Germain Date Code

[mingc]

It appears that that the current Germain date code has been deciphered. According to this YouTube chap, London Calling with Simon, he spoke with Robert Germain who told him that the letter is the year, with A=2016, B=2017, C=2018, D=2019, E=2020, etc., and the two numbers after the letter, the month. In Simon's example, 703B104 is October 2017. Presumably, Germain's started using this code in 2016 and the code doesn't work for previous years.

Query though what I'm supposed to make of this recently acquired King Charles: 1112EC033? Might I hope it's from 2018? ? How do I get in touch with Robert G? ?

 

[sandollars]

Clear as mud.....

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

E = 2020. This info was in a thread this past week. It certainly worked with bags. Not sure if it exactly translates to tins.

 

[mingc]

E = 2020. This info was in a thread this past week. It certainly worked with bags. Not sure if it exactly translates to tins.

It seems to be consistent across the recent tins I have. All have one letter in the middle of a number of numbers, except for the King Charles above, which has two.

 

[3rdguy]

It appears that that the current Germain date code has been deciphered. According to this YouTube chap, London Calling with Simon, he spoke with Robert Germain who told him that the letter is the year, with A=2016, B=2017, C=2018, D=2019, E=2020, etc., and the two numbers after the letter, the month. In Simon's example, 703B104 is October 2017. Presumably, Germain's started using this code in 2016 and the code doesn't work for previous years.

Query though what I'm supposed to make of this recently acquired King Charles: 1112EC033? Might I hope it's from 2018? ? How do I get in touch with Robert G? ?

View attachment 39372

March 2020

 

[DINORAY]

someone who can help me to translate this? I bought in 2020,and seller told it's new and he just buy in his local tobacco shop.it's new arriving. December 2018?

 

[dmcmtk]

As I recall, the first two numbers are the year, so 2017. Or maybe it is the D, so 2019... Best to re-read here,

Dating Recent Esoterica Bags & Tins :: Pipe Tobacco Discussion - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/dating-recent-esoterica-bags-tins.66094/

 

[3rdguy]

Looks like December 2019.

 

[pantsBoots]

Hmmmmm.....

Looks faulty. Better send it my way for burial by pyre.

 

[sablebrush52]

That's interesting as I had noticed, years ago, that the first two numbers matched the year in which I bought a bag or bags.

 

[3rdguy]

Older product used the first 2 numbers for year as I recall. New system uses the letter for the year.

 

[DINORAY]

I start to buy Esoterica at 2018,both bags and tins.as I was told,JF Germains change the code from 2016,and I was taught to date the year by first number. but in 2019,I found this is not 100% correct. first half of 2019, bought on smokingpipes and some US sellers, first number is 9. end of 2019, bought in same way, code start by 10. and the 2020 is some 10 some 11.so I think this not only happened in 2019 but every year.so, first number is unreliable.
I'll check all my Esoterica by letter to date, hope them surprised me.

 

[DINORAY]

interesting, 3 bags tilbury '178D123', 2 bags '1033C073'

D should be started by 9/10
C should be 8/9