Mac Baren Three Nuns

Fifteen years have passed since I had the pouch tobacco from the supermarket called three nuns - I wasn't hugely impressed, but hoped to find the coins. Now I've been lucky enough to have some, and they are splendid!

The tin aroma is mild but promising: new mown hay, grass, horsefood and leather. The contents a mess of irregular coins, tan through to dark brown, generally with the darker leaf towards the centre but very varied. It has a very low, to my tastes perfect moisture content.

The flavour is of mild Virginia in the first half: hay and bread, with a natural sweetness. Then it gets interesting as the earthy flavours come through, building through the bowl with smoke and spice. Slightly astringent at times, it develops some black peppery spice toward the end. The earthy spice flavours are a real change for me, I don't smoke anything else quite like it (mostly English mixtures and Virginia / Perique flakes), and I rather enjoy them.

Sometimes the transition from mild Virginia to Earthy Kentucky spice occurs early on, sometimes it stays light and sweet until nearer the end. I've found this to be slightly dependant on how many bowls of it I've had in that pipe: the earthy spice from the Kentucky really does take a while to build, and it's worth building it up in a pipe. However, I have found that this flavour will actually ghost a pipe! Another real surprise for me as I thought only artificial flavourings would ghost in any serious way, but this earthy spice really did hang around for a few bowls of a subsequent tobacco in quite a big way!

Burning characteristics are good and there's no need to rub the coins much, they burn well shoved in any which way. It's got a reasonable nicotine content, bit nothing excessive, and I do find it can cause a little tongue bite. Overall this was a lovely tobacco, unlike anything else I've tried, and I'll gladly buy it again

I found a round J. B. Russell- stickered tin of this at a state-line cigarette outlet in the closeout discount box (advice for the lovers of this: keep looking). 100g for $3 in Oct. '04. I was leery of the high nicotine reported, so I smoked small bowls at first. Not that bad, but I do get a numb tongue and it ends my smoking for the day. After a dozen tries with this, I agree it's a good benchmark for Va/perique blends. Big and bold, yet civilized. But from this, I deduced that I preferred tobaccos without perique. Occasionally I enjoy it and I'm glad for my opportunity to smoke this classic.

This was a nice discovery that I got to experience recently with an order I got from Synjeco in Switzerland. When I opened up the tin I swear that I could smell a Latakia presence. I know there isn't any in the blend, so I have to assume that the orientals are a big presence here. To tell the truth though, they didn't come through in the smoke very much at all. I did get a blast of very good Virginia and Perique with a smidgeon of Cavendish? I'm not sure, but I know what I like, and this is very nice. Fuller in strength than alot of the other VA/P's that I smoke, I enjoy this in the evening with a good cup of black coffee. It'll never replace Escudo, but it sure is a nice change up. It can nip so be warned. The smoke is sweet and the Perique is nicely tamed here. Everyone should try this classic.

Three Nuns was formerly one of my personal favorites, but reecently it has become too sharp and "biting" in the taste. I don't know why, the maturing process? Occasionally I buy a tin finding out that the last third of the contents is to dry. I know that Paul Olsen in Copenhagen makes exactly the same tobacco. It might be worth a try; their firm deserves far more reputation than it does now.

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.

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.

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.

For the virginia connoisseur. A solid smoke with a good amount of nicotine. Smells of quality from can to pipe. Easy to pack and should be fairly pleasant to anyone within range to smell it.