Polish Condor....What Happened?

[pepesdad1]

I just tried to choke down the "new" Polish based Condor...Choke is the apt word...it was nasty tasting...almost foul. I smoked some of the Irish version prior to get the right taste cemented in my mind...the flavor the creaminess...all that was missing in the Polish version. I had to empty my pipe and clean it out with some Crown Royal to get rid of any lingering nastiness. I purchased it with the intent of seeing just how bad or hopefully just a little off the new Condor was....gag, hak, spit...all are the labels I would place on the tobacco review if asked.

It saddens me to think that a fine tobacco...a heritage if you will, had been thrown out. The fine folks who used to be proud of what they were turning out for the connoisseur pipe smoker in the UK and elsewhere..what they must be feeling for this loss, this debasement of their heritage is something I wouldn't want to hear.

 

[sablebrush52]

I think they went wrong when they added kielbasa to the blend. Garlic doesn't really smoke well.

 

[pepesdad1]

" Garlic doesn't really smoke well."
That is a fact....this stuff is truly nasty...broke my heart.

 

[condorlover1]

There was a lengthy thread about the new 'Condor-ski' Plug a few months back started by yours truly. It is truly unsmokable and I have smoked tractor tires with more flavor. They totally ruined the brand although I am told the Condor Brown is alright and seems to have survived unmolested!

 

[JimInks]

I sent the rest of mine to a friend from Krypton. I figure he has a chance of surviving the smoke.

 

[condorlover1]

That right Jim. I remember now that I had Jim give a 'Stewards Opinion' on the new plug just to make sure it wasn't just my taste buds playing up. As can been seen from the above he concurred with my thoughts. Actually it might be helpful Jim if you reproduce your opinion here again as it was really very pertinent and spot on the money.

 

[JimInks]

This is my update to my original Condor plug review:

Condor is now made in Poland, much to its detriment. The tobaccos have less strength and (practically no) nuances. The toppings are different, and weaker, though some soap and floralness is present. Has a bitter, unattractive sourness not present in the older manufacture. Will still ghost a briar and a meer. In the last third of the bowl, I detected a cigarette note that I never experienced before. The plug itself is moister and more pliable than before. In short, it’s not the same plug as before. This version gets one star.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Sounds great! Hoard now; they may be going out of business!

 

[weezell]

:crying:

 

[saltedplug]

Corporate f*cks could give a sh*t about anything except money.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Nice attitude, and way to express it!

 

[ashdigger]

Reminds me of the fella that had a super busy restaurant that specialized in Clam Chowder. He was thinking of retiring so he sold the restaurant to a corporate chain style operation. For many months the customers still came in droves, then slowly but surely the recipe was changed. The corporate chain could not understand

the decline in business and decided to cut its losses.
Cutting corners or changing recipes NEVER ends well.

 

[pepesdad1]

Still pisses me off....grrr.

 

[craiginthecorn]

If you're fortunate enough to have access to Gawith Hoggarths Westmorland Slices, they could be a proper alternative. They're not available in the USA. A UK tobacconist told me that Condor was for folks who were too lazy to go to a tobacconist and that Westmorland was much better. I've only smoked a couple bowls of each, and not side by side, but I see the similarity.
P.S. Not Samuel Gawith Westmorland. That's not the same.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

There was a thread on another forum about how to identify, through the product code on the plug wrapper, whether the plug was made in Ireland or Poland. I can't locate that thread at the moment but will post it if I find it. I have only tried Condor a few times but quite enjoy it once in a blue moon and stocked up quite a bit when I heard that production was moving because I feared they would screw it up.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

I find this Long Cut Flake (brown )is pretty enjoyable versus to green one.And perhaps would not ghost pipe that vigorously, remains to be seen.

 

[nukesimi]

Never got to try the old Condor. Oh well.

 

[canucklehead]

Polish jokes?

 

[craiginthecorn]

I just received a fresh shipment of Westmorland Slices from across the pond and compared it to a pouch of Condor Ready Rubbed I bought this fall in Scotland. They don't smell all that much alike. Condor is much more floral. Westmorland Slices has a richer stoved, licorice/molasses scent with a bit of Lakeland perfume. They're not equivalent in my book. I don't know where my Condor was manufactured, however.

 

[saltedplug]

Corporate f*cks don't give a shit about anything except money.