Who Else Loves Old Gowrie?

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Jaylotw

Lifer
Mar 13, 2020
1,062
4,063
NE Ohio
@Jaylotw

This post has caught my attention to try a tin later.

How does this compare to Vapers like, Watch City Rouxgaroux, and KBV Verge Engine Overdrive?

well, I’ve never tried either of those two so I can’t compare.

In my opinion, OG tastes like a very mature VA right out of a fresh tin. The Perique and Kentucky are used in such a way to where I don’t really notice them individually-some people with better palates than I do, though-but add a depth and smokiness to the already deep, dark fruity VA. They serve to round and accentuate the Virginias more than add their own voice, at least that’s the way I see it. The Perique helps pop out the plummy fruit notes, while the Kentucky bolsters the low end, woody and earthy flavors.

About ten years ago, I was a member of another pipe forum and there was a real, serious argument over whether or not OG was a straight VA or not. I was a newer smoker and thought it was a straight VA for quite some time. It wasn’t until K&K listed the blend ingredients that it become common knowledge that OG contained anything but VA!

Get you some. You’ll like it.
 

tfdickson

Lifer
May 15, 2014
2,141
41,550
East End of Long Island
@PipeIT I agree with @Jaylotw and knowing both Rouxgaroux and VEO very well I’d say those two are quite a bit different than OG. While I know that OG has perique and DFK, and I can taste them, I still consider OG to be a VA driven blend. Rouxgaroux and VEO have major perique components, 20% in the case of VEO. They are VaPers with the emphasis on Per.

I’m guessing that OG was at one point a straight VA blend but over time the perique and DFK were added to compensate for a change in the available VAs. I once did a blind tasting where I was sure I was smoking a VaPer and it turned out to be Capstan Blue, a straight VA. With small quantities of condimental leaf the lines can get blurry.
 

shaneireland

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 14, 2014
135
922
Conway, SC
www.smokingpipes.com
Old Gowrie is excellent and would be a serious contender if I could only pick one blend to smoke from here on out. I've smoked a crazy amount of each Rattray's VA, and the only one I don't smoke anymore is Marlin (it's just not for me).

I find Hal to be the most interseting when fresh (it's stronger with more spice), and Brown Clunee to be the best with decades of age (something about the delicacy makes for an incredible aged experience). Old Gowrie is always "just right" whether fresh, or aged.

When I'm at a pipe show and I see any of those three blends with any substantial age, I don't discriminate.
 

Jaylotw

Lifer
Mar 13, 2020
1,062
4,063
NE Ohio
Old Gowrie is excellent and would be a serious contender if I could only pick one blend to smoke from here on out.

I’m right there with you. I think it’s one of the few “perfect” blends that really never disappoints or doesn’t satisfy.

Can anyone tell me when K&K started blending it? I have a bowl’s worth of OG that’s got to be 12 years old now sitting in a jar, and curious if it came out of the same factory.
 

PipeIT

Lifer
Nov 14, 2020
4,470
26,849
Hawaii
Old Gowrie is excellent and would be a serious contender if I could only pick one blend to smoke from here on out. I've smoked a crazy amount of each Rattray's VA, and the only one I don't smoke anymore is Marlin (it's just not for me).

I find Hal to be the most interseting when fresh (it's stronger with more spice), and Brown Clunee to be the best with decades of age (something about the delicacy makes for an incredible aged experience). Old Gowrie is always "just right" whether fresh, or aged.

When I'm at a pipe show and I see any of those three blends with any substantial age, I don't discriminate.


Thanks for your input, nice to see you here too, hope we see more of you around, and others too from SPC! :)

Did anyone not notice that Shane Ireland graced us with his presence. ?

All Hail! bdw
 

Worknman

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 23, 2019
968
2,820
I have a tin Ive been sitting on for a year along with hotw, almost forgot about them. This post has inspired me to give them a go very soon.
 
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tfdickson

Lifer
May 15, 2014
2,141
41,550
East End of Long Island
I’m right there with you. I think it’s one of the few “perfect” blends that really never disappoints or doesn’t satisfy.

Can anyone tell me when K&K started blending it? I have a bowl’s worth of OG that’s got to be 12 years old now sitting in a jar, and curious if it came out of the same factory.

I‘ve read that K&K took over production around 1990.
 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,101
When I smoked I was tobacco-hungry. No matter how good the smoke, and in it the tobacco was ascendent, the pipe less so, I always hankered to smoke something else. I had a rotation but found it hard to empty the jar before opening something else. I guess I had about a 100 lb cellar, so "something else" was redundantly on hand.

The idea that I should have 6-12 blends in rotation, to be smoked intensively before moving on, was an ideal infrequently practiced. And to be a member of a forum is a great way to be introduced to more blends than can possibly be smoked and a great way to destroy a rotation. There's just too many blends to keep up with, but open this thread, for instance, and there's four more VAs for you consideration. No matter that your cellar already has twelve VAs, you think about cellaring a tin or two of each. Once cellared these new blends prey on your mind, and sooner not later you open a tin, making the number of blends in your rotation 20, not 12.

In this whatever impression you had of your attraction to certain blends fades because you're smoking something else most of the time. It was like that with me regarding the Rattray VAs. I really like HOTW and MF when I was new but mostly forgot about both after that point lured by the forum and a tobacco-fickle nature.