Mac Baren Three Nuns

MacBaren
Bell’s Three Nuns

Blend notes: “The Three Nuns coin tobacco was originally a creation of J & F Bell, dating back to the 19th century. A favorite of British authors (and friends) C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien. In the formula from Imperial Tobacco, Three Nuns was a VaPer mixture. Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame Inductee. Later this tobacco was made at the Orlik factory for BAT and Kentucky was substituted for Perique. The latest version, blended and manufactured by Mac Baren, follows the latter formula.”

Jim-inks on TobaccoReviews has a delightful history of this blend in its various iterations. I find it’s history a bit odd — VaPer to VaKy — I mean, that is quite the shift in a recipe.

I love great Virginias and I love a good burley — here we have the combo. Three Nuns is reasonably strong. It’s just not that interesting. As of this writing, Three Nuns has an average of 3.09 (out of 4.0) with a whopping 238 reviews. We get tart, not quite fermented Virginias with some background citrus, but the problem with this blend is the use of their source of dark-fired Kentucky — this overpowers the blend. That’s not a comparative comment to the original VaPer recipe, but more of my sense that this is a strong tobacco without nuance.

We live in a world of fantastic pipe tobacco choices so better to reach for great blends. This Three Nuns is competent but not a star.

If you are looking for a star, and want to stay with a VaKy, then consider the excellent JackKnife Plug. A more KY centric blend (more of a KyVa) would be HH Bold Kentucky. Country Squire’s Cowboy Coffee is a level down as would be John Cotton’s Double Pressed Dark Fired.

For me it’s a 2.5 star blend which I’ll round to 3 stars. Not a go-to smoke.

My all time favorite tobacco. In addition to its excellent qualities, I am also connected to it by several personal relationships from the time when I started smoking. It was my first "serious" tobacco in a tin. I bought it completely by accident. Interesting "name" drew my attention in a small hidden shop in Sulaymaniyah bazzar. It was a very lucky choice that made me understand the difference between regular tobaccos and better tobaccos. In addition to the fact that it tasted great, it was my first experience with unflavored tobacco in coin cut and for the first time I had the opportunity to smell the natural, tomato smell after opening the tin. Little did I know at the time that this was a favorite brand of tobacco for titans like Tolkien. Despite the fact that, according to older friends, the MacBren variant is only a shadow of the original Bells, I can still enjoy every sip of this exceptional tobacco, which is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain in some parts of Europe.
After opening, there is a natural, tomato-like aroma, indicating the presence of virginia. When smoking, the admixture of perique soon becomes apparent, but not as intensively as, for example, in the case of Red Orlik, a similarly good VaPer.
Tobacco burns long and steadily. Personally, I can't confirm stronger presence of burley, and the tobacco doesn't seem too strong nicotinewise. Floral essences appear from time to time in the taste of tobacco, but not significantly. Overall, it's an excellent tobacco that fits perfectly into summer days, when heavy and smoky tobaccos don't come to taste. The red three nuns surpass its yellow and green variants in quality.

I never had a chance to try the original blend with Perique, but I'm so happy I tried the current version!

Originally, I ordered this tin out of curiosity because this tobacco seems to have quite a reputation. I didn't expect much, but right after the first bowl, I knew this would be one of my favorite tobaccos.

The presentation is okay. Unfortunately, here in the EU, half of the tin label is covered by health warnings that cannot be peeled off. The tobacco should be in coins, but it's more like ready-rubbed or very broken pieces of coins. What shocked me the first time I had this tobacco was how dry it felt, so don't be surprised by that; it smokes just fine. The tin note - I was expecting a more intense Dark Fired Kentucky smell, but I only got subtle sweet, earthy notes.

But all my concerns disappeared after the first time I lit the pipe - this tobacco just tastes amazing! Kentucky seems to have the dominant role and gives the smoke a wonderful earthy, woody, smoked BBQ-like quality, while being supported by the amazing sweetness of the Virginias. The taste remains great from the very first puff to the very last one. The nicotine level is right on the spot for me, mellowing me out in the evening after a busy day, but it isn't too strong to make me dizzy.

