Rattray Old Gowrie

I've not smoked Old Gowrie for about 10 years, but it has changed beyond recognition. This used to be a straight virginia blend and altogether lighter in colour. It's now darker in colour, almost as if another leaf is in the blend, and I do detect a perique background - it's also lost its tangy virginia flavour that was so pronounced in its original composition. All this simply means that OG has not survived, un-scathed, the transition to Kohlhase Kopp blending unlike HOTW and Brown Clunee, both of which faired better and still retain their original composition - more or less.

All said and done, OG still produces a reasonable smoke as a blended virginia, but for the die-hard purests, there are better straight virginia alternatives.

First, I will say that this tobacco behaves very nicely in my pipes. It burns perfectly and has no objectionable characteristics. It lacks the depth and layering of other Ginny's I have been sampling, but still a fine smoke. It's rubbed out more than my preferred Marlin Flake. A very serviceable tobacco.

Note: For some reason, this tobacco seems to bite (throat and mouth) a bit for me. I have to be very careful with it, which knocks it down to two stars.

I'm newer to pipe smoking so at the recommendation of people on here and also other pipe smoking friends I bought a tin of this. I like the tin aroma as it is kind of sweet but I just personally think that this is a boring smoke. Not much flavor or anything after you light it up. I've smoked probably about 10 bowls of this so far. I've smoked it wet and dry and I just can't see what all the fuss is about. I'll probably put this away to see it improves with age. I also bought some Marlin Flake which is supposed to be similar to Old Gowrie but a little stronger and a different aroma. I'll give that one a try to see if I like it better.

I found the aroma to be tolerable at best. Slightly sweet, but also a hint of something else I can't put my finger on. Whatever it was though it made me feel nauseous. After letting it dry for a few hours it lit easily enough. It had virtually no flavor though. This wasn't even worth finishing the bowl. I canned the remainder of it I have and will let it age for a few months then I'll try it again. Hopefully it'll will mature well. Most likely I just prolonged throwing it out a few months.

Four years aged tin: An unforeseen development. Very recommended as a blend for the cellar (and it ages a lot better than the other Rattray's Virginias).

05.13.2007. having now become better acquainted with the wonderful virginia tobaccos from sam gawith, these german/danish tobaccos pale in comparison. they almost appear like goopy aromatics. also, the effect of my baking the tobacco seems to have somehow worn off. downgraded seriously.

04/23/2007. i was about to throw out the tin, having only smoked 1/4 of its boring, almost sickening, content, when i thought "what the heck, perhaps it can be somewhat saved by baking it for 6 hours at 80C." so, i baked it, let it rest for a day, and tried a smoke of it. and lo and behold, a completely different creature: the one-dimensional, nauseating, caramely flavour had magically changed to something pointed, raisiny, malty, marlin flake-ish. it suddenly had lots of different, delightful flavours. i never saw a tobacco change so radically. aging may very well work wonders for it. upgraded from 2 to 4 stars.

03/20/2007. this is a decent if somewhat boring blend. too much sweet german caramel-vanilla topping for my taste. it certainly isn't the taste of pure virginia. all right for the beginner, i guess.

Having heard kudos and recommendations all over for the legendary Old Gowrie, I purchased a tin.

I'm obviously going against the grain here. Or maybe I got a tin from who-knows-what-storage. As far as freshness goes, it comes in a pop-top dogfood can with the vinyl reseal cap. This may or may not be a better idea than the vacuum-packed twist-offs -- a dent in one of those somewhat ruined a nice can of Orlik GS a month back. On the other hand, once opened, it's probably not as good a seal. Ah well.

It's fully rubbed out. This means you have to repack it to an appropriate density to get it to burn properly. In my case, I can't generate a proper draw from it -- if I tamp it in tightly enough to sustain burning without huffing and puffing, it either clogs the shank, or, once I finally got it going to my satisfaction, it burned so hot that the bowl of my moderately delicate pipe became dangerously hot (for the health of the bowl). I'll try it in a heavier pipe, but I'm not holding my breath that this miraculously transforms it.

It's not flavored. It also has nearly no flavor of its own, and might be as much hay as tobacco. There are mild flavorful Virginias out there that I've raved over -- the aforementioned Orlik Golden Slices, F&T's Vintage, Iwan Ries' slices, Reiner 71, and so on. Maybe someone can convince me I just got burned on this one tin. But the tobacco likely won't be.