According to the people behind the Hint Mint company, “Mints are more than just candy, more than simple breath aids, they’re contemporary accessories.” That’s why their mints come in beautifully curved and decorated tins and are made without gelatin or other animal byproducts. Like fine art, each confection is presented as a distinct “series”; there’s the “classic series,” with flavors such as green tea and chocolate mint (12-pack for $29.40; 144-pack case for $324), the “artist series,” which come packaged in limited edition tins designedby a different artist each year, and the “awareness series,” from which the company donates its profit to Avon’s Fund for Breast Cancer. Not to be undone, Neiman Marcus’ private label mints, also free of animal products, “arrive fashionably dressed” in a tin featuring the store’s 100th anniversary photograph. ($20 for four tins, 38 mints in each.) And Oral Fixation’s fabulous fruit sugar free breathmints come in minimalist brushed metal tins “reminiscent of 1920s cigarette cases… perfectly sized to hold credit cards and business cards.” For those of us who just want to get rid of the taste and smell of lunch, there are many lower-priced alternatives to choose from. For example, six 1.75 oz tins of no-animal-products Myntz! Green Tea with Ginseng are only $12 at the company’s web site. 24 rolls of Breathsavers vanilla mints, which “neutralize not mask” odors, are roughly $1 each at Candy Direct. And to make another kind of statement with your mints, consider National Embarrassmints: Bush breath mints ($4 per tin). Need a gag gift? There are lots more mints in provocative tins and boxes at See Fred.