Old Gowrie and summer

Today I'm in my favorite spot (the porch swing) with my favorite smoking companion (my dog Yukon) enjoying some Rattray's Old Gowrie in a Savinelli 320 series III. 

I've had a productive day thus far having mowed the grass, completed a doctor's visit and updated my tobacco cellar. The day is comfortable with almost no breeze but a nice late summer temperature somewhere in the low to mid 70's. A few neighborhood dogs are communicating with one another in the distance however Yukon is paying them no mind. He is a very obedient friend and hardly ever makes a peep. When he barks then it's time to take notice.

I was just thinking that this summer has been mostly marked by burley tobacco blends for me. Odd considering that warmer temperatures usually have me reaching for Virginia. Perhaps even more unusual as we creep into cooler weather when I would generally seek the comfort of English tobacco blends, I am instead now pulling out more Virginia. I'm not sure that I can say why but I can certainly say that I am having some fantastic smokes. A few days ago it was a day of luxury with both Luxury Bullseye Flake as well as Luxury Navy Flake. I then moved on to some Dan Tobacco Salty Dogs and now Old Gowrie. 


My bowl of Luxury Navy Flake was actually so good that I placed 25 oz. of the stuff in my online cart before wisely talking myself out of buying. I will get it eventually but I don't need it now for God's sake. I have well over a pound of it cellared already not to mention many pounds of other fine Virginia blends. I'd say that's the biggest problem with Virginia tobacco. You have some nicely aged stuff and you think, "my goodness, I had better buy more so I can give it time to mature." You don't immediately think of the many pounds of the stuff already tucked away getting more delicious all the time. I've already exceeded my tobacco budget for the month anyway...and I'm doing my best to save money for the next Esoterica release in December.

My cellar organizing consisted of adding a fresh tin of C&D Golden Days of Yore which was a replacement for a damaged tin I had received a few days ago. 


It was nice because the damaged tin, although the seal had been compromised the tobacco was fine. I simply jarred the tobacco for December and put the new tin in my cellar awaiting next December to be enjoyed. As for the exhaustion of my monthly tobacco budget, that was spent on a pound of Samuel Gawith Best Brown. I was unfortunately too late to get all the Samuel Gawith I wanted. I was hoping for a pound of 1792 Flake and had it in my cart only to receive a message at checkout that it was out of stock 🤬. Oh well. The Best Brown was a good pickup.

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