Gallaher Limited Condor Ready Rubbed (Green)

As a fairly new pipe smoker back in 2009 or so, I bought a 25-gram pouch of this from the local corner shop, opened it, smelled it, and threw it straight into the bin. The smell of an old-ladies' bingo hall... why on earth would they put that into a tobacco?

As a big fan of Lakeland-style blends these days, I now realise I must have had more money than sense (and I didn't have much money!). Condor RR is a stout, rich, dark and, for me at least, extremely satisfying smoke. Yes, it's perfumy, which is just one of those things in life that will divide opinion. It isn't an everyday blend for me, and there are a good few blends I prefer over it in the Lakeland genre, but I can easily recommend CRR to anyone who likes strong tobacco and has an open mind.

Strong tobacco, with an unusual, particular taste. Precisely this is straight Virginia but in my opinion it is flavored with deer tongue. This is the reason why very few tobaccos present this strange taste. I like it but we have to admit that this flavoring is rather overwhelming. So this is not a straight pure Virginia but a flavored Virginia. I’m not sure about the presence of Alcohol, perhaps… Anyway it doesn’t matter. I recommend everybody trying it because it has a very particular taste. Give it a chance. In my personal rating (from 1 to 10) my score is 8 and three stars.

I must have growed up a bit since this last made me sick. I had it out of desperation once, and the dear wife bought me quite a few pouches of it, so I didn't have the heart to complain. After a few smokes, however, all my memories of times with my head down the loo faded, and I ended up smoking it out of preference. Dear me, how we change with age. It's one of the few tobaccos that I get the occasional whiff of a really good cigar from, but the substances other reviewers purport to get from it, including spoiling pipes with the "Ghost?" have so far evaded me. I'm still trying other tobaccos that I haven't tried before, or I'm refreshing my acquaintance with, but with the supermarket price war still on, it's a reliable product and the savings are attractive enough to keep me going back.

Hmmm still not sure about this tobacco. It has a pungent soapy incense aroma, which actually tastes as it smells, which is not usually the case I find.

It will stay lit all the way to the end of the bowl without re-lighting. It will billow smoke happily right to the end. It will give you a huge nicotine hit, even if smoked slowly, be prepared.

I have to say that I don't really like this tobacco, but I do like its qualities, packs well, stays lit, doesn't loose any flavour at all. Its just a bit too overpowering for me. It does stain a pipe with its flavour too unfortunately.

However it does have a large following, and is easy to find. Definitely a marmite tobacco, not for me I'm afraid, but a good tobacco nonetheless.

Along with the various floral and herbal scents, something in the aroma of this thinly cut, ready-rubbed flake reminds me of Drum rolling tobacco along.

Primarily fire-cured virginias and burleys, the flavor is very rich and moderately sweet. The floral topping compliments the flavor nicely.

A flavorsome and companionable smoke, Condor would be a dependable all-day choice for those who's tastes run to the richer end of the scale. It will quickly ghost a briar. This went well in a chamber of any gauge.

Is this named after the Condor Legion? That would be appropriate, as English-made aromatics often do bring mass-murder to mind. Thick, fruity, syrupy, this blend, which, like many hard-to-get imports, had a positive vogue a few years back, might be pleasing to a fruit-sucking bat in some tropical setting, but not to this super-liberal, cold-loving, snow-frisking, my-only-homeland-is-the-Winter New Yorker. This smells like a swamp on fire.

If you must smoke Nivea creme, try ST BRUNO instead. IT tastes like tobacco, not bat droppings.

