Altoids are strange. A simple peppermint confectionery which has achieved an astonishing status among hobbyists of all kinds. The main reason, it seems, is the tin in which they are sold. The Altoids tin has become for many people the de-facto enclosure for hobby electronics projects. So much so that one of the questions in the official Raspberry Pi FAQ is “Will it fit in an Altoids tin?” (I’m afraid the answer is “no”). Naturally enough, this encouraged me to get some Altoids tins and build some stuff into them!
Some things about the Altoids phenomenon are a bit odd, though. Despite many of the tins proudly bearing the legend “Made in Great Britain”, they are curiously hard to find in the UK, and surprisingly expensive when you can find them. After a bit of poking around, I eventually found some Altoids on Amazon for a more reasonable price, but the “downside” was that I had to order a dozen.
This should give me plenty of tins to build my projects into, and as a bonus my breath will be minty fresh for the next year or so ;)
‘they are curiously hard to find in the UK’
I believe that Marks & Sparks rebadges them as its own, which also perhaps explains why they are hard to get hold of under the original name. I am not alone in this suspicion eg http://www.adambowie.com/weblog/archive/001814.html
Not that this information will be of use to you for a while ;-)
Interesting. I don’t often go in M&S so I’d not noticed these. They are over twice the price per tin compared with the dozen I bought, though!
Well, yes – it *is* M&S ;-)
You can get Altoids in Morrisons. The last tin I bought there was about £1.25 I recall correctly.
If only I could find a UK shop selling the sugar-free Altoids Smalls…