Minties is a brand of confectionery originating in Australia and manufactured in both Australia and New Zealand for their respective markets. They are a hard, white and chewy, rectangular mint-flavoured confection, which on chewing become so sticky that they are notorious for causing dental fillings to come out. They were originally packaged in 5lb (around 2.2 kg) bulk tins or 3oz (around 85g) cardboard boxes, but now come in packs ranging from 150g - 1 kg. Minties are wrapped in waxed paper with a cartoon underneath the logo with the common caption "It's moments like these you need Minties". About 500 million are consumed each year. In the early 1990s, Chocomints were marketed, which integrated milk chocolate into the traditional recipe. Later in the 1990s, Minties released 'Spearmint Minties', but these were taken off the market for unknown reasons just before the end of 1999. In 2013, Nestlé (Australia) introduced Allen's Minties "Smooth Mints Choc & Vanilla" which had choc-mint and vanilla-mint varieties in one packet. History Minties were invented in 1922 by James Noble Stedman (1860–1944), son of company founder (and Australia's first confectioner) James Stedman (1840–1913). They were patented in 1926, and were manufactured by James Stedman — Henderson Sweets Limited at the "SweetAcres" factory at Rosebery, New South Wales. Other well-known lines made at Sweetacres were "Fantales" and "Talky Toffee". In 1968, Stedman-Henderson was taken over by Hoadleys, which was itself acquired in 1971 by Rowntree's. Nestlé took over the Rowntree's brand globally in 1981. They are now sold as "Allens Minties" (Nestlé acquired the Allens brand in 1985.) In 1930 or 1931, a factory was set up in Auckland, New Zealand. Cadbury now manufactures the lollies as "Pascall Minties". In November 2009, Cadbury New Zealand announced they were moving production from Auckland to Thailand and changing to a softer formulation that would be less stressful to teeth and may be consumed more quickly). Curiously, the 200g packets sold in Australia as (Nestlé) Allens Minties in 2010 are clearly labelled "Made in New Zealand". Depression, then wartime shortages Newspaper advertising appears to have dropped off considerably, both in quantity and quality, between 1931 and 1940. During World War II and until 1946, supply of confectionery was restricted; what output there was went to serving troops. Advertising resumed after the cessation of hostilities, anticipating eventual availability. Rationing may have been on a state-by-state basis. Place in Australian culture