How Old Could These Crackers Be?

[BillRoss]

At a family gathering this past weekend I was gifted a pack of firecrackers.

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Knowing that I am into fireworks I was asked how old they were. I told them I didn't know for certain but could tell from the label that they were no older than 1993 and explained how I knew that.

Now I wonder how old they might be. Are Horse brand fireworks still being manufactured? Are these just a couple of years old or could they just after the DOT era? Maybe new with a retro label?

[countryboy7978]

While it's going to be hard to nail down an exact period of time, I'm going to say the are from the late 1990s. While that exact label is still in use today, I have not seen anything after 2000 or so that used the Horse logo (or Red Lantern or any Chinese government owned factory for that matter) that was Class C. I had some Class B Celebration rolls that still had the Horse logo and I think Horse brand 1.3 shells were still around not too long ago at Victory Fireworks. Are the crackers crimped or clay on the bottoms?

[BillRoss]

Are the crackers crimped or clay on the bottoms?

They are crimped. What does that indicate?
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I thank you for your wealth of knowledge and willingness to help!

[countryboy7978]

I'm sorry for not being clear. The ends on those firecrackers are what some collectors refer to as sawn or smashed ends. They are different than a crimp which is made by folding in the turns of paper and leaving a depression in the middle of the cracker. The reason for asking about the crimps is that most early to mid DOT Class C firecrackers were made in this fashion. There was no clay or fillers and unrolling the firecracker revealed only flash powder and the fuse inside. Later manufacturing methods that started to become prevalent in the late 1980s, used clay. The ends were either smashed shut over powdered clay, or clay/gypsum slurry was spread over the tubes and allowed to harden into a plug. The fuses were inserted, powder added, and a self hardening grayish white powder used to seal the fuse end. Most all UN0336 (Class 7) firecrackers are made this way. However during the transition from DOT standards to UN standards, some older stock ended up in newer packaging. So from time to time you'll find UN era labels with DOT era manufactured contents. This usually indicates an early item, probably mid 90s. Back to your crackers.... since I don't notice a barcode on the label, I would date your crackers between mid 90s and mid 2000s. Most firecrackers sold in the past ten years are bar coded for easier retail purposes. The fact that your label appears to be affixed in a neat manner also indicates slightly earlier production.

The more you learn about firecrackers the more you'll be able to more accurately date them. Things as seemingly meaningless as the type of ties (paper vs thread) and the length of the fuses can help too.

[RalphieJ]

This last post piqued my curiosity, so I went out to the shed to field test a couple of packs: a pack of Nitro Bomb, D.O.T., no 50 mg notice, paper tie, smashed ends, no mfg info, all red starburst wrap, and a pack of Thunder Bomb, D.O.T, Kwantung, China, sans 50 mg notice, paper tie, true crimped ends, black "bomb" wrap (some verticle, some horizontal, wtf?) . Testing revealed that the Nitro's had clay in both ends, and almost all broke like a cartoon of a firecracker, out one side with both ends intact. The Thunder Bombs were MUCH louder, completely ripped apart, with little left to postmortem.

[BillRoss]

I'm sorry for not being clear..

Please do not apologize! It's not that you were unclear but rather that I am not yet well educated. I know what the bottom of a currently manufactured firecracker looks like, and since these "All Red" did not look like that I wrongly assumed that they were crimped. So you have once again taught me something. Now I know what a sawn or smashed end is (I'm glad I included the photo).

By the way, the braiding is thread, not paper and the fuse is one inch long. The fuses on the Black Cat crackers that I bought this summer are a half inch long. I have only lit two of these "All Red" so far and noticed that the fuse burns much more rapidly than the Black Cat fuses. I was only able to take two steps back before they went off. Definitely not a cracker you want to hold and throw!

I have used 8 brands of firecrackers this summer and the "All Red" are the loudest by far and made my ears ring a bit. Or maybe it's just that I could not get as far away from them as I ordinarily would have.

[BillRoss]

...broke like a cartoon of a firecracker, out one side with both ends intact...

One of the two I lit did exactly that. Big chunk out of one side of the middle but intact on both ends. On the second one about a third of the bottom was still intact revealing a good sized piece of white clay.

[halk]

I first saw those Horse All Reds in 1996.

[countryboy7978]

I have several of those packs still but in DOT form. Also have Horse brand Thunder Bomb just like these.

[dchambers490]

There is a newer version made by Unicorn brand. They are 11/4 by 3/8's labeled All red crackers and are DOT class c labeled without clay in them. They also come in celebration rolls. I do not know much about them other than they are very, very good!