Twinings tins

Is there anyone who knows when I'd be able to buy EMPTY Twinings tea tins (the 200g/7.05oz and 100g/3.53oz) loose leaf size)? I've been looking everywhere but can only find full ones and I have no use for that amount of Earl Grey/Breakfast/Darjeeling tea.
It doesn't really matter what type of tea the tin originally held as the plan is to re-paint then, though a lighter colour would be better as there's less risk of shining through.
Anyone? I'd be forever grateful.

This is the kind I'm looking for:

Being a pack rat I never throw out old tins. While I do not have exactly what you are looking for I do have some smaller sample size and other companies as well as round ones
Where are you located? I would guess I have about a half dozen, maybe more.

>3 PawsforThought: That's very kind of you to offer but I'm only after those particular ones. I have a ton of others in varying sizes and shapes, but I've come to the conclusion that the Twinings 200g are perfect. They're the right size (I buy tea in bulk so need large containers) and shape (wider than they are high means they're easier to get tea out of and square instead of round makes for more efficient use of storage space). Plus, they're pretty.

Does anyone else know where I might be able to find these? I live in Sweden and have no immediate plans for UK or US holidays (though I'd love it) so online shopping is really my only choice. Anyone?

I live in Denmark and I don't recall having seen the 200 g variety at all. I have several of the 100 g type, but they are in use. And for the same reasons you mention :-)

>4 bnielsen: I can't recall much tea being sold in tins at all over here. Mostly it's tea bags or loose leaf in bags (which some people transfer over to specially bought tins, most people leave in the bags). But Twinings loose leaf isn't very big here, I don't think.

>5 PawsforThought: Agree. I rarely buy tea in supermarkets anymore and tea stores typically don't have Twinings tea. Most of my Twinings tins come from trips to the UK. Maybe half of them bought in the Twinings shop at the Strand. (Hmm, so maybe I just didn't want to fill up my bags with 200 g tins?)
Hmm, checking.. Nope. I don't have even a single 200 g Twinings tin. Where did you buy yours?

>6 bnielsen: I don't have any, that's the problem! ;) I've only seen them online sold in packs of six, all filled with tea. That's a lot of tea I won't drink so feels like a waste of money and tea.

>7 PawsforThought: Ah, I thought that you had some already and just wanted some more. Mea culpa! Yes, 1200 g of tea you won't drink is quite a lot. I'll drink Twinings Darjeeling without complaining, and maybe their Prince of Wales, but that's about it.

ETA: Just notes for myself.
http://www.amazon.com/Twinings-Earl-Grey-Loose-7-05-Ounce/dp/B000F4F94I ?
Amazon has the six-packs for Earl Grey and English Breakfast.

>8 bnielsen: I should have made myself more clear.
Amazon sells both Twinings Darjeeling and Prince of Wales in tins, though maybe not in sixpack.

I thought I might have to looks for 100g tins as well. There are teas I don't buy as much of as some so I could certainly use some of those, but they don't seem any easier to find, really.
Oh, bother! Why must everything I want be so bloody difficult to get hold of?!

I'm not a "proper" tea-drinker as I like fruity teas and rooibos instead of plain black teas like Earl Grey , Darjeeling, and the like. And Breakfast tea is the bane of my existance. Well, nearly.

Have you tried checking with Twining's?

World Market has some nice cubic glass canisters for a very reasonable price, though they may be bigger than you want.

>9 PawsforThought:

I think the 100 g tins are easier to find. The 200 g Twinings tins I've seen on Amazon and then only in the Earl Grey and English Breakfast variants.
So if you really want the 200 g tins and nothing else, then buy the six-pack from Amazon and give the tea for Christmas to some relative who likes proper tea. My guess is that the 200 g variant is for export only and can be found in USA, Australia etc but not in the UK, so even a trip to London won't help you.
Some kind of barter with an American friend might also be possible? Svensk saltlakrids, maybe? Surströming, probably not. I've traded Danish translations of Gore Vidal for Republic of Tea rare tea selections, so you might even have some fun doing that. It's also most certainly not the fastest way of getting the tins :-)

Hmm, Breakfast Tea as the "bane of existance". Brew it a bit strong and it can probably be used for removing paint :-)

>10 anthonywillard: No, haven't checked with them personally. I've checked their website(s) and there's only full versions. I suppose an email couldn't hurt.
Oh, and no glass cannisters for me! No way!

>11 bnielsen: Ah, if only I had American friends! Ha! Though I'd happily trade any lakrits I could find. And don't knock surströmming! It's delicious!

I sometimes see them in thrift shops or the local ReUse Centre. Don't recall noticing any lately.

>13 tardis: I've been looking at the thrift shops nearby and haven't seen any. There's lots of tins there, but mostly of the biscuit/cookie size variety. Or really old and rusty ones.

If you had only asked me in 1976 or 77, I could have given you all you could use! That was my Twining's period, and I was a packrat. I never found a use for them and they finally all got thrown away.

>15 anthonywillard: Not a true packrat then :-)

>15 anthonywillard: Well, it's too bad that I didn't think of this before I was born. I really need to learn to be more foresighted.

A little Googling may lead you to a source of plain tins, though my first attempt didn't come up with anything shaped quite like Twinings.

>17 PawsforThought: Well I should have been more foresighted too. If I had been thinking ahead that someone was likely to need them in about 40 years, I could have hung on to them. Actually, though, they weren't quite as nice as the current ones, which appear to have a square lid that covers the whole top. The old ones had a flat circular lid in the middle of the square top. Had to be pried open.

BTW, they can sometimes be found on EBay, not always. There is a market for them. Just checked and saw a lot of 15 which had just sold for $182.50, i.e. better than $10 apiece. Shipping charge of 18 dollars and change bringing it up to about $200.00. NOW I wish I'd been a real packrat, as the man says.

>19 anthonywillard: Oh, yeah. I've seen a few of those on auction sites. Seem fairly popular with the "shabby chic" clique.

I thought I'd resurrect this to see if anyone has any new tips/ideas. I've checked Ebay now and then and there is one or two auctions that look interesting and I might bid on but not much else.

I am still looking for BOTH the 100g and the 200g tins. Empty (I don't want to waits hundreds of grams of perfectly good tea but there's no way I'll be drinking all that and I have no one to donate it to).

An aside, has anyone here every spray painted tins? I'm curious about the results and what paint would be best.

>19 anthonywillard: The old ones with the circular lid looks nice, but as you say, they need to be pried open (crowbar or can opener!). The new ones are nice and can be opened several times without anyone getting hurt. They are the tea equivalent of Nedlloyd/Mærsk 40 foot containers :-)

Bump.