Mac Baren Three Nuns

If this was once one of the great blends, it certainly isn't now.

After reading the reviews of the ready rubbed form of TN I wasn't expecting anything profound, and in this respect I wasn't let down. In most respects TN RR is similar to St. Bruno RR, albeit with the addition of a touch of perique, some chalky lime thrown in and most of the richness removed.

This is an enjoyable blend and one that I will revisit again but, it is nought in comparison Dunhill?s De Luxe and many other VaPers.

I enjoy Esoterica`s Dunbar greatly, and Escudo and Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls only slightly less so. Somehow my tastebuds have never reacted very well to either Elizabethan or Three Nuns.

Three Nuns was one of the first tobaccos I tried - and that was more than forty years ago. Once every eight or ten years I try it again, but it never works. The latest trial has been no different. There is nothing wrong with the product: the craftsmanship is immaculate, and the nicotine levels satisfactory. It is just bland.

I unfortunately was not able to obtain any tins of this, so, after an extensive battle of conscience I relented & bought a pouch of the ready-rubbed variety now avaliable. I think that something was undoubtedly lost in transition from tin to pouch if the reviews here are to be believed. I found this blend to be a fairly pleasant & easy smoke that requires little to no maintenance to imbibe, but it does have a slight bite to it. The flavour (what there is of it) is quite pleasant, but is so mild as to take the tobacco dangerously close to bland territory. I do detect some of the nuttiness, but it is not consistent & fades after the first half of the bowl. The smoke can also quite easily become hot, but this can be cured by exercising more self-control! I am sad that I have not been able to smoke the original tinned tobacco as to try this tobacco without rubbing out would possibly have cured all the bad points listed above. In conclusion, I would say that this is a satisfactory smoke that caused no offence, but didn't really excite me either, so I must gve it only 2 stars. I read that this pouch version had 'the same smoking characteristics' of the tinned version. Looking at all the reviews below, I think that I may have been hoodwinked. I may keep some of this around, but I think that it will be kept for emergencies only, when nothing better is avaliable. Average.

I've been told that in the past this was one of the best spun cut tobaccos available: unfortunately I never tasted some of the old version, but this recent tin (Danish made)was a nice smoke, though not exceptional. The coins are small and not very damp, easy to rub and pack: it's easy to smoke too, so much that I decided to break in a new pipe with it, and enough dry and cool if not rushed. The taste? Well...I've sampled many better VAPER blends but it isn't bad, it just loses flavour going down the bowl, ending with a messy burnt taste: had it kept the flavour till the end it would have deserved a superior rating.

Ah, how does one review such a classic? Well, for me it started by blowing quite a wad of cash on some 10 year old tins, all with perfect seals. Then there was a sunny, yet cool, Sunday afternoon with a good book, dogs under foot, and my porch. I smoked two bowls of this fine blend: The first in a straight Checkmate Jacono dublin that I have dedicated to only Va/P blends and the second in a giant straight Cherrywood Ardor ? a great pipe for anything that contains Va.

Tin aroma: Sweet, musty, figgy, dark, dried or rotting fruit.

Tin appearance: Small to medium sized ?coins? ? These remind me of those in Escudo, though these are smaller and much, much darker.

First Bowl: I fully rubbed out this weed for the first bowl, loaded it and fired it up. Wow, I must say that this is indeed a classic worthy of its reputation. I notice instantly that the back of my throat is starting to tingle, which indicated that there is something powerful in the bowl. The flavor is somewhat more muted than what I had expected, though there was plenty of smoke and a great aroma in the air. The perique is evident and the Va takes the backseat. The bowl smoked all the way down to the heel only during the last five minutes or so becoming bitter and hot.

Second Bowl: In the Ardor, I decided not to rub out the coins, but rather pack them into the bowl and topping off with some crumbs in order to make lighting easier. Once lit, tamped and relit, this weed really starts to sing. Not rubbing out the flakes it the way to go: The flavor is much richer, deeper and the volume of smoke just doesn?t want to quit. I must admit that about half way through this bowl, I noticed that I wasn?t starting to feel well ? I can only attribute this to the strength of this blend.

