Vintage Tins: Butera Golden Cake & Gawith BBF

[bluegrassbrian]

Won these two tins in a silent auction.

The Butera is made by Mcclelland, so I assume the stamping code shows a production year of 2002. It will definitely be the oldest Virginia I've ever smoked, so definitely looking forward to tasting it.

The Gawith Best Brown is a bit of a mystery of course, age-wise.

The label is not the current graphic.. Does anyone have an idea on a date range for it?

The vacuum seal was mostly gone. I heard only a very light "swoosh" when opening. Still very moist..there is some light plume evident. The aroma is soft, sweet, and fantastic.

Again, I'd love to know an estimated age range for it.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Well.. just lit a bowl of the Best Brown Flake. It's taking everything I've got to not chug on it, because it is damn delicious. Sweet, ultra smooth, creamy, sweet, superlative. Impressive.

 

[pipestud]

Nice grabs, bluegrassbrian. Yes, the Butera tin is from 2002, I think the hand date stamp may be the buyer's year of purchase.
The Gawith Best Brown flake does not have the red banner across the front of the tin and does not have the bar code, so, while I can't date it to the exact year, it had to have been made between 2004 and 2008.
Again, congrats!

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Thanks Steve..yeah I was doing some research and was thinking mid 00s.

I can finally say I know what the fuss is about with aged Virginias.
Prior to these, the oldest I'd had was around 2 years old.
They still have 8 or so tins up for the bidding. Might try to score something else.

 

[fitzy]

Enjoy!

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Any estimates on the age of this Macbaren tin?

 

[bigtex]

Nice acquisitions man! I placed an order of a bunch of a McClelland tins from Payless Pipes and Cigars back in December and the newest was three years old and the oldest was from 2004! Smoking some Tudor Castle from 2009 right now!

 

[orobusto]

I'm more interested in the Ramsgate than the MacBaren's in that last picture. Also the CAO tins on bottom.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I don't smoke much English so the Ramsgate doesn't interest me really.

There's a tin of Briar Fox that's puffed out to the max..magic is happening in that tin. I put a bid on it.

 

[mcitinner1]

Ramsgate is an Aromatic that is very dark and slightly moist from the bag.
From tobaccoreviews
Selected dark and Golden Virginias are hot pressed until black, with added licorice essence and a pleasant aroma enhancement. A savory, slow burning, non-biting tobacco with lasting fragrance.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Ahh yes, I had it mixed up with another.

Same boat though..I don't care for aros usually.

I'd probably smoke a bowl but wouldn't want the whole bag. :puffpipe:

 

[samcoffeeman]

Bluegrassbriar- I bought a similar looking tin of that tobacco at the CORPS pipe show a few years back. Per Jensen happened to be there so I asked him about it. He said it was from the 1970s but they didn't vacuum seal the tins. Surprisingly the tobacco was moist but it didn't seem to have gained much from the age. Hopefully your luck is better than mine.

 

[B18]

From what i heard, those Mac Baren's are from around 1980's. don't know for sure