If you like sweet Virginias and smoky, BBQ-like Dark Fired Kentucky, you should try this blend. Highly recommended!

I haven't smoked the VaPer version, but I absolutely believe it will be very different from the current version.

The current version is more like Dark twist, but it's missing something I like. And I would choose Dark twist over 3N

This review is mostly in comparison to my previous review of Three Nuns Green. Everything pretty much stands for this blend too; it has the same wonderful snus-like full tobacco aroma from the tin, the coins are easy to handle any which way you prefer, and the smoking experience is that of completely wholesome, no-frills tobacco.

That said, I do prefer Green just a little bit over this (though not enough to show in a 4-star system). I guess it must be that Green apparently still does contain perique while this has kentucky only; it gives Green just a bit of an edge in the aroma department.

Verdict: Would buy both again and would choose this over many other blends, but if the same shelf had both this and Green, I'd go for Green.

My review will be about the "new" (ha ha! - it's been over 20 years!) version of the tobacco taken from a 2016 tin.

Appearance: Over 6 years in the tin, 2 cm "coins" have darkened a lot, becoming the color of milk chocolate. Somewhere, however, you can still find streaks of lighter Virginia. These are well kneaded if necessary, although you can try to stuff them into a tube in a pile. The humidity is ideal for stuffing, and I didn't fail to take advantage of that. Knowing my reaction to large amounts of Kentucky, I picked up a not too deep pipe first, a Peterson 999, designed for Kentucky blends and riddled with shelf life, as I rarely smoke such blends.

Flavor: dark Kentucky is definitely dominant, giving off woody, nutty and smoky notes, complemented by a slight scent of cedar wood. Light notes of fruit and variegated Virginia hay act as support for the Kentucky base. In addition to this, oddly enough, I picked up a slight scent of tan leather, and a subtle note of brandy with a bitter citrus aroma.

Taste: quite dense, almond-nutty, smoky, woody-oaky, slightly oily Kentucky, being in smaller quantities, prevails over Virginia, giving an herbaceous note with a minimum of sweetness and a slight spicy-pepper flavor, which is usually inherent in a small amount of perique. However, this nostalgia-inducing note quickly disappears - by the end of the first third of the pipe there is no trace of it. At the same time, other notes that were barely noticeable in the beginning become slightly stronger: a salty meat flavor, a hint of bitter chocolate, and a bit of cinnamon. Virginia notes also recede into the background, though they remain noticeable, the taste becomes more complex and monolithic, remaining so until the end. The tobacco smokes very gently, does not bite or have any rough edges. It burns evenly, cool and dry, burning to a fine light gray ash, leaving no moisture in the pipe. The strength is slightly above average. The aftertaste is buttery, woody, slightly sweet, with a smoky undertone.

The smoke has a distinctive and fairly persistent Kentucky woodsmoke note, slightly reminiscent of light cigar smoke.

What's the result? A quality blend that is definitely worth trying. Even considering that I'm not much of a fan of such blends, I was pleased with both its composition and the smell and taste. It is vastly superior in flavor to the Wessex Sovereign I described last time, and will definitely appeal to fans of Virginia-Kentucky blends. To top it off, Mac Baren, inspired by the brand's popularity, has released a few more variations of Three Nuns with a slightly altered formulation. Although, I would give a lot for a tin of the "old" recipe, but such a rarity can't be found nowadays.

An interesting smoke. English blend with some nice flavours coming through, however too subtle for my palate to identify. Easy to smoke. Taste is a bit more mild than say Nightcap but lacking the taste like squadron leader that makes me want another bowl

NOTE: The four star rating is for the original Bells Three Nuns... read on. This newer mix is pretty good but the vintage tins are otherworldly. However, I did note a similarity in taste to the original Bells Three Nuns on occasion. The quarter size coins rub out easily & burn cool & evenly. They require a little drying time which was not the case with the "old" version & the coins seemed to be smaller "back in the day". The initial tin aroma was a nice, smoke fired tobacco smell with a bit of sour note. One might notice a slight acrid taste initially but after a little is burned off, you will get a little burst of sweet, natural tobacco flavors that meld together fairly well.

