Mac Baren Three Nuns

You guys hoarding pre-ITG/PLC/Bell's tins of this stuff should count yourselves among the lucky because the leaf in my briars right now is not cutting the mustard as far as I'm concerned and I'm working on a three-year-old tin. I've talked to many an old-timer who gets misty about this leaf, but I fail to see what the fuss is about. Opening the tin, my excitement level is high for the tobacco has all the characteristics of a high quality grass right off the hop. Much to my dismay and disappointment, the flavor never really shows up--I'm puffing away wondering if I'm missing something...and I am: tobacco taste! The virginia here is very sedate, never really developing that toasty sweetness that makes your mouth sing, while the perique makes an even more unremarkable showing--a hint of bitter tang, maybe, but not spicy-zesty-peppery for a minute! I find nothing offensive here, but nothing to write love poems about either. I guess they don't make em like they used to...I for one won't be in a hurry to buy this again soon.

This tobacco is a "Class Act" I have loved this tobacco since I was 9 Year's old & took my Dad's pipe under the house to smoke it!!!(I DIDN'T GET CAUGHT EITHER) It smoke's & lights well & behave's like a true Lady. And leave's a nice light greyish ash.Plus the taste is delicious!! And never tire of it. I love every particle as it smoke's down to the bottom of the bowl. I have smoked the original tin mix with the little curly disc's & the rubbed out pouch pack's as well.I have many,many tin's that have been ageing for well over 22 Year's.And jar's filled with the pouch blend as well.And that has saved me a fortune! In Australia we now pay through the nose!! I'm giving these these Nun's 4 Halo's out of 4.

I smoked Three Nuns years ago and was happy to come across a tin at a recent pipe show. While the tobacco was similar to what I remembered, I did not find it to exceptional and was not sad to see it go. It is certainly unique, but somewhat bland. Smoking characteristics were good and the disk cut is fun to stack as a change of pace. Nice but not exceptional. 7/2002.

Bell?s Three Nuns is a famous old tobacco once made in England but now manufactured in Denmark by Imperial Tobacco. The once familiar brown and orange tins containing the original recipe are no longer seen in Canada; even the newer 50g pouch mixture is rare. This mix contains fire-cured and sun-cured tobaccos, Black Cavendish, Brazilian Virginia and small amounts of Perique. Sight, Touch & Aroma The pouched version of Three Nuns is light brown in colour with the odd shred of black. It is a moderately fine-cut shag with an open-pouch aroma that emits the pungency of Perique ? and though its not stated to be in the mix ? I sense a trace of Latakia in the background.

Preparation & Smoking: Three Nuns can be packed into ones pipe straight from the pouch or rubbed to suit. Easy to light and smoke, a few tamps during the burn keeps things smouldering nicely. It burns at a moderate speed with easy draws.

Flavour: Three Nuns flavour starts out rather slow but quickly builds to a faintly sweet-and-sour taste with an undercurrent of piquancy I associate with stewed plums. Because it takes a while for the Perique to establish, the last half of the bowl is better than the first. Three Nuns can be a mellow, cool smoke but this spicy mixture can bite if not drawn on slowly and with respect.

Room Note: The room note is woodsy, almost acrid, and the overall weight of the fragrance is somewhat heavy and unappealing for many wives and tolerant non-smokers.

Economics: Three Nuns is a mid-priced tobacco that can burn relatively slow with correct packing. As such I feel this mixture represents a moderately economic smoke.

Last Words: One of the classic tobaccos of the 20th century, however I cannot quite agree with its motto of 'None Finer'. You may want to try Escudo Navy Deluxe, Germain?s Royal Jersey Perique Mix or Solani Blend 633 if you want to continue the search for a definitive Perique mix you can call your own. I rate the pouched version of Three Nuns at 3 of 5 stars.

©Copyright, Rivendel Books 2001 ®

The benchmark for perique tobacco in my book . My search for similar tobaccos is only so that I don't smoke all the Nuns out of my cellar too quickly .

This review is of some aged Three Nuns ( approx 3 yrs old ) that I received as a gift from a fellow pipe smoker. He also sent me some recent vintage to compare. The aged sample is almost uniformly a dark brown color, while the new is mottle of different brown hues. The pre-smoke aroma is also very different ... with the aged sample having a very full nose of raisins and spices, while the new one is subdued and sharp.

I chose my small GBD bent bulldog to smoke as I've read of the strength of this blend. It was a good choice, but the strength of the smoke was more in the fullness of the tobacco flavor vs. the nicotine content. I think that the additional age might have mellowed that characteristic. In any event it was a good smoke. Full tobacco flavor with some spiciness and a slight sweetness. Not complex, but very consistent. The stregth increased somewhat the second half of the bowl. It was also very dry with nary a gurgle or bite.

Three Nuns is probably my all time favourite tobacco. Its reputation proceeds it and is well-deserved. Three Nuns is cut into sprials or coins much like Escudo, except a little smaller. Three Nuns smells almost alcoholic in the tin, with a tinge of a spice. I always stack the Three Nuns coins like quarters with some loose tobacco on top to ease lighting. Really is easier than it sounds. Puffing on the unlit pipe is a treat that can be savored for 20 minutes in itself. Once lit the Nuns come alive with smoothness and spiciness all at once. The taste is out of this world, and unmatched by nothing else I have tried. The only draw back to Three Nuns is that it can whallop you with its strength, so that limits me to a small pipe. Too bad this tobacco is not widely available anymore - this is a great tobacco.

My newest favorite. This is a Virginia/Perique blend pressed and cut into small slices, making it a very different smoking

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experience. It can be smoked crumbled or in pressed form - the latter by simply stacking the little discs into the bowl. I prefer it stacked,

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as the burn is very controlled and cool, and the flavor is beyond yummy. It's very strong and sweet, with the Perique wafting in and out all

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through the smoke like some ethereal spirit. This is another blend that's vanished from the US due to litigation fears, and this is an

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incredible crime.

This is a pretty stout smoke so it might not cut it for a new smoker or someone looking for something with flavoring added. Three Nuns is all about rich tobacco flavor with no gimmicks and that's usually what I'm looking for. Though it has a good nic-hit and big Virginia, Burly, Kentucky taste, this could easily be an all day smoke as It's well balanced, cool burning, dry and doesn't have any rough spots. I love Virginia-Perique blends and this tin doesn't list it like the old mixture had, but I get that smokiness and the spiciness that we Va-Per smokers like. I also like the curly cut or any other pressed tobacco like flake as it seems to last longer in the bowl. I'm putting this on my regular rotation at a close second to Peterson De Luxe Navy Rolls.