Mac Baren Three Nuns

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.

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I have been looking forward to trying this legendary blend for a long time, although apprehensive because I know it has changed so much over the years. Well, it's time to open the tin and I am greeted by rich earthy tin note — promising. As I am transferring the tobacco into a jar, I notice that it's not really a properly curly cut. The top layer when you open the tin features a lot of coins, but underneath that is a lot of ribbons and ready rubbed — a bad sign. The smoke is rather smooth, very earthy. The distinctive earthiness of African tobaccos is present, somewhat reminiscent of Charatan Rolls. The burley in the center of the coins (if you can find any of them in this mess) is said to be Kentucky, but I don't get much in terms of the distinctive smokiness I'd expect. I get more of a cigarette burley sort of flavour from it. Overall, this is a decent smoke, that I would grant a 3/4 if it wasn't for the price. The asking price for this tin coupled with the mess inside rather than beautiful coins feels like a genuine rip off. Add on top of that the smoke is rather mediocre. Honestly, Mac Baren should be ashamed to attach their name to this. There simply are better blends out there, get Charatan Rolls instead of this junk — 2/4

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

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