Gallaher Limited Condor Ready Rubbed (Green)

Most of what I said in an earlier review of Condor Long Cut applies here. This is a dark, strong, meaty, traditional English tobacco. I first tried it back in the ‘sixties, and I can't detect any difference between what it was like then and what it's like now. It's strong enough to hurt if you're not careful with it. It needs to be taken slowly, and probably isn't one for the beginner; but if you like a robust and unpretentious tobacco, this'll suit you very nicely.

Condor is cool, slow burning and consistent, and the flavour gets markedly fuller and 'rounder' from about half-way down the bowl. Despite a rather moist appearance, it burns well and consistently. It has a rather sour note somewhere in it that some people dislike, though my impression is that this note is present more strongly in the flake version.

The room note is pronounced and characteristic: pleasant if you like the smell of pipe-smoke, but perhaps a bit hard on innocent bystanders who don't. You certainly can't smoke Condor without drawing attention of some sort to yourself. It also gives you a delicious experience when you open the pouch – everybody mentions the ‘Condor moment' that featured in Ogden's television commercials back in the day before we were treated like idiots (i.e. when tobacco advertising was allowed). The pouch note is perhaps the best part of it!

Be warned, though: the ghost that Condor will leave in your pipe will take a lot of shifting. Personally, I think the flake form gives a slightly better smoke, but the ready rubbed is good stuff also, and both are readily available. There are differences between the ready rubbed and the flake, but they're very small. Condor is a popular tobacco in the UK. Newspaper-and-cig shops that still sell pipe tobacco at all will probably have Condor if they have nothing else. I suspect that, as more and more old favourites cease to be available and we move slowly towards prohibition (in the UK), Condor will be one of the last blends to go: which is one good reason for developing a taste for it. It's a little strong, but I'm happy to recommend it to people who like a tough, masculine baccy.

Oddly enough, more than with any other baccy I have to be in the mood for Condor, and my response to it can vary pretty widely: sometimes I like it a lot, sometimes I don't. The point, I think, is that it isn't at all subtle. Sometimes this is OK, sometimes not. Condor is what I would call a winter smoke: good on cold days, maybe with a strong black coffee, and good as an outdoor smoke, too. In summer, I tend to want something a little lighter and more sophisticated.