Gallaher Limited Condor Long Cut (Brown)
(3.30)
The Condor Flake is a full-bodied pipe tobacco blended from air cured Virginia, which has been top dressed with a secret liquor flavoring before been cooked under pressure to form a cake which has been thinly sliced ready for rubbing down. This provides an even cooler, slower burning and richer smoke.
Notes: Was made in Ireland, now made in Poland.
Details
| Brand | Gallaher Limited |
| Blended By | Japan Tobacco International |
| Manufactured By | Japan Tobacco International |
| Blend Type | Straight Virginia |
| Contents | Virginia |
| Flavoring | Alcohol / Liquor |
| Cut | Flake |
| Packaging | 50 grams pouch |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Production | Currently available |
Profile
Strength
Medium to Strong
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Medium to Strong
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Full
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Average Rating
|
3.30 / 4
|
Reviews
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Displaying 61 - 70 of 81 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 30, 2009 | Medium to Strong | Medium to Strong | Full | Pleasant to Tolerable |
The pouch says..."Break seal gently...for that Condor moment." I didn't notice that admonition until the second or third helping, and I think I missed the moment. This is the Original Condor Long Cut flake in the brown 50g pouch.
The flake is soft, pliable, and moist, about 1.0" x 2.5", very thin, dark with a few lighter streaks. As for the pouch aroma, I thought of several mild to medium English blends. I was expecting something like Ennerdale after reading a number of warnings in the Condor Ready Rubbed reviews.
Initially, an extremely cool, sweet, Lakeland whammy. There is more of that Lakeland essence than is suggested by the pouch, but it is no Ennerdale. By the way, I like Ennerdale. Mid-bowl it is still predominately sweet and very cool, but slightly bitter, in a good way. My wife makes a soup out of a green, cucumber-sized, hard and bumpy object that contains white pumpkin seed sized seeds that she hollows out and stuffs with ground pork, black flat mushrooms (fungi?), clear noodles, onions, and black pepper. The broth (pork) is delicious, but the melon, she calls it bitter melon soup, is, well, bitter. If you have spent time in SE Asia you probably encountered this soup. Condor is that kind of bitter, not nearly as bitter, but that kind of pleasant bitter taste. Yet, sweet.
Condor, in this flake format, burns cool and dry to a powdery off-white ash. No tongue bite, no palate coat, no overwhelming nicotine, no negatives for me.
The Lakeland essence does not disappear like I predicted it would. So you end up with a sweet English/Balkan with Lakeland essence, and this interesting, mildly bitter finish. It is full and medium to strong, but no ringing of the ears like with 1792 and some twists or ropes. I think I taste a mature and sweet VA, Orientals, a little Latakia, a little Turkish, and of course, the Lakeland essence.
Condor is easily obtained from an Otley, UK internet tobacconist, and several other UK shops. Condor, St. Bruno, Warrior Plug, Yachtman Navy Plug, Mick McQuaid Plug, and more delivered to your door in one week. I overlooked the Revor Plug, dangit. Note to self: must try the Black XXX Gawith Hoggarth twist.
07/27/09 UPDATE: I am revising some of my reviews. I have given out more 4 star ratings than anything else. That practice is probably not helping. So, I am reducing Condor to 3 stars, not because I like it less than I did before, but because I am limiting 4 stars to fewer than 25% of all my reviews. One day I may use the 4 star rating to designate my top five.
The flake is soft, pliable, and moist, about 1.0" x 2.5", very thin, dark with a few lighter streaks. As for the pouch aroma, I thought of several mild to medium English blends. I was expecting something like Ennerdale after reading a number of warnings in the Condor Ready Rubbed reviews.
Initially, an extremely cool, sweet, Lakeland whammy. There is more of that Lakeland essence than is suggested by the pouch, but it is no Ennerdale. By the way, I like Ennerdale. Mid-bowl it is still predominately sweet and very cool, but slightly bitter, in a good way. My wife makes a soup out of a green, cucumber-sized, hard and bumpy object that contains white pumpkin seed sized seeds that she hollows out and stuffs with ground pork, black flat mushrooms (fungi?), clear noodles, onions, and black pepper. The broth (pork) is delicious, but the melon, she calls it bitter melon soup, is, well, bitter. If you have spent time in SE Asia you probably encountered this soup. Condor is that kind of bitter, not nearly as bitter, but that kind of pleasant bitter taste. Yet, sweet.
Condor, in this flake format, burns cool and dry to a powdery off-white ash. No tongue bite, no palate coat, no overwhelming nicotine, no negatives for me.