Conclusions: I feel that to have had such an excellent well aged classic, I am lucky. However, I also feel that there are some modern blends that can hold a flame to this, but only time will tell. Most notably, Solani 633 has very similar burning properties and I suspect will age in a similar way. Aged (3 years plus) Escudo follows this line as well.

I?m glad I bought these tins, and I want to finish the one tin I?ve opened. But as to ?missing? this blend, I don?t. I will get to the other tins, in time, but there is a good chance that 2 or 3 may end up on a reputable auction site.

Bell´s Three Nuns is a famous tobacco among experienced VA/Perique smokers. As I like Virginias very much I gave it a try and ordered a sample from SYNJECO in Switzerland, where the Nuns are a third cheaper than in Germany.

Three Nuns comes as a curly cut in a 50g tin and can be filled either straight from the tin in your pipe disc by disc or rubbed out. Packing is easy and the tobacco lights with the second match to an even burn and leaves only a small amount of grey-white ash in your bowl.

The room note is natural and rather acrid but tolerable to my wife and non-smokers (didn´t hear any complaints).

But it seems I cannot join into the hails, other reviewers gave to the "Nuns". For my palate and tongue, there´s way too much Perique in this blend and even if smoked carefully and slow it is a real hot burner.

Regarding the relatively high price in Germany this will never become an all-day smoke to me and I won´t keep it on stock in my tobacco bar. Among VA/Perique blends I´d always prefer Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls.

3 out of 10 in my personal rating.

This review comes immediately after I finished my first tin of Dunhill De Luxe Navy Rolls (the Escudo-clone), so I knew what to expect from another coin-cut Va/Perique blend. I guess that one of the reasons for what I am going to write is that I am not a fan of this kind of blends (and anyway Rattray's Virginias and Ashton Pebble Cut are still unbeatable, IMHO), but I also suspect that there might be some exaggeration in chanting the qualities of Three Nuns. Aesthetically, the difference is that Three Nuns has a smaller cut: the coins are very small and some of them are already half crumbled (not because dry - they were rather moist - but because very pressed in the tin and irregularly cut). The colour is a bit lighter, more on a light brown-orange tone with some occasional darker bits. The distribution of Perique seems rather irregular. The size of the coins makes it possible to stack them in any pipe, while I had to crumble Navy Rolls. Tin aroma is not as wonderfully pleasant, fruity and sour, as the one of Navy Rolls (which is one of my favorites among all VA/Perique blends): it is somewhat more "rotten" and fermented. This tobacco insures a slow and cool smoke, but I find nothing exceptional in it. As usual, I think that getting a nice full taste is a very hard task with this kind of blends... I find that the taste more or less equals the one offered by Navy Rolls, only much more acrid and with an unpleasant aftertaste. If you like this kind of blends you will surely enjoy it: myself, I keep thinking that I will never be a great fan of it (but I am not a fan of Haddo's Delight either, so you can blame it on me). I guess I'll stick to english mixtures from now on, with the occasional Marlin Flake or McClelland when I want a naturally sweet Virginia without having to get mad in search for some flavor... Ah, I tried the tinned version, not the pouched one which is said to be even worse!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Review made in 2002 on a 2002 production tin.

2009 Update: I have recently bought a fresh tin from Germany, and I confirm my impressions. While not bad at all and very very natural-tasting, not as sour or unpleasant as some are saying of the modern production, I find this tobacco a bit unexciting. It smokes well, cool and slow, and with a nice body... but the flavour is often monochromatic and dull. Ok, but I prefer some of the best coin cut offerings from Mac Baren.

I used to smoke this one, along with another flake that Dunhill doesn't sell anymore (their dark flake). The flake shape to me didn't add anything one way or another to the flavor or burning qualities, but I do agree with many of the other reviewers, it was a prime slice in it's older days. I liked the Dunhill a bit better, but you couldn't beat that dark, deep flavor. My recommendation is only based on it being rare in my neck of the woods. I'd keep a tin on hand if I could find it.

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.