Comprising a list/guide to tobacco tin dates.

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Kyle Weiss

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I've been looking up the various ways to try and determine tobacco age from tin dates. Not to be confused with archival/artist tin dating, but more concerned with the contents.

So far I have--

Known:

Cornell & Diehl - mmddyy

GL Pease - mmddyy

McClelland – 1st 2 digits = product ID … 3-4th digits = batch code … 5th - 6th digits = year tinned.

Mac Baren (old method) – AABBCCCD (A = Machine) (B = Year) (CCC = Calendar Day linear number) (D = Shift)

Mac Baren (new method) - date printed on can

Assumed:

Dunhill/Orlik - yymmXXXX? (vertical left, next to UPC)

Peter Stokkebye (branded/variations) – yymmXXXX? (vertical left, next to UPC)

----------------------------------------------------

Anyone else have any leads or anything to add?
 
Though I like it when the blender gives MM/DD/YY, I've come to settle for the year. Many tins are completely undated, and I go by the date I put it into my cellar.
 
Hermit":81vdqawm said:
Escudo has a date code.
Yep...there's a number on other PS stuff that may or may not be date-related...I want to find out for sure. The Dunhill stuff is strikingly similar. All of my tins of both that I've bought recently have "10s" or "11s" on them in the first two digits. Again, it's wild, arm-waving speculation.
 
Kyle Weiss":1t44w657 said:
I've been looking up the various ways to try and determine tobacco age from tin dates. Not to be confused with archival/artist tin dating, but more concerned with the contents.

Assumed:

Dunhill/Orlik - yymmXXXX? (vertical left, next to UPC)

Anyone else have any leads or anything to add?

I have a tin of Dunhill Early Morning that I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Horizontally printed to the left of the UPC:
1100030223
 
DirkT":kbzjxvcx said:
I have a tin of Dunhill Early Morning that I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Horizontally printed to the left of the UPC:
1100030223
My new tin of Nightcap has 1107XXXX and my EMP is 1005XXXX.

*shrug* Until someone can find a 2132XXXX or a 1387XXXX I'm still speculating. Or, it's the tobacco of tomorrow... today!!! :lol:
 
Hey, thanks. I'll have to check my mm965 tins. I bought four last week, but one is older, per the clerk as the price was a buck less. I was curious as to how much older, as this blend does better left to age a bit.
 
DirkT":5mec2q85 said:
Kyle Weiss":5mec2q85 said:
I've been looking up the various ways to try and determine tobacco age from tin dates. Not to be confused with archival/artist tin dating, but more concerned with the contents.

Assumed:

Dunhill/Orlik - yymmXXXX? (vertical left, next to UPC)

Anyone else have any leads or anything to add?

I have a tin of Dunhill Early Morning that I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Horizontally printed to the left of the UPC:
1100030223
My tin of EMP has the same code.
 
My four tins of 965 are stamped:
3 have: 1020101020 (one is priced differently and is supposed to be older)
1 has: 1122021715

Those numbers don't seem to have any calender meaning.
 
I still suspect the first two digits are year. Production numbers, batch numbers and whatnot may follow... if we start seeing "12" on those tins come May or June (the earliest I suspect we'd see them, maybe) -- could be a clue.
 
I'm a little skeptical about the relevance of the tin dating. Sure it's nice be able to identify the batch for the manufacturer when we're discussing it with them but do the dates really matter beyond that?

Yes, there are changes with age but the interval between noticeable differences gets longer and longer. Plus there are batch to batch differences with many that obscure the effects of age. Plus with some we don't have a clue as to their age with the manufacturer before the tinned date stamp is applied.

Take McClelland's for example. I always thought it was odd that the bulk tobaccos really change over the first little while but the contents of tins don't. When Mike McNeil explained that bulk isn't held to age but tinned blends are held to age that explained it for me. The tinned blends are further down the aging curve when they are released. So it takes longer before there is definite change. The interval between noticeable differences seems to run something like a Fibonacci sequence. So with tins or jars 1 yo, 2 yo, 3 yo 5 yo, 8 yo, 13 yo, 21 yo.... are the noticeable differences, just noticeable with the adjacent ones in most cases. And I presume that there are going to be batch differences that frustrate the effort to notice changes. But it also means that the differences between a 5 yo, 6 yo and maybe 7 yo are not noticeable and it gets worse with more age. So if you notice differences they're probably attributable to batch-to-batch variations or the tin experience. So the initial date is vague and the precision with which you know it becomes less & less important over time. So it's sufficient to know that it's current stock and mark the date purchased with new stock. The rest is a level of precision that really doesn't matter.

If you're buying aged tins precision matters even less. That they are approx. a decade old is enough info. Whether they're 9, or 10, 11, 12, doesn't matter. I would guess that their experience as tins ie how they were stored is probably more relevant than a precise age.
 
As with taste and style, everyone's perception is different.

Me, a relative newcomer, might very well not be able to tell one stitch of difference between a four year old tin of Virginia Flake and a Six year old tin of the same variety.

However, some might.

The point further, if you have a cellared a number of tins of the same tobacco, it'd be nice to differentiate between the generations. 8)

So far, labeling-as-you-go is most common, but never clarifies when the tin was made or how long it sat on the shelf at the seller's.
 
I sure saw a difference between new tin of MM965 and one that was four years old. I'm sure that varies by the tobacco blend/maker.
 
riff raff":blnprehd said:
I sure saw a difference between new tin of MM965 and one that was four years old. I'm sure that varies by the tobacco blend/maker.
With that said, my new tin of MM965 I just got should sit for a while?
 
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