Talk:Altoids

Ingredients

I think it might be helpful if an ingredients section contained information that Altoids are NOT vegetarian: they contain pork derived gelatin in them. Do we cite sources here?--65.113.35.130 (talk) 00:26, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Misc. comments

"popped an Altoid."? what does that mean? "time of American Revolution"? When is that?

Confusion of 'the 18th century' with 'the 1800s' pops up again, further dimming credibility of the U.S. public school system.

Considering the article mentions that the Altoids brand originated in the 1780s, why do you assert that the author meant "the 1800s" in writing "the 18th century?" Perhaps the US public school system isn't so bad after all? (Anyway-- someone, presumably the anonymous poster above, changed the wording in the article to say "19th century." If the article is correct that Altoids originated in the 1780s, it needs to be changed back, but I haven't a resource with which to double-check. Anyone?) Student Driver 19:48, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

The text says that "the brand" was established in 1780, which seems to be a close paraphrase of the product info that comes packaged in the tins. That copy, though, says only that the Smith & Co. firm was established in that year, and implies that Altoids came along later. All the copy, frankly, seems deliberately vague; it gives late 18th and early 19th century dates for tangentially related events, and says only that Altoids were first produced "at the turn of the 19th century", a phrase it uses twice in three very short paragraphs. If anybody has a better date, it'd be helpful. (In any case, "at the turn of the 19th century is a bit unencyclopedic and potentially confusing--it could potentially be construed as meaning 1798 or 1899--it would probably be better to say "around 1900", all else failing.) 216.52.69.217 19:03, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Altoids now owned by Wrigley's

According to this week's Barron's, Altoids is now owned by Wrigleys.

Main picture

Is the Wintergreen Altoids tin the most appropriate image to lead this article? Wintergreen is a quite recent product, and not even available in the United Kingdom. It seems to me that a picture of the traditional red tin of peppermints would be more suitable. I will be happy to take and upload such a picture, and am proposing to do so barring serious objection on this talk page in the next few days. Comments?

--Craigkbryant 20:37, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. Splarka (rant) 08:10, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Other Uses

• The discussion of other uses probably doesn't belong so close to the top of the page. A section lower down might be appropriate?

• Agreed. -Bindingtheory 21:59, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

What can i do?

I am looking for something to edit and I would like to edit here.

--Jak 20:55, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Would like to help

I am a Wikipedia newbie, so bear with me, and please help me out when I stray. I am interested in helping work on the Altoids entry. My hobby is collecting Altoids tins; a collection of over 100 unique tins, including vintage tins. The history of Altoids isn't clear to me. There is some information on the paper inserts in each tin, and the Altoids web site has some information (http://www.altoids.com/faqs.do?categoryId=13). But, I have an old tin that doesn't have the name "Altoids", and I've seen other vintage tins that say "Now known as Altoids". It seems the recipe has been around longer than the name? I am hoping I can help in some way.

Yugdiotla 01:55, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Fisherman's Friend

Why is there a link to the "Fisherman's Friend" throat drop brand at the end of the article? They're not manufactured by any of the same companies, are sold for different purposes, etc. The only connection I see between FF and Altoids is that they are lozenge brands from the UK. Student Driver 19:41, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi student driver, I see and I understand your concern, but I think someone put this here as an accident becuase I too, don't see the connection between the two. Ilovepenguins145! (talk) 23:28, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

info request

Anyone know why they are so "curiously strong?" Any information about specific ingredients or anything similar would be nice.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.162.240.250 (talk • contribs).

Moving production to USA

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.

So was this move ever completed? Is the Bridgend plant still open or was it closed as part of this move?

It does seem odd that Wrigley would move production to the USA given that they have built entire advertising campaigns around the brand's "Britishness". 217.155.20.163 12:17, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

I added the update tag on the page since I don't know if it was updated. TJ Spyke 00:42, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

I bought a tin today in the UK and the 'Made in Great Britain' slogan no longer appears. Whether that means the move has happened I don't know, but it would suggest as such.

I bought several tins (12 March 2011) of Peppermint altoids in Poundland Exeter. The tin has German and English ingredients lists. It is similar to the old style tins, not embossed or with the 'concave picture frame' style of the American tins. It also has Callard & Bowser International, PO BOX 229, Plymouth, PL6 7WT listed as the address in the UK. Also a website altoids.eu but that just redirects to the US page with a not found error message. Best before date says 26 MAY 12 110 A4 14:18. Does that means they are coming back!!? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Anudeglory (talk • contribs) 17:30, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

Passionfruit no longer produced or entire sours industry?

The sours subsection of the flavors/etc section indicates that either the whole flavor set is no longer produced or the flavor "passionfruit" is no longer produced. It's not clear which one it means. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.157.57.171 (talk) 03:56, 24 February 2007 (UTC).

The Passionfruit sours so far have only been produced around Valentine's Day (PASSION fruit). Did anyone seem them this year (2007) at all? Or have they been discontinued entirely? -Bindingtheory 23:00, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Corrected ingredients list...

...to match the order as shown on the pre-2006 original peppermint tins.

