You'll only know by experimenting. If you're are totally against sugar, just try some of the commercial blends. Emeril's Essence would work just fine in this type of use and has no sugar.
I'm not totally against sugar. I sometimes use it in cooking savoury food. I just don't want it to make the food sweet.
Thanks for the tip about Emeril's Essence. I googled to see if it could be bought in Canada and found this: Emeril's Essence Recipe : Emeril Lagasse : Food Network. It looks quite similar to the recipe posted here, but minus the sugar.
Has anyone tried using fresh herbs in a rub instead of dry ones? Does it gum things up or does it work well?