Mac Baren Three Nuns

Tin Note: There it is again, that Vinegar smell i dislike. However this time it has hints of Fig and dried fruit which i enjoy but i cannot stand the smell of vinegar.

Initial Light: This Blend lit extremely well. The flame took at first lite right after the false lite process and started off with a nice even burn. The taste however was very harsh and had a slight chemical like feel to it which was irritating my mouth. But this is about the burn and that took really well.

Mid-Smoke: Kentucky burley seems to be a lot stronger then other burleys i have tried and it drowns out the Virginia a lot more then i would like it to. You can taste the Virginia trying to fight its way to the top now and then but it always seems to fall back down under the immense pressure of this burley. Result is a mild yet earthy smoke which is enjoyable in the sense that its burning so good that you enjoy smoking it however for me the taste and flavor just wasn't there.

Bottom of the Bowl: The bowl was getting hot at this point also there was a little gurgle due to it smoking wet, Note to self always add more dry time then you think you need with this blend. i passed a pipe cleaner and dumped out the ash and proceeded with the smoke, still burning well. In terms of taste i believe at this point the blend has finally settled to a semi-sweet earthy flavor and decided to stay at this point for the remainder of the smoke. Therefore the bottom of the bowl is the best part of this blend for me.

Room Note: I swear i was able to smell this blend when i walked in to grab a bottle of water(Water!!,that's for sick people, as my uncle always says)it was a hot day and the heat was getting to me, but when i got back out it smelt like sweet grass outside and my wife also confirmed that.

Dottle: It burn very well and the ash was clearly there, however at the bottom of the bowl it was wet and made some semi-goop stuff in the draft hole of my pipe.

Smoking Duration: This smoke was about 45min.

Overall: This is one of the best blends i have smoked in terms of how well the tobacco burns and how evenly the smoke draws, however it did not delivery in flavor for me and was not in any form substantial. I have one sealed tin in my cellar and i plan on revisiting this blend in a year or two to see how much a few years of aging would change it.

Recommendations:

1) 1-2hours Dry time 2) Rub out and three step method for packing worked really well

A much milder smoke than I expected, not as sweet as I had hoped. I can see why some of the old guys would like a little Perique in it. The Dark Fired Kentucky does not overwhelm the flavor as it does in some other blends. If it grows on me, I might upgrade it to a 3rd star.

Pros: great look and ease of packing with the small coins; mild flavor without tongue bite; healthy dose of nicotine but not overwhelming.

Cons: really somewhat bland. Maybe it would be better as a morning pipe or first pipe of the day.

To my tastebuds a sweetened VA, on my radar in around the same area as Mac B's Navy mix, VA No.1, and Navy Flakes. Great presentation in a square 50g tin, easy to rub curlies. Has a tad too much sweetness and bite at the moment from the fresh tin, expect this might subside with time. Compared to FVF or DNR, the artificial sweetness in TN is apparent, despite tasting like good quality tobacco. I actually have this FVF, DNR, TN combo in my VA pouch to rotate today for fun. Significant N levels here. Not bad at all, but there is 'better' around.

The first time I bumped into a tin of Three Nuns it was more than ten years ago. My tobacconist suggested me to try this expensive tobacco as the most experienced pipe smokers of my home town considered this to be the freshest, fullest in taste and most satisfying pipe tobacco. At that time I was not still a discerned pipe smoker. I only sake a balanced tobacco that would not burn my tongue anymore, and did not contain casings or flavorings akin to Troost Black Cavendish or Captain Black. Once in my home, I opened the tin and I can not describe my great surprise. Curlies? May pipe tobacco be cut in..curlies? I could not believe it! Nonetheless, the curlies were sufficiently humid, the smell was excellent with natural tobacco tones, light nuances of roasted almonds and a delicate scent of matured figs. Past the astonishment, I packed and lit up my bent pipe. Since the first puffs the tobacco taste was unique, sweet and natural at the same time, full at mid bowl, round, with flavours of wood and mature figs, and the typical english roasted aroma whirling into my nose and around the room. It was quite satisfying and relaxing. Alas! It was...it was...! In 2009 I rediscovered smoking the pipe. And many things had changed so far. I then knew that Three Nuns tins had long disappeared in Italy. I had to search all over the outskirts of Europe to find one again in Germany. I then bought two tins of Three Nuns, and once I had twisted up the coin..I was happy again to find the curlies...but sadly I suddenly discovered that the smell and the taste of this tobacco had been watered down. Therefore, the smoke is actually unsatisfying and the scent of mature figs has definitively disappeared along with the wooden and roasted aroma whirling in my nose and in my room. It looked as if somebody had suddenly decided to dry off this tobacco and to tear up all of its qualities. What a pity! I than give only two stars. I may look unfair, probably because it all depends on tobacco global market which forces tobacco producers to purchase bad quality tobacco to control the price of their products. If so, it is frankly a rise to the bottom which one may appreciate with other old famous brands (Benson and Hedges Mellow Mixture?). Hey you of the community, what's you opinion?

Opening the pouch you get hit with a lovely sweet tobacco smell that really makes you look forward to your first bowl.

Ho Hum! That is where the beauty ends. It is not a bad smoke it is just a tasteless smoke, there is no real taste or flavour either during or after which is a great shame considering the packet smell.

