A pigment grade corrosion inhibitor and a method of applying the inhibitor is disclosed. The inhibitor is comprised of a host species comprised of an inorganic compound having a layered structure and a guest species comprised an anionic species of a weak acid. The host species is preferably a double hydroxide having a structure of: [M(II)1−x M(III)x (OH−)2] [An−x/n.y H2O], where M(II) is a divalent metal cationic species, M(III) is a trivalent metal cationic species, and An− is an anionic species, preferably with the species present in a range of: 0.2≦M(III)/(M(II)+M(III))≦0.4. The guest species include: various phosphoric acids and derivatives thereof; boric acid; cyanamidic acid; nitrous acid; derivatives of thio- and dithiocarbonic acid; thio-organic compounds functionalized with at least one —SH group of acidic character, including: 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (DMTD), 2,4-dimercapto-s-triazolo-[4,3-b]-1,3-4 thiadiazole, trithiocyanuric acid (TMT), and dithiocyanuric acid.