Certs
I love Certs. I love the packaging and I love the Retsyn and I love eating 12 of them in less than 30 minutes.
Certs was the first breath mint 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.
Though classified as mints, Certs contain no mint oil. Instead, as has long been advertised, the mints contain Retsyn, a mixture of copper gluconate, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, and flavoring. It is the copper gluconate in Retsyn which gives Certs its signature green flecks.
Not a true disk, a Certs exhibits a pronounced bulge emerging from the edge, subsiding to form a depression at the center. Certs were not always this shape. Prior to the current form, they were more regular discs with beveled edges. Each Certs is counterembossed on one side with the legend “CERTS RETSYN” in letters about 3 mm tall, approximately midway between center and edge, each letter oriented away from the center.
Certs are packaged in rolls of 12.
Unlike Tic Tacs and Mentos, Certs, in standard American usage, takes the plural form for both plural and singular references. (e.g.: “Would you like some Certs?” and “Would you like a Certs?” both represent the most common use.)
Update:
The debate over whether Certs is in fact a breath mint or a candy mint may finally be over. In 1999, the United States Customs Service classified Certs as a candy mint for tariff purposes (candy is taxed differently from oral hygiene products). In the ensuing suit before the United States Court of International Trade, Cadbury introduced expert testimony that Certs stimulate the flow of saliva, thus flushing bad odors from the mouth, and that its flavors and oils mask bad breath. But the court ruled that, since Certs do not contain antibacterial ingredients, they are, indeed, just a candy mint. On appeal, however, the ruling was overturned, fixing Certs’s status, at least as far as the United States Government is concerned, as a breath mint.
(via Wikipedia)