The Lakeland essence does not disappear like I predicted it would. So you end up with a sweet English/Balkan with Lakeland essence, and this interesting, mildly bitter finish. It is full and medium to strong, but no ringing of the ears like with 1792 and some twists or ropes. I think I taste a mature and sweet VA, Orientals, a little Latakia, a little Turkish, and of course, the Lakeland essence.
Condor is easily obtained from an Otley, UK internet tobacconist, and several other UK shops. Condor, St. Bruno, Warrior Plug, Yachtman Navy Plug, Mick McQuaid Plug, and more delivered to your door in one week. I overlooked the Revor Plug, dangit. Note to self: must try the Black XXX Gawith Hoggarth twist.
07/27/09 UPDATE: I am revising some of my reviews. I have given out more 4 star ratings than anything else. That practice is probably not helping. So, I am reducing Condor to 3 stars, not because I like it less than I did before, but because I am limiting 4 stars to fewer than 25% of all my reviews. One day I may use the 4 star rating to designate my top five.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 06, 2009 | Strong | Extra Strong | Full | Tolerable |
I am flattered to be the first to review this legend. I think my review of the ready rubbed version applies to this blend too. Mo, South Africa
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Jan 14, 2024 | Medium to Strong | Medium to Strong | Very Full | Tolerable |
It's been announced this has been discontinued, what is now in the shops is all there is there is. 14.01.2024.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Sep 25, 2020 | Medium to Strong | Medium to Strong | Full | Tolerable |
This is much toned down on the sauce compared to ready rubbed which I don't like. It's like a stepped up st Bruno with added oil of cloves light edge and pine needles. You seem to get loads in a pouch because the slices are thin but they burn slow and it's great value. I personally needed to dry them out because I got gurgle when I didn't. Nicotine is there in abundance. Nothing harsh going on. Good value smoke. Can't knock it.smells nice like st Bruno but more going on. If you hate condor like me then don't overlook this it don't have nearly as much of the topping
Pipe Used:
Country gentleman corncob
PurchasedFrom:
Asda
Age When Smoked:
New
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Aug 18, 2019 | Strong | Medium to Strong | Very Full | Pleasant |
Surprising find in the darkest depths of an Asda kiosk. They dragged this out of a drawer rather than out from behind the metal shutters used these days to hide tobacco products. Sad that I actually noticed this tobacco pouch on sale in Coronation Street's 'classic' episodes from the 80's and 90's, watched by my sister-in-law on occasion, while I listen to Prog Rock on earphones.
It is the flake version of Condor RR, as is the St Bruno flake to the St Bruno RR. I don't think there's much to choose between them really. Indeed Condor isn't a million miles away from St Bruno in my opinion.
They both share a similar pouch fragrance and a similar look. They are different of course and experienced pipe smokers will tell you the difference straight away. This condor blend is, as so many of the reviewers have mentioned, a virginia with a huge helping of something alcoholic, malty and to a degree almost saucy, and is a shade sharper in taste than St Bruno.
A strangely satisfying blend with it's unique taste of god-knows-what, it is not a tobacco to smoke every day or indeed all day (as the old buffers back in the 70's and 80's used to). No, this is something to get out every now and then when you are to bored to tears with straight virginia blends like Gold Block, B & H Special Virginia or these newer Johnny-come-lately blends like Bayside or North Star.
I find one bowl is enough for one day and only one sitting at that, as this is quite potent and, again as reviewers have said, best to have a dedicated briar. I have discovered it is utterly vile in a Meerschaum. But this is a ghoster and you shouldn't get your favourite pipe anywhere near it.
It is the flake version of Condor RR, as is the St Bruno flake to the St Bruno RR. I don't think there's much to choose between them really. Indeed Condor isn't a million miles away from St Bruno in my opinion.
They both share a similar pouch fragrance and a similar look. They are different of course and experienced pipe smokers will tell you the difference straight away. This condor blend is, as so many of the reviewers have mentioned, a virginia with a huge helping of something alcoholic, malty and to a degree almost saucy, and is a shade sharper in taste than St Bruno.
A strangely satisfying blend with it's unique taste of god-knows-what, it is not a tobacco to smoke every day or indeed all day (as the old buffers back in the 70's and 80's used to). No, this is something to get out every now and then when you are to bored to tears with straight virginia blends like Gold Block, B & H Special Virginia or these newer Johnny-come-lately blends like Bayside or North Star.
I find one bowl is enough for one day and only one sitting at that, as this is quite potent and, again as reviewers have said, best to have a dedicated briar. I have discovered it is utterly vile in a Meerschaum. But this is a ghoster and you shouldn't get your favourite pipe anywhere near it.
