They are little, round and darn addictive. I know, because Altoids, those famously strong mints in a tin case, were my confection of choice for several years. However, my beloved mints have come to find themselves in the middle of a personal dilemma.

To say that I am engaged in consumer battle with myself is only a slight exaggeration. The story starts on that fateful day of my senior year of high school when hearing something about Callard & Bowser, the British company that has been making the mints for decades.

I learned that Callard & Bowser was owned by Kraft Foods, and of course that Kraft is owned by Phillip Morris, USA. (This was before they changed their name to Altria with a happy new logo and put a happy new face on the tobacco products helping us along to emphysema.)

In shock, I had thought these mints were just the thing, after carefully addicting many of my high school friends, to catapult me into small-school notoriety. My obsession came to an abrupt end as I could no longer achieve mint bliss from the world’s “leading” tobacco company. I promptly informed my friends of my decision and haven’t purchased a tin since.

I like to think of this time as a seminal moment in my life as a consumer. I proceeded to go on an electronic witch hunt, looking up on the Internet as many products I could think of and imposing personal boycotts on them. I was especially interested in Kraft, since most people don’t even know they are helping a giant tobacco company that, along with its affiliates, “manufacture, market, sell and distribute high quality cigarettes in over 180 countries and territories around the world.”

Aside from the eternal collegiate favorite, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, the company owns Post Cereals, Nabisco, Jello-O, Oscar Meyer, Tombstone, Jack’s and DiGiorno pizzas and Oreo cookies to name only a very few.

My personal favorite Phillip Morris/Altria company is Boca, maker of the Boca Burger and other vegetarian/health nut “meat alternative” products. That’s right people, no irony in getting your health food from one of the world’s largest tobacco companies.

And being from a small Iowa town, I then set my sights on Wal-Mart, with its squashing effect on mom and pop stores. One of Iowa State’s own economists, Ken Stone, has done some oft-cited research based on the effect of Wal-Mart in Iowa small towns from 1983 to 1993, he discovered “a huge shift of sales to larger towns and cities, with substantial amounts captured by mass merchandise stores.”

I am impressed by the difference in shopping at a local Main Street establishment and any given superstore. When I recently got a deal on shoes at a local store, I got personal treatment from the minute I walked through the door and actually felt good about spending money there. The price was great and so was the service. Sometimes it costs a bit more to patronize these stores, especially for students and folks in rough times, but if possible, it’s worth it for our small towns.

In fact, Decorah, Iowa just finished a campaign to keep a new supersized Wal-Mart from being built in the flood plain of the Upper Iowa River. After repeated appeals, Wal-Mart’s permit to dump 120,000 cubic yards of dirt was denied and one small batter for small-town Iowa was won, so far. For more information on land use in Iowa, contact 1,000 Friends of Iowa at www.kfoi.org.

We don’t need to get into McDonald’s, Starbucks, Gap and the rest of the crew — I think we get the point.

And so more than three years and many self-imposed embargoes later, the battle rages on. A few tips for the aspiring boycotter:

First, conscious shoppers are often in a difficult position. Find a balance between being too quiet about your consumer practices and being a fascist about them (it’s a tricky one). Despite my best attempts, I would not recommend imposing Kraft bans on your apartment building.

Second, don’t try to research all companies before you buy anything — it’s impossible, so act within reason and set your priorities. If environmental concerns are most important to you, research to find those who have environmentally sensible business practices.

Finally, spread the word in action as much as words. I’ve found that rants in the cereal aisle about Post’s ownership tend to dissuade prospective converts. Try to answer questions about your purchases or bring it up in other conversation rather than embarrassing people.

When it comes down to it, whether for our health or our communities, we must choose wisely where we spend our money or soon there won’t be many choices left.