Mac Baren Three Nuns

Well, I really tried to like the Nuns, but every time I smoke 'em, I feel like my fingertips have been whacked with a big ruler! I find the Nuns to be bitter, without any developing sweetness. The cut is neat looking, and the tin aroma is nice, but that isn't enough to counter the acrid taste. I'll give it this though, it is CONSISTENTLY acrid all the way down. If you want a good perique smoke, I would venture elswhere.

UPDATE: Below is my 2002 era review of a couple of versions of the original blend. I also tried tins of the newer Orlik version a couple of years ago, apparently shifting at some point from perique to dark fired kentucky over the years. It may not have been the same as the original (but what is), yet it was still nice.

Enters MacBaren newest Three Nuns, bless their hearts. They have expertise at coins. It feels dry enough to smoke right out of the tin, and is not hot if you take care. Doesn't seem to be scented either. The dark fired leaf tastes harsh to me if you rub out the coins at lot. At least if the coins are left mostly intact you get some sweetness from the Virginia leaf. But the taste from the dark leaf is on the bitter side or at least not very tasty to me. It also smokes stronger to me than the past versions.

The Virginia used in the mix seems straight or even raw. It has richness like the Virginia in Buter's Blended Flake or McCelland's Anniversary blend. But the mixture here has an intensity that makes me want to shy away at times. But the coins are captivating.

I smoked about 60% of my new tin. About 10 partial bowls in a new aero-billiard, and about 6-7 half to 2/3s bowls in a Wiley horn that I smoked only three nuns in over a decade ago. I sealed up the tin to let it sit or rest for a few months and then I will test it or finish it and see if I change my mind -- up or down a star.

Maybe some of you will like the extra body from the get-go. Let us know.

OLDER 2002 REVIEWS: I had the pleasure some years ago of buying an older, large tin (3 1/2 oz.) of Three Nuns and smoking it in a Ashton LX apple sovereign. When I first tried it, it was a bit too strong, but after about five-six more months of aging, it was creamy, soft, delicious, a tiny bit sweet, and just rich enough. It was as enjoyable a 6-8 weeks of puffing I every had. I'm sure the Ashton helped.

Then, I tried in vain in buying another tin, but everyplace was out. I had apparently bought one of the last tins available from a local cigar store. There were a couple of more tins at the time of my original purchase, but I didn't know what I was getting for sure. The proprietor told me of the reputation of Three Nuns, but I had to try it first. By the time I had finished the tin, some 8 months had past, and the unexpected Three Nuns treasure I had found was no more! Frantic, like losing a child or wife (well, kinda).

Then a couple of years ago I found a Canada shop that sold it in packs (not tins) on-line. It was shag cut, not curly. Nevertheless I bought two packs and smoked one in a natural Wiley horn. Not quite as smooth as I recall, but I didn't find it as horrible as some reviewers do. Just not as round or sweet, as the darker tobaccos are more detectable. (I didn't know it's not supposed to be real perique.) But after all, I was not a seasoned Three Nuns purist.

Then I recently got the real curly stuff in tins from Europe! The Original Three Nuns. I still don't find it as smooth as what I had experienced a few years ago from the large tin. It looks similar (but may have more perique in patches; it's not uniform in the disks at all), smells similar, but seems like stronger stuff.

I found if I rubbed it out or pushed or stopped a bunch of small curlies sideways in (like you can do with one or two large curls of Escudo), the smoke was much too strong with the perique having an edge. But by rubbing out one curl for the botton, and just stacking a bunch of flat curls straight down in the bowl (like a stack of coins on a table), and tamping it down just some to prevent any large air pockets, the smoke was a lot more tolerable.

It is still fairly strong to me (a 7 or 8 on a scale of 10) and is complex. I have smoked about 2 1/2 oz. now of original in a Upshall P apple. It drifts from some natural sweetness of the red virginia to the sourness of a va./perique blend. Sometimes the perique stands out more but mostly you have a full natural virginia smoke here. My guess is that the new original curly blend is quite similar to the older curly blend, but it probably has not been aged as much. So you may have to keep a tin for added months or a year or more to get a much rounder smoke, but I found I could smoke a new tin too.

You must pack carefully and tamp to avoid an edge. The room aroma is natural, very rich and strong indeed, but not bad to a smoker. My wife said it was too much (I'm sure the perique got to her). It is not an all day smoke but an evening treasure (or close to one if you puff slowly). It is mostly a dry smoke but a pipe cleaner should be run into the stem to the bowl in the last half of the smoke (it will have a black residue at the tip). But the smoke itself is not wet. The bowl is not gunky. The smoke is not hot (with care). But a very rich experience.

With age it may well be a king of va./perique blends. A milder va./perique blend is Germain's Royal Jersey Perique or Peterson's Irish Oak (as a step up in strength from Germain's). C&D's Three Friars pressed, with additional aging, is close to the rich three Nuns experience, even though it looks different.

Overall, original is recommended with care to a va./perique smoker, as a rich and complex blend. It probably is not identical to the good old "Three Nuns' days, but what is.

I have to say, I'm really disappointed in this blend.

In itself, it is nice. The taste is nice - it has a nice, natural, slightly tangy taste. It's not very strong (I expected stronger), except for the nicotine hit (it'll mellow you out if you need something to mellow you out). It doesn't leave much aftertaste in your mouth, and doesn't burn too fast.

The fact that it's "just a nice tobacco" did disappoint me since 1) it has such a high rating here and 2) people build it up so much (like some extraordinary legendary thing, when actually, it's just a good ordinary thing).