I've been smoking Condor on and off for over forty-eight years. It was the tobacco that I started out on, because I'm going to omit the ghastly Clan blend that most newbies used to start out on, to which I also fell foul of and paid the price of a very burnt tongue and rubbish smoke. I worked in the coal mines and Condor was the tobacco of choice of the majority. Not only that, the Condor twist was both smoked and chewed by some of the old lads, anyway back to Condor ready rubbed. Condor ready rubbed despite now being made in Poland remains to my palette totally unchanged in taste and quality of smoke. The smoke is always cool, sweet, slow-burning and satisfying, with enough nicotine to satisfy anyone. I smoked this at a none smoking friends house and they were loving that unique Condor room note, whilst I was loving that legendary Condor moment, which lasts to the final puff, leaving no dottle, just fine ash. The trick to smoking Condor ready rubbed is to leave the packet open for a few hours or pre-load your pipe an hour before smoking it, because the ready rubbed is very moist. If you follow my instructions and gently sip at the pipe you will be rewarded by the aforementioned Condor moment and not want to smoke much else, apart from the long cut variant, plus here in the UK Condor is very easily procured from any large supermarket. So with all that said, I'll just add this...”If I had to pick only one tobacco to smoke on a desert Island, that tobacco would be Condor, either ready rubbed or long cut.” To be fair I do prefer the long cut, but it's getting rather hard to source at Tesco, so hence the ready rubbed review. Footnote: One slice of Condor long cut gives me over an hour of pure smoking ambrosia. The secret Condor casing is unique and for me no other tobacco can match that Condor moment. Yes I do rotate once in a while with Irish Flake, Petersons 3ps and the like, but returning to Condor is like embracing a long lost lover, such is my undying fondness for this tobacco.

This tobacco has been around forever in the UK and remains a big seller, likely only rivalled by St. Bruno in the sales stakes. There is a reason this tobacco has been around so long while many other blends have come and gone, and the reason is that it offers a smooth no-nonsense taste and true smoking satisfaction.

I would think that new smokers may find this blend a little strong and many report a soapy aftertaste, but this is common across lake-land styles of which this is very much one. Condor is very much my favourite blend but I do remember many years ago, when I first took up the pipe, finding this blend vile and I didn't smoke it for a long time after. However, when I gained experience with pipe smoking I tentatively tried it again and have never looked back. I smoke a bowl of this with a glass of decent Scotch most evenings and it is a pleasure at the end of a hard day.

Probably one of the most common pipe tobaccos in the UK. Once available in all good corner shops, supermarkets, kiosks and petrol stations. Now found behind bars in hyper-supermarkets, except for Morrison's.

It's a fine old blend that's been around since I were a nipper and somewhat cruelly dismissed as a cheap n'nasty old OTC by tobacco pipe purists (you know who you are) everywhere.

I don't why this is, because this has hellava lot going for it. Well, apart from being relatively easy to find, it's opening pouch aroma which smells like rich figs or prunes and straight from the pouch convenience is nothing to be sneezed at. No, it's a really pleasant comforting smoke, with a certain taste that is hard to describe.

No doubt I'll be shot at dawn for this, but I find it not a million miles away from St Bruno. It's dark, moist, consistency is very similar and the taste is a little more fruity, but I don't know if I could, as a philistine, tell the difference in a blind taste test.

I always assumed that this blend would ghost briars. Massacre them in fact, but it doesn't seem to. Yeah, obviously trying to smoke a subtle aromatic straight after this in the same bowl would be ridiculous if not insane, but nevertheless I devote a pipe to it. The taste of dried fruit (christmas cake ?) dies away after half a bowl and you're left with a rather distant reminder of the opening pouch scent. It stays relatively moist throughout and is a bugger to light after the first half of the bowl is gone. The dregs are very unappealing.

As for room note, well Mrs RW's nose must be so used to the concoctions I've inflicted on her over the years, that even this blend doesn't arouse any interest whatsover. Maybe Uncle Charlie didn't smoke this after all. I have heard that 'some say' - in a Clarkson-type voice- that this lingers around the house, like a smelly dog but only a constant daily smoke of this would do that. I'm not about to do that anyway. Besides I'm still the owner of two front teeth that I'm rather attached to.

A good blend then, that's been around for donkey's years and probably a few more until the Government sends pipe smoking under ground, which I couldn't smoke everyday, but is just great to drag out every now and then for some thing a bit different. I can't recommend this to all - it's one of those you-either-like-it-or-you-don't blends.