrup, natural flavor.
    • Ginger: Sugar, gum arabic, natural flavor, gelatin, corn syrup.
    • Liquorice: Sugar, natural flavor, gum arabic, gelatin, corn syrup.

Sours

  • Serving Size: 3 pieces
  • Calories: 10
  • Fat: 0g
  • Sodium: 0mg
  • Carbohydrate: 2g
  • Sugars: 2g
  • Protein: 0g
    • Apple: Sugar, corn syrup, malic acid, citric acid, artificial flavor, fumaric acid (for tartness) carnauba wax, red 40, natural flavor.
    • Citrus: Sugar, Corn syrup, citric acid, malic acid, natural flavor, carnauba wax.
    • Mango: Sugar, Corn syrup, malic and citric acids (for tartness), natural and artificial flavor, carnauba wax, soy lecithin (emulsifier), artificial color (yellow 6).
    • Passion Fruit: Sugar, corn syrup, malic acid and citric acids (for tartness), natural flavor, carnauba wax, artificial color (red 40, blue 1) (note, for passion fruit only: serving size: 5 pieces (5g), total carb: 5g, sugars 4g))
    • Raspberry: Sugar, corn syrup, malic and citric acids (for tartness), natural and artificial flavor, carnauba wax, artificial color (red 40, blue 1), soy lecithin (emulsifier).
    • Tangerine: Sugar, corn syrup, citric acid, malic acid, natural flavor, carnauba wax, red 40, yellow 5.

Gum

  • Serving Size: 2 pieces
  • Calories: 5
  • Sodium: 0mg
  • Fat: 0g
  • Carbohydrate: 2g
  • Sugars: 0
  • Sugar Alcohol: 2g
  • Protein: 0
    • Peppermint: Gum base, xylitol, isomalt, sorbitol, mannitol, gum arabic, oil of peppermint, natural flavor, artificial color, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, wheat maltodextrin, artificial flavor, carnauba wax.
    • Cinnamon: Xylitol, gum base, sorbitol, isomalt, mannitol, gum arabic, artificial and natural flavor, artificial color, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, red 40, carnauba wax.
    • Sour Cherry: Gum base, maltitol, sorbitol, isomalt, citric acid, gum arabic, mannitol, malic acid, tartaric acid, artificial flavor, aspartame, natural flavor, acesulfame potassium, red 40 lake, carnauba wax, blue 1 lake.
    • Spearmint: Sorbitol, gum base, xylitol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, acacia, mannitol; less than 2% of: natural and artificial flavors, oil of spearmint, aspartame, malitol, acesulfame. K, colors (titanium dioxide, yellow 5 lake, blue 1 lake), soy lecithin, carnauba wax, BHT.
    • Wintergreen: Sorbitol, gum base, xylitol, acacia, hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, natural and artificial flavors, mannitol; less than 2% of: magnesium stearate, aspartame, acesulfame K, color (titanium dioxide), soy lecithin, carnauba wax, BHT.

Sugar Free Smalls

  • Peppermint: Sorbitol, modified corn starch, wheat maltodextrin, natural and artificial flavor, magnesium stearate, gum arabic, sucralose (sweetener).
  • Wintergreen: sorbitol, maltodextrin, natural and artificial flavor, maltitolo, megnesium stearate, gum arabic, color added, sucralose (sweetener), soy lecithin (emulsifier).
  • Cinnamon:

Breath Strips

  • Cinnamon: Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, flavor, maltodextrin, corn starch modified, hydroxypropylcellulose, triacetin, polysorbate 80, ethyl alcohol, sucralose, potassium acesulfame, red 40.
  • Peppermint: Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, flavor, maltodextrin, corn starch modified, hydroxypropyl cellulose, triacetin, polysorbate 80, ethyl alcohol, sucralose, titanium dioxide, potassium acesulfame.

Ownership

Callard and Bowser-Suchard was sold by Beatrice Foods to Terry's of York in 1982 [5], which was then acquired by Kraft General Foods International in 1993. Wrigley's of Chicago agreed to buy the C&B and Life Savers units from Kraft in November 2004 for USD$1.48 billion after beating out competitors Hershey, Mars, Nestlé and Cadbury. The purchase was completed in June, 2005.

References

  • Grant, Jeremy. "New brands take a toll on Wrigley" Financial Times, London Ed. 26-Oct-2005, pg 27.
  • Terdiman, Daniel. "Altoids, the curiously strong tin; The container stylishly stores battery chargers, iPods and more." New York Times 2-Feb-2005.
  • "Wrigley to buy Altoids and Life Savers from Kraft." Candy Industry ISSN 0745-1032; Volume 169; Issue 11 1-Nov-2004.
  • What's News. The Wall Street Journal, Business and Finance, pg A1. 15-Nov-2004.
  • Pare, Mike. "Wrigley to invest $14M to make Altoids in its Chattanooga, Tenn., plant." Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. 23-Aug-2005.

See also

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