Also, as of the package I'm eating right now, neither corn syrup nor glucose syrup appear in the peppermint variety. The flavors are listed as Natural Flavor(Oil of Peppermint). The package also indicates that they are "100% natural", which is not in evidence on previous packages.

65.42.26.190 (talk) 17:45, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Altoids in popular culture, specifically "The Altoids Trick"

The Altoids product is established in the internet hivemind as specifically associated with the enhancement of oral sex (see http://onastick.net/qtda/altoids.html). While the actual efficacy of the technique is, to put it mildly, not universally accepted (check the Snopes entry for this one, http://www.snopes.com/risque/aphrodisiacs/altoids.asp), the story is certainly "out in the wild". Should it be part of an "Altoids in popular culture" section in the main article? - ChromeNewfie

Not any more. The new Spearmint tin has "New Great Taste! Same Punch!" But it clearly says it has artificial flavors. TaoPhoenix (talk) 22:34, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Altoids tins used for drug paraphernalia

i see nothing wrong with noting that the tins are used to hold crack pipes and the associated paraphernalia. Badmachine (talk) 19:53, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Besides the fact that it doesn't add any useful information to the article, you're going to have a hard time finding a reliable source for such information. Sure, it might be true, but unless you can find a good article online that states this, it's not going to be acceptable for this article. Oldiesmann (talk) 05:35, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

well youre right, i found this, among others, that only show they are used to store the drugs themselves. i only added it to the article because there were other uses for the tins there. im sure theyre used for the associated paraphernalia, but wont object if someone removes it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Badmachine (talk • contribs) 07:08, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Varieties

If I'm not mistaken, there were only the original peppermint Altoids for most of the brand's history. Shouldn't some mention be made of this at the top of the section about the different flavors and varieties? B7T (talk) 20:28, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Hi B7T, I agree with your concerns, but there really isn't much information on the other flavors, as I tried to add more information to add. Sorry about that. Ilovepenguins145! (talk) 23:26, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

Altoids "case-modding"

I altered the "Other uses" section to a "popular culture" section, and added a subsection about uses for the tins. I've seen mention elsewhere on the internet of them being turned into cases for iPods or for battery chargers or power supplies, but didn't know of a good reference to cite. I also would have linked to case modding, but that article seems to refer to computer case modding. B7T (talk) 21:04, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

• I found a New York Times article online that discusses this very thing, and added a footnote link. (Apparently the print version is already mentioned in the References section.) B7T (talk) 13:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
• The "Minty Boost" USB charger would be the ideal reference as it is one of the better known ones, suggest http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/ as the reference? Stephen (talk) 11:39, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

References style

I added a "citation style" template to the article because online and offline references seem to be treated differently. Even though there's a "reflist" tag in that section, all online references are done as inline external links; and no offline references are shown to be relevant to any particular part of the article by use of "ref" tags for footnotes, which I think is the style that should be used because of the number of references. B7T (talk) 14:08, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I've tried to improve the references here. I pulled the inline citations down to a references section, changed what was the references section (which had no actual connection to any article material) to a Further Reading section, and moved the See Also to the bottom. Does these edits address your concerns with this article? --AnnaFrance (talk) 03:41, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

It could probably still do with a bit of tweaking, but it's improved enough that I removed the template. :) B7T (talk) 14:12, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Lead acetate

A reversion of this article was recently made to delete a reference to lead acetate. This may not have been vandalism, since this substance has been historically used as a sweetener, and it's entirely plausible that it was "prescribed in the original recipe" (emphasis added) as the article says. I did not revert the article again, because I don't know whether it's actually true. B7T (talk) 02:13, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Wouldn't this be a violation of some strict label laws if it had lead acetate? That feels like an Urban Legend to me. TaoPhoenix (talk) 22:36, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

What's in a name

The name altoid is a curious one. It sounds vaguely greco-latin. Anyone know anything about it? Rwflammang (talk) 23:38, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi Rwflammang, the origins of Altoids are unclear to most people, and while I don't have a full answer, I can say that the ending -oids implies a medical benefit (which is what Altoids was intended to be in the first place). Hope this helps!! Ilovepenguins145! (talk) 23:23, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

Altoids tins

I've restored an entire sub-topic on "Altoids tins" that was deleted two months ago en masse without discussion. Although MSJapan made a good point in the edit summary – the article is primarily "not about the tins" – I felt that complete removal was not the best way to deal with this. Altoids tins have, in fact, become more recognizable to many segments of society than the mints themselves. (I feel this can be backed up by reliable sources, but I'm going to focus on revising the material first.) I ask that editors consider working on the section to make it robust and sourced instead of just scrapping it. If the material begins to overwhelm the main article, citing solid sources for what we develop should provide support for moving it to an article of its own. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 01:28, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Okay, I've done some basic cleanup and cited one (less-than-stellar) source. Anyone else want to join me on this? ~ Jeff Q (talk) 02:32, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Hi JeffQ, I made edits to numerous topics and dealt with some errors in information etc., and I agree with you and I would like to join you on this. I have made edits to the 'tin' section and have added some information regarding what people do with the tins in a more detailed way. Hope this helps! Ilovepenguins145! (talk) 19:06, 26 January 2024 (UTC)