Mac Baren Three Nuns Yellow

I’m reviewing both Three Nun’s Yellow and Green because I bought them simultaneously to compare. Both were smoked in a variety of pipes (hand carved, cobs, thick, thin, small and large) and in a variety of methods (sitting/tasting, while walking, while doing yard work). Based on all of those criteria, here are my reviews.

Three Nun’s Yellow Described as a Straight Virginia - this one meets the mark.

Packaging: Like the other Three Nun’s in the family, this tobacco looks like it was packed in haste. Opening the round tin, I found loosely packed irregular coins haphazardly mixed with ribbons of tobacco. Moisture content on the other hand is perfect and smokable right out of the tin. Regardless, I transferred into a rubber sealed jar and let the tobacco breathe for a day before smoking.

Strength: I found the nicotine content to be mild on this tobacco.

Tin Note: The aroma from the tin could be described as wet hay with maybe a subtle sweetness.

Flavoring/Taste: Great sweet Virginia tobacco throughout the whole bowl. No bite as I walked and puffed this one.

Room Note: Not as strong as 3N Green, but this is still an outdoor tobacco in my household. Not as strong, but still not an overwhelming sweet tobacco that folks around me love.

OVERALL: Considering that I love sweet Virginia tobaccos, when I compare 3NY to the other tobaccos in the family, I’d put this in first place.

It is a Curly Cut like the original Three Nuns red label. Loose spun curly cut discs in the size of small coins. The moisture in tin is ok to smoke right out of the tin, although it’s on the drier side. After opening the tin, I should keep it under some moisture to prevent further drying.

Three Nuns Yellow (3NY) is an honest Virginia blend, rather on the side of bright Virginias than matured ones. I can easily taste all of the typical natural flavours of Virginia tobacco. It opens with citrus and hay, then gradually gets into the bread and yeast aromas. Some sweetness is there, but I would say it is limited to the natural Virginia sweetness. I cannot detect any added artificial sweetness or flavouring. In my perception there must be a hint of peppery Perique in this mixture, providing an extra boost of strength that a regular straight Virginia would not have. A slight nose-tingle on retro-hale confirms it. Because of this extra peppery power I rate the strength medium to strong.

3NY offers a rather quick but steady burn and a consistent, non-fluctuating deployment of the aromas from start to the end, leaving a dry ash. The nicotine level is low. Overall 3NY it is a delightful Virginia blend. Not one that is deep digging. Rather an enjoyable all-day smoke. No problem to smoke several bowls in a row. I feel no bite whatsoever. It leaves a pleasant after taste.

I picked up a tin of the new Yellow and the new Green to try.

I popped the Yellow one first as it was said it was the milder of the two.

Presentation: Very small coins. Much smaller than LBF or the other coins I'm used to. The tin is tightly packed when opened. Tin note was fairly sweet and had a prevalent hay smell.

Prep: The moisture seems about perfect straight from the tin. I took two coins and folded them into a smaller Blue Room Briars Canadian.

Lighting: Char light, tamp, and then one light got me through the bowl.

Taste: start out sweet at the light with a pretty light taste from the virginias. Mid way through I got a little bit of spiciness. Not overpowering at at all to my taste. More Nic in the 2nd half of the bowl but not so powerful to be annoying or overpowering.

Burn: A little bit hot in the bowl, but in the small Canadian never required a relight. Burned down to ash with minimal moisture in the bowl.

Overall impression: The small coins provide an interesting presentation. The flavor is good. Not sure it will make it to my rotation, but an overall good experience that I'd recommend you try. I preferred the new Green to the Yellow.

I'm going to jar the rest of the tin and I'll update if the taste changes with some aging.

Tin note of sweet, tangy and fermented fruit. Tobacco is a Curly Cut of tan and light brown coins. Moisture content is great and rubs out easily. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with notes of wood, spice, bread, rich earth, floral, dry hay, spicy, fermented vegetation, acidic, orange peel/zest, mildly bitter, leather, peaty, tart citrus, autumn leaves, mildly vinegary, a lemon grass background note, and a peppery retro. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.