Age of Tins?

[lucky695]

I have noticed that some manufacturers will put a date and some won't (notably Dunhill). Is there anyway to tell what the age of a dunhill tin is by the UPC or numbers on the back of the tin?

Thanks

 

[judcole]

Not to the best of my knowledge.

 

[rmbittner]

No, Dunhill tins cannot be accurately dated. I would say that some of them can't even be accurately tied to a specific manufacturing era without seeing both the lid and the bottom label. I've seen tins with painted lids bearing the "made in the UK" legend, which typically indicates a Murray's-era tin. Yet when you turn them over, they clearly bear the new import label associated with Orlik and, in fact, say that they're manufactured in the EU -- not the UK. So these are transitional tins, where apparently Orlik was using old, Murray's lids with Orlik-blended tobaccos. It wouldn't shock me if a similar situation could have existed when production originally shifted from Dunhill to Murray as well. After all, why waste all of those lids. . . ?
Bob

 

[hfearly]

Dunhill tin serial numbers on the back do not contain a hidden date code for all the internet knows (and it has tried hard). However, some things are give-aways as to whether you have a Murray's-era tin or one of the new Dunhill-era tins. See photo below.
Murray's tins have a flat edge and a coin ledge that goes all the way round. Orlik tins have a beveled ledge and coin inserts at intervals. Also, from the top of the tin, if it says "Made in the U.K." it's probably Murrays, when it says "Made in the E.U." it's probably Orlik. But the tins are a dead give-away.

 

[cigrmaster]

Guys, remember this thread from a few months ago?

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/discrepancy-in-escudo-tin-dating
I don't know if those numbers on the Dunhill tins mean anything or not but my gut tells me they do. Why else would they put a number there that changes and if the numbers on the Escudo tins are accurate then it would make sense the numbers on the Dunhill tins would be applicable.

 

[hfearly]

Harris: the Escudo numbers and their meanings are documented. Various sources on the internet that were also responsible for bringing light to the Escudo dates have states that the Dunhill numbers are non-descript. I have several Dunhill tins myself, which were produced between 1993 and 1996, which have numbers that if you'd apply the Escudo deciphering would have been produced in the 14th Month of 2014...

 

[peckinpahhombre]

hfearly - you should keep those tins. If aged tobacco is good, then tobacco from the future must be downright sublime.

 

[lucky695]

my Dunhill mixture 965 says made in Denmark... not EU.