April 19, 2006
The Original Celebrated Curiously Strong Peppermints
I've eaten so many Altoids peppermints over the years I could probably build a house out of the empty tins. Unfortunately, if I ever want to build an extension to that house I'll need to find a new candy.
A few days ago I noticed that all the Altoids tins at my local Trader Joe's had a new "old-timey" look to them, so I bought a tin to see if anything else had changed. Unfortunately, it had. The cosmetics are similar (perhaps even nicer), though the Callard & Bowser logo has been replaced by a note that says "Originally prepared by Callard & Bowser." In itself that's not as ominous as it sounds — the Altoids brand was purchased by Wrigley last year, but Callard & Bowser has been owned by Kraft and a number of other large corporations over the years and the quality hasn't suffered under them. However, the big difference is in the ingredients list. Old ingredients: Sugar, Oil of Peppermint, Gum Arabic, Gelatin, Corn Syrup. New ingredients: Sugar, Gum Arabic, Artificial Flavor, Oil of Peppermint, Gelatin, Glucose Syrup. And the little piece of paper inside the tin that used to say "To this day, Callard & Bowser continues to make ALTOIDS® to the original recipe developed more than 200 years ago" now bears the foreboding warning "Today, all ALTOIDS® varieties including Peppermint, Wintergreen Spearmint, Licorice, and Ginger are made to the same exacting standards as the original ALTOIDS® recipe developed more than 200 years ago." Uh oh.
With some trepidation I tried one. I've had two more since then, each time thinking maybe my taste buds were just out of whack, but no... the curiously strong mints are now a thing of the past. I've been trying to foist the rest of the tin off on coworkers, but I think they're on to me now. Personally I don't blame them — the experience is similar to chewing on those little sample tubes of Crest toothpaste.
I'm still hoping this is some sort of joke — a cheap knock-off counterfeit smuggled into Trader Joe's regular shipment, perhaps? I haven't seen any news or announcement from Wrigley about a change, though they have recently noted that profits on Altoids has been disappointing since the brand was purchased last year, blaming "limited marketing and innovation support". I can only assume they feel that when it comes to their product, it's the cost-to-manufacture, the brand and advertising they need to focus on — quality can be sacrificed.
Posted by bug to at April 19, 2006 8:47 AM | TrackBackRumor has it if you aren't satisfied with a product, you can return it Trader Joes.
Posted by: Rawhide at April 19, 2006 4:53 PM...also, we have a (perhaps) 2 year old Altoids tin with the ingredient list: Sugar, Gum Arabic, Oil of Peppermint, Gelatin, Glucose Syrup. It says "made in Great Britain" and lists "Callard & Bowser-Suchard Inc." as a distributor.
Posted by: Rawhide at April 19, 2006 4:59 PMI'm glad I discovered Smint. Cool dispenser, and they are supposedly good for my teeth!
Too bad I had to order a bunch online because safeway hasn't carried them for two or three years.
Gah, I'm bad at the technology today. just google it or whatever
Posted by: Mike at April 21, 2006 6:16 PMNat directed me thisaway for your tale of woe. If you wish to stock up on the oldskool Altoids, there were several boxes of tins at the Sunnyvale Rite Aid (Wolfe & ECR).
Posted by: Michaela at April 23, 2006 7:28 PMThanks — I picked up about 10 tins at Trader Joe's in San Mateo yesterday (they had a mix of both the old and new ones). Wonder if this is going to become like hording old Coke?
Posted by: Bug at April 24, 2006 9:40 AMI was so ticked about this that I sent an email to the company only to get the usual corporate bs. I'm slowing working my way through my last couple of tins and as soon as they are gone then I'm done with Altoids. I'd love to see Wrigley take a huge hit because of this.
Posted by: Beth at April 26, 2006 12:45 PMI have a tin for you that I found today at OSH...
Posted by: Mort at May 9, 2006 7:37 PMPLUS the new packaging makes the tin look like it's damaged. WHO'S STUPID IDEA WAS THAT??? First one I bought, I threw away cuz I thought I had gotten a bad tin by mistake. I wrote Altoids and complained and got a reply from Wrigley, "thanks for your input, blah blah blah".
If It Ain't Broke - Don't Fix It!
Posted by: denise at June 6, 2006 1:21 PMI threw the first tin away thinking my wife had picked up a cheap knock-off at Job-Lot. No such luck, it would seem.
Posted by: Charles at July 7, 2006 5:21 PMI am so disapointed with the new altoids. The ones from Great Britain were hard, lasting strong minty & great addictive taste. I stocked up at a Genaurdi's Supermarket a few weeks ago. I went to each check out line and sorted through the American made ones to get my stash. I ate the last handfull yesterday and came online to find a shop that sold the British ones. For close to $40.00 (shipping ground) I could purchase a 12 pack. I am so thrilled to find others who noticed the switch.
Posted by: Janie at November 18, 2006 12:59 PMHere's what I just wrote to Wrigley: "The penny (or less) that you save on manufacturing the new Peppermint Altoids with artificial flavor cannot possibly be worth the loss of so many loyal consumers. We dislike the flavor of toothpaste in a previously delicious product. Please change it back."
Posted by: Karyn at March 1, 2007 4:54 AMI just go a can a week ago that does not have corn syrup or glucose syrup and they are "100% Natural". The tin is different than the one pictured, and the mints are ok, but not as strong. I think they are using less peppermint, it is now third on the list of ingredients instead of second.
Posted by: Jim at December 11, 2007 11:11 AMDamn,i got the fake 1s in cinnamon!! :P
Posted by: Casey at February 5, 2008 8:52 AM