Three Nuns has not earned legendary status for no reason & this newer blend works OK for me. As good or better than most blends of this genre. Mac Baren's Three Nuns is strong enough to satisfy and delivers a semi-sweet smoke well above mid strength. It starts tasting pretty good a short while after the charring light to the end... not much waiting for the flavor to develop. It can be smoked right out of the tin if one desires to do so. I'm sure it would be much better with a little age & will cellar some for later consumption. It smokes/burns well all the way to the finish.

There's a lot of tobacco packed in a 50g tin and it is a fairly good value as the leaf is not weighted down with excessive moisture & I haven't noticed any stems thus far. It cost a little more than similar blends. I don't have money to burn but don't mind burning a little of it on this newer version. As the tin states... carefully selected Virginias dominate and are the wrapper leaf of the dark fired Kentucky & Burley. Even though the Perique has been replaced by dark fired KY.

I feel that if the original flavor additives of Ouzo Rum & Brown Sugar were mixed into this new blend it would make a considerable difference in the flavor & might be just as good or very similar to the "Imperial" stuff. I tried adding some blending Perique to a small batch & didn't notice any similarity to the original... it's the magical & precise mixture of ingredients in the casing & the blending technique with two different types of Perique... the regular fermented & some type of burley soaked in the fermented liquid that made J. F. Bell Three Nuns so unique & enticing... a blending process that would be very difficult to reproduce to attain the original flavor.

Anyway, a bowl of this Mac Baren 3 Ns satisfied my Vitamin N "necessity" quite well & I think Mac Baren's Three Nuns merits three & one half stars... still enjoyable to me & that's all that matters. Four stars for the older, original J. F. Bells version & three & one half stars for the Orlik & later Mac Baren versions.

NOTE: The four star rating is for the original Bells Three Nuns... read on. This newer mix is pretty good but the vintage tins are otherworldly. However, I did note a similarity in taste to the original Bells Three Nuns on occasion. The quarter size coins rub out easily & burn cool & evenly. They require a little drying time which was not the case with the "old" version & the coins seemed to be smaller "back in the day". The initial tin aroma was a nice, smoke fired tobacco smell with a bit of sour note. One might notice a slight acrid taste initially but after a little is burned off, you will get a little burst of sweet, natural tobacco flavors that meld together fairly well. Three Nuns has not earned legendary status for no reason & this newer blend works OK for me. As good or better than most blends of this genre.

Mac Baren's Three Nuns is strong enough to satisfy and delivers a semi-sweet smoke well above mid strength. It starts tasting pretty good a short while after the charring light to the end... not much waiting for the flavor to develop. It can be smoked right out of the tin if one desires to do so. I'm sure it would be much better with a little age & will cellar some for later consumption. It smokes/burns well all the way to the finish. There's a lot of tobacco packed in a 50g tin and it is a fairly good value as the leaf is not weighted down with excessive moisture & I haven't noticed any stems thus far. It cost a little more than similar blends. I don't have money to burn but don't mind burning a little of it on this newer version. As the tin states... carefully selected Virginias dominate and are the wrapper leaf of the dark fired Kentucky & Burley.

Even though the Perique has been replaced by dark fired KY, I feel that if the original flavor additives of Rum or Anise flavor from Ouzo & Brown Sugar were mixed into this new blend it would make a considerable difference in the flavor & might be just as good or very similar to the "Imperial" stuff. I tried adding some blending Perique to a small batch & didn't notice any similarity to the original... it's the magical & precise mixture of ingredients in the casing & the blending technique with two different types of Perique... the regular fermented & some type of burley soaked in the fermented liquid that made J. F. Bell Three Nuns so unique & enticing... a blending process that would be very difficult to reproduce to attain the original flavor. Anyway, a bowl of this Mac Baren 3 Ns satisfied my Vitamin N "necessity" quite well & I think Mac Baren's Three Nuns merits three & one half stars... still enjoyable to me & that's all that matters. Four stars for the older, original J. F. Bells version & three & one half stars for the Orlik & later Mac Baren versions.