Quote Originally Posted by Bruck View Post
A "binary" measure of age is the presence or absence of a UPC symbol. They came into use during the mid to late 70s (not everyone adopted them at once, but they were pretty much ubiquitous by the end of the 70s).

I picked up a bunch of Velvet earlier this year and was wondering the same thing, then I noticed that the date was stamped on the wax paper envelope inside the tin (October 1993 in this case).

In some cases, the presence or form of warning label is an indicator, although I can't provide a comprehensive taxonomy on this.
Thanks Bruce. The Briggs and Half & Half have UPC codes. The H&H has a price tag of $0.69. The Briggs Pipe Mixture feels (upon squeezing) that it is dry. The Best Virginia and H&H still feel moist. Neither of the tins has a UPC code.