Pipe Used:
One (dedicated) unfortunate briar
PurchasedFrom:
Asdas OTC
Age When Smoked:
New
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Feb 05, 2019 | Strong | Medium to Strong | Full | Pleasant |
Nice packet note. Full strong tasting. Burns nice and slowly in the pipe for a lasting smoke. I would alternate with milder tobaccos throughout the day. Not for a beginner I would say. Full of flavour which I find hard to describe accurately but I'm enjoying it interspersed throughout the day.
Pipe Used:
Mr Brog Amigo 51
PurchasedFrom:
Asda supermarket UK
Age When Smoked:
Unknown
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Aug 18, 2018 | Medium | Medium to Strong | Medium | Unnoticeable |
Forty years ago Bristol Rovers played at Eastville Stadium and Condor was a rich, dark flake. Strong. A real mans smoke.
Time goes by and the stadium now retails furniture and Condor is made in Poland. By the Japanese. Although it's rich and dark, it seems lightweight, a bit middle of the road.
Perhaps Condor has changed or perhaps I've become a man.
Time goes by and the stadium now retails furniture and Condor is made in Poland. By the Japanese. Although it's rich and dark, it seems lightweight, a bit middle of the road.
Perhaps Condor has changed or perhaps I've become a man.
Pipe Used:
Stanwell billiard
PurchasedFrom:
Cgars.
Age When Smoked:
New.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Jun 24, 2018 | Medium to Strong | Medium | Full | Pleasant to Tolerable |
A strong, traditional English flake - unchanged, as far as I can tell, in decades. Needs to be sipped, and certainly not one for the beginner; but if you like robust and unpretentious flakes, this is one for you. It's cool, slow burning and consistent, and the flavour gets markedly fuller and 'rounder' from about half- way down the bowl. It's a bit like a punchier version of G & H's Dark Flake, but without any 'cigar' note. You get 24 flakes in a 50 gm packet, and I can get an hour's worth of slow smoking out of one of them. Don't smoke it straight out of the packet, though. If you fill your pipe[s} about 12 hours before you want to smoke it/them and just let it/them sit, the difference in the quality of the smoke that Condor LC will give you is truly amazing. I stumbled across this trick by accident, but I guess it'll work for anyone. Worth a try, anyway.
Condor probably suits a small-bowled pipe better than a large one: the nicotine content is high, and it'll sit you down hard if you don't treat it with circumspection. 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. To me, it's intensely nostalgic: the smell of yesterday. Condor also gives you a delicious moment when you open the pouch. it used to be available in sliced, bar, twist and pigtail forms (the last two were pretty hairy, I remember), but I think these have long gone. I haven't seen them in England for years, anyway. Condor will leave a mighty ghost in your pipe, BTW.
On the whole, I think Condor is the best the best of the British OTC blends (though St Bruno Flake runs it a pretty close second). Some pipemen are a little snooty about it; it's a blue-collar smoke available in most B&Ms. I suppose it could be described (in the UK, anyway) as the archetypal blue-collar pipe tobacco. So what? It's good stuff, and let's be thankful that, unlike so many old favourites, it hasn't disappeared. Yet.
Condor probably suits a small-bowled pipe better than a large one: the nicotine content is high, and it'll sit you down hard if you don't treat it with circumspection. 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. To me, it's intensely nostalgic: the smell of yesterday. Condor also gives you a delicious moment when you open the pouch. it used to be available in sliced, bar, twist and pigtail forms (the last two were pretty hairy, I remember), but I think these have long gone. I haven't seen them in England for years, anyway. Condor will leave a mighty ghost in your pipe, BTW.
On the whole, I think Condor is the best the best of the British OTC blends (though St Bruno Flake runs it a pretty close second). Some pipemen are a little snooty about it; it's a blue-collar smoke available in most B&Ms. I suppose it could be described (in the UK, anyway) as the archetypal blue-collar pipe tobacco. So what? It's good stuff, and let's be thankful that, unlike so many old favourites, it hasn't disappeared. Yet.
Pipe Used:
Various
PurchasedFrom:
Durham Pipes and Tobacco; but available just about everywhere that sells tobacco
Age When Smoked:
Fresh
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 19, 2018 | Medium | Medium | Medium | Tolerable |
Summary: an English flake that balances sweetness with a refined malty flavor, topped in a traditional but subdued Lakeland sauce.