Not one for my future collection unfortunatley

I will just clarify what I am reviewing here. This is the current Three Nuns which is the ready rubbed version not the curly cut or round cut that is talked about.

Is this is a tobacco that is thought to be good due to its heritage? In the 10 years I have been pipe smoking this is the third time I have tried this and i dont think it is anything special,it may have been once. I have seen perique mentioned in one of the revews, probobly correctly, but I am unable to taste any perique in it. Now I have read that I will give it another try, I could be wrong.

It found my tounge a bit, got a bit hot and burnt very quickly and I am not a fast smoker. There was not a lot of flavour in it and the pouch smell though okay smells a little of rolling tobacco. All this adds up to cheap base mixture tobaccos in my mind.

If you are looking for a play it safe British made or made in the British style standard virginia mixture which is what Three Nuns is there are better supermarket brands out there. I am talking in the Condor Blended, St Bruno, Mellow Virginia vein here. ( Me and MrDyson are singing from the same hymn sheet here I think)I wont be buying it again, unless I can find some of the earlier stuff.

It is indeed a good tobacco, yet I find it very neutral and sometmes anonymous in taste. Small curly cut coins, neatly packed. The tin aroma reminds me of horse stables (?)

I believe some dark Virginia dominates along with the Kentucky Burley - ultimately giving a reasonably good nicotine punch. The Perique tickles your nostrils, as it should, and is not too overwhelming.

All in all a very decent tobacco that smokes nicely, and is recommended for all lovers of neutral tasting baccy to the somewhat stronger/peppery side. I always keep one in rotation, but ultimately it's not a ringer for me. I think aging could be essential here though. Rating 6/10

Epic stuff? Well no one here have taste the original Bell's anyway, as they stopped producing it in 1910. Three Nuns has tasted the same way, at least for more than 30 years or so. This IS the real deal.

update: apparently, orlik has dropped the perique and added some kentucky. this must mean that the fruity flavour is not from the perique but from some flavouring. makes sense, as it gurgles through the last third...

04/20/2007. okay, so this is the danish version, tinned. i remember smoking TN 20 years ago, and finding it sharp, bitter, biting and very strong. this version is rather sharp, slightly bitter, fruity (casing as well as some perique), sweet, medium strength. it wasn't my favourite then, and it isn't now. not bad tobacco, though.

for va-pers, i very much prefer escudo/de luxe navy rolls or st. james flake, with their much more clear and clean taste.

Hmm...I can remember this stuff when it came in the tins years ago. It was always 'bitey' bitter and not very pleasant to smoke...kind of crude and cheap. Those who profess to like it; well I take off my hat to them, but in more than 40 years I have hated the stuff. But time being what it is, I thought I'd revisit Three Nuns, having read some of the reviews set out below....and respecting the massive amount of experience contained within these pages. So I filled up one of my Dunhills and cautiously lit up. Careful not to draw too hard, I gently puffed away....and do you know...its still as awful as it was all those years ago! Good to know that in this world of constant change, some things remain the same:-)

UPDATE. We have a savoury spread here in the UK, called Marmite, and it's one of the great 'love it' or 'hate it' things of life (I love it). I've just re-read the Three Nuns reviews again, from top to bottom and am amazed at the utterly opposing views about this tobacco. These can't just be explained away by the various changes to the Blend in the last few years as some have tried to do. I've smoked just about all of them from the old Bells 2 ounce tins to the modern 25 gram packets and as you know I completely detest the stuff...yet I adore VAPERS. I seem to remember, more than 2 decades ago, I did enjoy one tin of it and I wonder now if that was because it had maybe sat in the tobacconists store that I used to frequent from say the 1940's. But apart from that, I've always thought it a crude cheap offering. There must be within each of us, triggers that react to different tobaccos in a different way. Very subtle triggers though, because there are reviewers who love Nuns and also other VAPERS that I do like. I used to think that one could 'educate' one's palate to enjoy well almost any pipe tobacco...but I'm not so sure now. Perhaps, tolerate, but not truly 'enjoy'. The triggers must only have a certain ability to be educated...I don't know what you guys think? Three Nuns is from this point of view a highly interesting example of pipe tobacco but I do honestly regret that I can't derive the pleasure from it that others obviously do.

UPDATE Number 2 🙂 You know, it's odd why some tobaccos stick at the back of your mind. I remember the old tin of Three Nuns that I really enjoyed donkeys years ago even though the later times I bought it weren't great at all...as my somewhat caustic remarks above show. And it's occurred to me, more than once, if the one tin I really enjoyed was a true Bells tin and the later Imperial ones degraded my view from "amazingly nice" to "uninteresting£ to eventually "awful". Anyway I recently scored 2 tins off Ebay..one a 2 ounce Bells and the other a 50 gram tin Imperial. I was way lucky and only paid £30 or so for both. I've smoked pipes using each tin and the results are interesting. Both tins smelt very much the same..the raisiny tang of aged Virginia. Much the same as old Capstan and Players etc. Both tins also smoked the same, both have lost the Three Nuns taste and just smoke like very old Virginia, but the Bells tin does still contain hints of the Three Nuns I remember. The 50 gram tin could be any old Virginia. Bit of a shame really. It feels to me that the Three Nuns of fame has passed and any tins you might have from the glory days will have fermented into the same as any other very old tin. Unless someone blends Three Nuns from the original recipe, which being realistic is not going to happen, then the taste has gone forever.