Light up, and the flavor builds as the Virginia warms up. Delicious sweet grains, bread dough, graham crackers, and hay. Lighter than a lot of VA flakes, but it’s not short on flavor. Very enjoyable. Gets sweeter and better as the bowl burns down. Bites a little if neglected. A Virginia mixture that nearly rivals “Hal O’ The Wynd”, if such a thing is possible.

The lightest of Rattray’s flagship trio of VA blends, (Old Gowrie, Hal O’ The Wynd, Marlin Flake). A quality aged Virginia. And like Hal O’ The Wynd, this one is on my favorites list.

So the hunt is on for an OG without the cons. Contenders so far: SG MVF, Synjeco's Broken Perique Flake and Virginia Perique Slices and searching...

As you can see l did not find the Perique very present, hence I also search among 100% virginia tobaccoes for 'the perfect' Old Gowrie...

And of course some tins of OG are waiting in my cellar to find out if some aging can fix my problem.

Very high-quality leaf, just enough Vitamin-N, great flavor throughout entire smoke. Sweet/tangy and correct amount of Perique for a nice spiced finish (blown through nasal to really taste that wonderful Perique (think only real way) This could be my all-day smoke, very good stuff

a wonderful all day pipe. I use Old Gowrie as a base when I want

to create other blends as well. I fail to find the Perique, it just seems like a neutral smoke by itself.

The tin aroma is of dried fruit and has a nice sweet musty smell.

I find it to be a rather easy tobacco to work with, and smokes beautifully after some drying.

The flavor is Virginia sweet with a little spice through the nose. Mid bowl, the flavor really takes off. Make sure you try this tobacco if you are a virginia fan.

For some reason this blend gives me a very nice dose of nicotine where, to me, some stronger rated tobaccos fall short. I can't quite put my finger on it.

I love it.

A good offering.

Hopwever, it lacks some vitamin N. But for the rest, it is very well done!

As one of a small sub-group of closely related Rattray blends, Old Gowrie is, perhaps, a useful reference point for those of us also drawn to Marlin Flake, and HOTW. Old Gowrie would seem to serve as a happy median, with Its full taste and voluptuous strength, working some serious toil to compensate for Its obviously lower nicotine content. Impressive indeed.

However, I found that Old Gowrie fell a little short of my initially positive impressions, and my affection for it - and interest in it - has slowly waned over time. Through the weeks I've had my tin, that hint of perique has grown to become something of an annoyance from a minor doubt, and if it weren't for Its inclusion, Old Gowrie would smoke like a piper's dream. Sadly though, I find it undermines the subtle sweetness of malted raisins and dates, through a slightly uncomfortable, prickly heat that never quite sits flush with the rest of the blend.

It's not quite conducive to a relaxed and contemplative mood, and strangely, my temperament seems to err towards a testy angst after smoking it.

In my opinion, this is the reference light Va/Per blend. The Virginias are tame, slightly muted and, at least in my Peterson System 312, bite free. Unlike a full Va/Per this tobacco has a much more subtle spicey side along with a wonderfully light and yet consistent Kentucky Burley nutty/smokey thing happening in the background. It would almost pass for a straight stoved VA that was smoked in a pipe haunted by Peterson's Irish Flake and Escudo. If that were possible. Three thumbs up.

Highly Recommended.

Update: Try rubbing some out and mixing it with a little McClelland Blending Orientals.

Old Gowrie has some pretty fair reviews below - this is an unpretentious, quality tobacco, easy-smoking, mild but with a pleasant virginia dominant flavour, slightly ashy in the second half of the bowl, and a pronounced sweet and lingering aftertaste.

Smokers that are looking for a "statement" of flavorings will probably find Old Gowrie wanting - there is little apparent topping which suggests it is a plain sugar and vinegar treatment, in good balance, or a light hand indeed in what flavorings have been added. Very little perique, if any, certainly less than some of the best-known Vapers.

This is a bit of purist smoke for the plain, milder virginia smoker looking for nuance rather than bold statement. There is subtlety and pleasure in smoking it dry and slow. I'll cellar a fair amount - it would be an excellent blender with topped blends that are found to overbearing, or could take a pinch or two of latakia or perique in stride. Solid stuff.

A nice sweet taste of virginia but that was about it. In the UK we have to pay a little bit more for Rattray and it certainly wasnt worth that extra quid.

Very nice smoke but nothing special

Update :I sincerely expected more but the tobacco taste remains the same after a few weeks even when transferred to a jar. 2.5 stars in conclusion. There are better tobaccos with Perique on the market, Three Nuns (the square tin) being one of them.