Condor endures thanks to legions of diehard fans, and after smoking this sample, it is easy to see why: these densely compacted flakes bring out the best of the Virginia tobaccos blended into them. At first light, the light Lakeland essence -- generally a rose-geranium smelling mixture -- mostly burns off, leaving a quick blast of the brown sugar and toast flavor for which Virginias are known. With successive puffs, the smoldering flakes heat up and the sugars seem to caramelize very quickly, similar to "Lakeland Dark" and other traditional Virginia flakes. This flavor then subsides somewhat, with the sweetness taking a background role to the almost tea-like flavor of a natural tobacco, with faint whiffs of the Lakeland juice floating through every now and then. These flakes smoke easily, last for well over an hour in a medium sized pipe, and provide a mild and gentle experience that could easily be an all-day smoke.
Thanks to pipe smoker "misterlowercase" for this sample.
Condor endures thanks to legions of diehard fans, and after smoking this sample, it is easy to see why: these densely compacted flakes bring out the best of the Virginia tobaccos blended into them. At first light, the light Lakeland essence -- generally a rose-geranium smelling mixture -- mostly burns off, leaving a quick blast of the brown sugar and toast flavor for which Virginias are known. With successive puffs, the smoldering flakes heat up and the sugars seem to caramelize very quickly, similar to "Lakeland Dark" and other traditional Virginia flakes. This flavor then subsides somewhat, with the sweetness taking a background role to the almost tea-like flavor of a natural tobacco, with faint whiffs of the Lakeland juice floating through every now and then. These flakes smoke easily, last for well over an hour in a medium sized pipe, and provide a mild and gentle experience that could easily be an all-day smoke.
Thanks to pipe smoker "misterlowercase" for this sample.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Jan 18, 2018 | Medium | Very Mild | Medium | Pleasant |
To the best of my recollection my father only smoked three pipe tobaccos: Erinmore, Capstan and Condor Flake. While the smell of Erinmore will take me back 4 or 5 decades, I get no such response when Condor is in the pipe. I don't consider it to have a strong or unique aroma and in my opinion is not a Lakeland or any kind of aromatic.
Yes, it has a casing/topping; but then very few tobaccos do not. In my humble opinion the primary flavouring is a very mild strawberry. (I am open to the possibility it is rose geranium but honestly, it is so faint.) There is also perhaps some licorice and molasses. That sounds entirely counterintuitive but that is my take.
I also seem to be an outlier regarding the strength and burn of this baccy. For me it is near enough a one light tobacco and burns with little attention to a fine ash. Unrubbed, it lasts a very long time in the bowl. I consider the strength of the tobacco to be medium.
Written up in the description as being made entirely of Virginias, I am in no position to say otherwise. Do I think it might have some burley in the mix? Yes I do. I say this because even tho this is a very heavily processed tobacco, possibly punished under tons of pressure and steam and heat, the Va sharpness is still in evidence, there is also a neutral character in there as well. I don't mean that to be read as 'bland', but there is an overall broadness and even-ness here that to me suggests burley.
So, apart from the mild fruit/floral nose, there is a stewed fruit character to this tobacco, a pleasing acidity, and a very nice, almost nutty, mid palate.
A very good, no nonsense tobacco, that nonetheless lacks star quality (not that it ever assumes to be such) but is consistent, reliable and economical. Well it would be economical were it not for the tax burden applied to this baccy.
Thee stars from me, 4 if BS free tobacco is your gig.
Yes, it has a casing/topping; but then very few tobaccos do not. In my humble opinion the primary flavouring is a very mild strawberry. (I am open to the possibility it is rose geranium but honestly, it is so faint.) There is also perhaps some licorice and molasses. That sounds entirely counterintuitive but that is my take.
I also seem to be an outlier regarding the strength and burn of this baccy. For me it is near enough a one light tobacco and burns with little attention to a fine ash. Unrubbed, it lasts a very long time in the bowl. I consider the strength of the tobacco to be medium.
Written up in the description as being made entirely of Virginias, I am in no position to say otherwise. Do I think it might have some burley in the mix? Yes I do. I say this because even tho this is a very heavily processed tobacco, possibly punished under tons of pressure and steam and heat, the Va sharpness is still in evidence, there is also a neutral character in there as well. I don't mean that to be read as 'bland', but there is an overall broadness and even-ness here that to me suggests burley.
So, apart from the mild fruit/floral nose, there is a stewed fruit character to this tobacco, a pleasing acidity, and a very nice, almost nutty, mid palate.
A very good, no nonsense tobacco, that nonetheless lacks star quality (not that it ever assumes to be such) but is consistent, reliable and economical. Well it would be economical were it not for the tax burden applied to this baccy.
Thee stars from me, 4 if BS free tobacco is your gig.
Pipe Used:
Falcon
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