I would have given 3 stars if it hadn't been for one thing : the price. (note: prices for where I live). If this had been a 8-10 euro tobacco, I would consider buying it again. This being said, a tin cost over 18 euros. This means that for one tin of this "good but ordinary" tobacco, I could get two packs of some other equally good (or maybe better) tobacco. Or I could get some other pricy but less expensive tobacco (there are many more expensive tin tobaccos that are still cheaper than 18 euros).

So in itself, you can buy this, it's a nice tobacco, but I wouldn't say it's worth it for the price.

Man do i want to like this.

I have smoked this a few times over the years, The last time i had a bowl was a little over 3yrs ago. I couldnt remeber if i liked it or not, couldnt remember a thing about it! So i decided to try it this morning.

The leaf became MUCH darker, and the smell was even better.

I wish i could say i enjoy this. But i dont. It has a great spice to it. A softer, less agressive 'pepper' note. The aroma is pretty great. Almost like a creamy sweetgrass.

Flavor? Cant detect a thing. Hot, spicy air.....thats about it.

Quality is perfect. Rubs out easy. Packs great too!

I never really enjoyed many straight forward Virginia/Virginia dominate blends. Theres so many out there, maybe i havent found "the one" where i can put away English blends for a bit. Oh well! Maybe a few more years on this tin and my unopened tin will do it some good.

Apart from the fact that it burns well and a medium strength that satisfies nicotine-wise without being too strong or too feeble, I do not find many things to commend Three Nuns.

The tobacco from the tin looks messy among broken flakes and ribbons. It somehow looks stale to me and smokes like being stale. It seems to have a mild licorice/molasses topping. I guess the succulent fruitiness is not only from the … I was going to say Perique, forgetting there’s none here. Well, it seems obvious that the casing is there to substitute the more expensive St. James leaf. For me Three Nuns tastes like a second rate Vaper.

The smoke is a little bit bitter with some underlying dark fruity (fig/plum) sweetness which may be from the casing. It also has a discernible taste of (stale) black pepper. A dry cigar-ish (stale) taste is also evident.

To avoid misunderstandings, I do not find Three Nuns horrid, I would surely smoke it if there was no other tobacco available, I just do not like it given the choices I currently have. Another drawback is its inflated price. I can only recommend it for its history as a tobacco one has to try at least once even if it’s not what it used to be.

A light smoke that suits smokers that prefer medium bodied tobacco. Pleasant yet ordinary, not offering anything past the average VaBur, Three Nuns is a fine tobacco but not quite to the extent that I consider it to fully cover what I'm looking for.

Taste: This blend had me wondering quite a bit at first - I know that this is a Macbaren tobacco but it reminds me a lot of Orlik virginias. After coming to this site for enlightenment things got clearer, as reviews tell me that Macbaren bought the recipe from Orlik. Grassy and sweet, light and slightly herbal this really does remind me of Golden Sliced, and that is not a bad thing. Indeed that VaPer is really tasty, if a bit too weak for my personal preference. But! This also tastes of Macbaren's kentucky, wich is simply amazing, HH Old Dark Fired is one of my absolute favorite tobaccos, hands down. Now this is a different animal as it is much lighter and carries notes of hay, honey and grass. Actually, the first half of a bowl is so light it's almost like the ghost of a tobacco, hints of what used to be a VaBur. It grows and the kentucky comes through more in the second half with a bit of pepper and earth, but the body is never past medium, and as far as medium is concerned this is on the lighter end of the spectrum. It is pleasant and tasty and beggs for the smoker's attention for all the nuances to unfold. Therefore I would say that this works well for either the smoker who wants something light to smoke all day or the smoker who enjoys playfully light and soft tobacco to sit and tug the flavours out of.

Mechanics: A rough coin cut, easy to rub out. Actually comes a bit on the dry side in the tin, not a big problem but it needs to sit in a jar tight away or it will grow too dry to smoke in my opinion. On the other hand it is in no way a moist smoke. Can burn a bit hot and will bite if one is not careful. Medium in nicotine.

Very disappointing, turned out to be a MacB Dark Roll twist without bite. Same flavor profile , Cavendish? Maybe? same coin cut. Never tried the original TN's but maybe we need the third Nun ( perique) back

Agree with reviewer "Hybrid 12" 2014-10-12

It's a nice change, a pleasant palate cleanser, from the heavier English blends I tend to smoke ore often.

The room note I am told is less than pleasant and really, I can't see smoking this more than once every few days, as I find it tasty but dull.

I am so disappointed that I wasn't able to try the original version.

I had tasted an "original" Three Nuns several years ago, and only once, thanks to the generosity of a collector friend. I was very eager to re-experience that vaguely appetizing, rich flavor from long ago. What I found with this new manifestation was, instead, another Mac Baren blend. If you did a blind taste test I can guarantee you would identify this as a Mac Baren product. The coins are spun loosely, and are much lighter in both color and flavor than the original, which were more flavorful, small, dark coins. This isn't a bad tobacco, mind you. It's just not to my taste, like many Mac Baren blends. There is something monotonous about the base of Virginias, with that consistent weakly raisiny and straw aroma--more assertive in the room note but ephemeral in the mouth, that subtends so many Mac Baren blends. I would have hoped for something a little different, maybe leaves sourced from different producers to create something distinct from the Mac Baren portfolio.

I'm surprised there isn't a second entry for this new "Three Nuns" under the Mac Baren section.

Edited 4/7/2016 - For something similar in taste and construction, try Dark Bird's Eye. The orignal Three Nuns was spun in coins, but the cut was finer, similar to DBE, and the flavor of DBE is much more reminiscent of the old Bell's.