[getbak]

Interesting history of the Brier sponsorship (from Wikipedia):

For the first fifty years, the Brier was sponsored by Macdonald Tobacco (later RJR Tobacco Company and now part of JTI-Macdonald Corporation). The name "Brier", in fact, came from a brand of tobacco being manufactured by Macdonald at the time (a brier being a small shrub whose roots are commonly used to make tobacco pipes). Macdonald was also responsible for introducing both the Brier Tankard trophy (originally named the British Consols Trophy after a brand of cigarettes), and the now famous heart-shaped patches awarded to the tournament winners. The patches were modeled after a small tin heart pressed into the centre of Macdonald tobacco plugs, along with the slogan “The Heart of the Tobacco.” The same heart appeared on tins of Macdonald pipe tobacco. Later, when other national championships were developed, many took the heart as their identifying symbol as well.


Brier sponsors by year:

• 1927–1979 | Macdonald Tobacco
• 1980–2000 | Labatt
• 2001–2004 | Nokia
• 2005–2023 | Tim Hortons

I'm of the vintage where I still think of it as the Labatt Brier.

I didn't realize its history with Macdonald Tobacco went back so far, or how many of the traditions are directly tied to that sponsorship.