Condor Ready Rubbed Revisited - it's a long story!

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originalnutcracker

Can't Leave
Feb 26, 2018
304
2,019
62
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Our rhinencephalon is no where near as developed as that of a dog, but the old primitive brain has looked after our species for a very long time. It connects olfaction – aromas (rather than astringent smells which are elsewhere) and complex flavours (i.e. not sweet, bitter, sour which are a different elsewhere) - almost directly to the temporal lobe where memory resides.

So here’s the story (in case you are idle/bored):

Some thirty plus years ago, I was a young registrar (“resident” for all of us North Americans) in Pretoria, South Africa. I had been a pipe smoker for a few years, and fairly soon a few of my colleagues had joined me, and we used to fill the call room with billows of cherry cavendish. (Cigarettes' were the usual registrar staple – largely to stay awake and reasonably focused).

I hammered one poor old pipe constantly, and my friend Wessel Haman (he was the cool kid with money), had bought a Peterson System (way out of our league). We started trying newer tobaccos – notably Dunhill EMP and Condor Ready Rubbed. I really enjoyed the latter – especially at 2am – the nicotine blast helped fend off tiredness. It was cheap. It also felt like real pipe tobacco - not this whimsy cherry stuff!

I can recall buying Condor at my local supermarket. For some reason it became unavailable at one point, and we just moved on.

Fast forward to my recent trip to Spain. I went looking for the stuff – and found half a dozen pouches in Santiago.

I recently opened the first baggie. So here is where the rhinencephalon gets you – a deep whiff and I was almost instantly transported to the call room. The supermarket shelf at the tobacco counter is in front of me. Long forgotten memories are awakened. This is no B.S.

It gets worse when you light the damn stuff – I don’t know what concoction they pour on it, but it is immediately familiar. If I smoke enough of this I might remember patient's names and dates of birth (Kidding - somewhat)

I see why it is such a divisive blend. A lot of Brits clearly love the stuff. Not quite my usual thing, but I will certainly smoke it when nostalgic! It still packs a good dose of nicotine – so I know why it worked so well when tired!

It burns well, doesn’t change through the bowl and provides a constant taste (that is not really a tobacco varietal taste) – something weird, boozy and detergent like – and a whole lot of nicotine.

Great to find you again old friend. We will have to do this again sometime!
 

rmbittner

Lifer
Dec 12, 2012
2,759
1,994
Is this actually similar to Gallaher’s Condor Long Cut or is it just a case of a company using the brand name for a new mixture?

I recall sampling a tin of the Gallaher’s version back in the 80s, but it was too much for me. I didn’t have a lot of pipesmoking experience at that point, but I did note that it reminded me of a lighter version of Erinmore. The “lighter” was a positive; the “Erinmore” connection was a negative. :)