I will finish up my official work with Rotary International as a Rotary Ambassador this coming week. While I am shedding one ‘ambassador’ title, I’ve just recently gained another. I’ve officially been ‘minted’ a Mentos Ambassador.

A good friend of mine Scott, is, among other things, possibly the world’s biggest fan of Mentos candies. (You know, the ones that come in the roll, with those campy commercials, “The Fresh Maker?”) Scott, in his time, has won numerous Mentos contests (including a year supply of Mentos, I think), knows all kinds of Mentos trivia, owns a Mentos swimming pool, and, probably most notably, has a renowned collection of Mentos from around the world. His collection is much more interesting than it may initially seem. Since Mentos is a worldwide product, its flavors are often geographically specific to local taste, and flavors found in one country may not be available in another. Since Scott is happily working in Iowa City, USA, he doesn’t have the ability to travel to the far reaches of the globe to hunt down every last flavor to satisfy his Mentos curiosity. Like any good candy-obsessed entrepreneur, Scott invented and regularly promotes his “Mentos Ambassador” program to travelers he meets.

Here’s how it works: Travel the world, find a new Mentos flavor, send two rolls to Scott (one for the “archives,” and one for him to try), and if you succeed in finding him a new flavor he’ll christen you an official “Mentos Ambassador,” and you will get a special laminated membership card. His program has brought him some pretty cool Mentos flavors from “Chlorophyll” found in Europe to most recently “Pine Scent” found in Japan (apparently tastes like pineapple). Though I am unsure of the statistics on how many can claim such a title, I’m certain its pretty prestigious.

Since I’ve been rounding the world for about a year now, I’ve come across many a Mento (Scott, what do you call one individual candy? Mento? Menti?). So I mailed him off a package a few weeks ago from Asia. As reported on his blog, the packaged landed in Iowa and I’ve earned my Mentos Ambassador card! Check out his blog post to read more about my shipment.

Anyone else need anything?