Attached are pictures of a can of snuff that I recently picked up. The tax stamp dates it at 1945 according to information I found. I can’t believe how clean the can is, not a tough of rust or any aberration. I’ve decanted the snuff into a few clasp jars for safe keeping. I feared that I would have to slice the label to remove it, luckily I was able to walk the lid off and slide it right back on.
Cool. Thanks for posting the pics!
Did you decant it without taking a single pinch? Not even a little one?
If so, you’ve got more restraint than I.
I suspect he did but it wasn’t anything to write home about.
If Starr hasn’t changed much, there isn’t much scent or punch to it when it is fresh, and I doubt 67 years improved it much.
@cstokes4 I’ve got one of those. It’s a cardboard tube. It’s filthy compared to yours. Still unopened because the ancient Bruton that came with the same lot was in cardboard which I opened and it was horrid. I don’t remember if I looked up the tax stamp or not. Maybe you could direct me to the dating system.
I use those exact same glass jars for decanting my bulk snuff into snuffboxes. I get them at the dollar store, 2 for a dollar.
Here is a quick rundown of the series and date scheme:
Series Date
109 1939
110 1940
111 1941
112 1942
113 1943
114 1944
115 1945
116 1946
117 1947
I haven’t tried it yet, it was too late last night to dig into it (yes I’m a pseudo-old man). I’ve got a can of new Starr and the vintage, I’ll give them a good side-by-side today.
@n9inchnails: I bought these at Michaels in the wedding favor section. I think they were about the same price. Did you buy yours at Dollar Tree?
I bought mine in a store called Dollarama
I’m curious to know if the snuff is fit to use after all these years, wondering how much the flavor and nicotine content have degraded.
I still haven’t given it a shot, have had a migraine all day. I have some DeVoe scotch from the 30’s that is still good, same goes for 1950’s Honey Bee, 1960’s Honey & Peach, and 1980’s Lorillard Maccoboy, all still good. I also have a case of 1950’s Dental Scotch that I haven’t opened, some of the tins are really rusty. If you are leery about using them, leave them for someone that will put them to good use. I know a lot of folks only buy them because they collect tins and such. Buying vintage scotches is always a gamble, you can end up with good snuff or total garbage. And sometimes it is an expensive gamble.
My Starr is 116 from 1946. The Bruton that has a smudge in the tax stamp looks like 18 possibly 118 which by the way was not opened. The one opened and thrown out was a metal tube which had rusted through. Thanks for the tax stamp dating info @cstokes4.
No problem Jux.
Just gave the Starr a shot, very plain with a faint background of smoke. It isn’t far off from the current version. The current Starr is a bit darker and a little more smoke. Not sure if this is due to age, type of tobacco used, or processing differences over the 67 years.