Mac Baren Three Nuns

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 Even though the Perique has been replaced by dark fired KY, I feel that if the original flavor additives of a smidgeon of Ouzo & Brown Sugar were mixed into this new blend it would make a considerable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.

Can’t speak for the older versions, I’ve only smoked the latest. The presentation is a somewhat broken coin, spirals of tobacco combined with curly ribbons. Moisture was pretty decent out of the tin. This is one of the best VaBur’s I’ve smoked. The red Virginia’s are the star of this blend, providing a yeast and sweet compost flavor. The burly adds volume to the smoke, and provides a lingering nutty finish. Not much else to say about this tobacco. It’s a solid smoke that always hits the spot. I just wish it was a little less expensive.

This is about the MacBaren produced version of this tobacco. The tin reveals it was produced in Spring 2016.

I never got to taste the original VA/PER version of this and also not the Orlik. This is the first Three Nuns I got to taste. So I can't compare it to these versions.

Mac Barens Three Nuns is a very delicious and natural smoke. The tin note gives tobacco-ish scents and a hint of Raisins and maybe dried-fruits. My Girlfriend, who doesnt smoke the pipe, smelled the tin and said "oh..it smells like pure tobacco!" It's very mild tin note and doesn't reveal that much of whats expecting you. ElMog's description of "hay and seaweed" is also very apt!

The Coins are adorable and I was lucky to get a tin with almost all Coins being complete and not fallen apart. I just take 3-4 coins for a medium sized bowl, fold them in a ball-like shape and stuff it into my pipe. I love Curly-Cuts! The whole ritual of handling and preparing Curlies, Flakes and Plugs is highly enjoyable to me and adds a lot of joy to my "pipe smoking ceremony".

Once lit you get rewarded a rich tasting smoke. Just a subtle sweetness and dried-fruit, moreso raisin-ish-note lurks through a lot of spicy, hay-ish, and earthy Virginia + Kentucky taste in there. Pure tobacco aroma. I don't know which ingridient does it - but I definetly get a little fruity-aroma in there. Not much, but it reminds me of the fruityness Perique is known for. I know theres none, but theres a fruit taste, reminding me of it.

This tobacco really isn't complex in its ingridients, nor in its taste - but it just works DAMN GOOD! Some may call it "flat" or "dull" - but maybe they were expecting something else? To me the taste is very rich and has a good aroma. Not complex at all, but delicious tho it's easy.

And this is how I imagine how tobacco tasted like decades ago, when I wasnt even born. Straight up spicy and a bit earthy tobacco taste. A gentle sweetness mellows the taste and makes this taste so balanced and good.

Room note described by my Girlfriend: "It smells like spicy tobacco - in a pleasant way!" I guess a non-smoker wouldnt love the smell, but surely tolerate it.

Clearly a 4/4 Stars Blend to me. The price is almost insane! 16,50€ for 50gramm tin. Is it worth it? Yes, To me it is! Are there cheaper alternatives to this? Probably, yea, but a tin every 2-3 month won't kill my budget, so i stick to that delicious, solid smoke.

It's a smoke I can grab anyday - all day. Just good, honest tobacco, that is natural in taste and inviting in appereance.

EDIT: Damn it...I was saying myself "don't let this get a all-day-smoke, it costs 16 bucks dude!"

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fast-forward is me smoking a bowl or two every morning due to it's outstanding and natural taste! 😛 The next tin is already ordered, because I went through the first tin like a BUSHFIRE!

Perique or not - this is as fine as a weed can be!

I'll start by stating that this one of my favourite pipe tobacco blends. Many search for years looking for a tobacco that meets their tastes and preferences perfectly and I feel very fortunate that it took so little time for me to discover Bell's Three Nuns. This review concerns the current (Mac Baren) incarnation of the the blend.

Upon lighting the bowl, one is hit with an initial sweetness which augments and diminishes but stays present throughout the smoke. A little further down the bowl, the blend becomes more robust and the sweetness of the Virginias becomes more of a background note. A Perique-like spiciness, which I'm guessing is offered by the Kentucky, begins to compete with the aforementioned sweetness as the smoke develops more of a body. Overtime, however, the spiciness and the sweetness appear to blend together creating a complex flavour full of nuance.

My advice with Three Nuns would be to smoke it slowly so as to gain as much from the natural sweetness of the tobaccos as one can. The blend is full of flavour but not overpoweringly strong and whilst the nicotine is noticeable, it never threatens to have too much of a presence. This tobacco is an enjoyably complex and thought-provoking smoke.

Note: Since writing my original review, I feel that I should add that this tobacco dramatically improves having been cellared for a year or more. If smoked new, this tobacco doesn't burn with all of the characteristics that make it one of my favourite smokes. I would urge anybody interested in smoking Three Nuns to age the tobacco before unsealing the tin.

First Kentucky I've tried and I must say it's not as strong as I thought it would be, at least at first light. After 20 puffs or so you start to get a little more peppery umph. Three Nuns has a nice, full flavor or at least it felt that way for me since I was smoking some EMP before this. The smell is wonderful and I could see nonsmokers finding it pleasant as well. I really dig the cut of the tobacco, though it does take a little more time to prepare a bowl. Overall, a great smoke that will leave you craving more (in my case at least), especially if you happen to be Catholic!

I was particularly excited to try this blend mainly because my two favorite authors were known for enjoying it. This combination of Kentucky/Virginia/Burley tobaccos is one that I will enjoy for years to come. It comes in small coin flakes and is very easy to fill your pipe with and light. The Kentucky gives the blend a nice added spice which compliments the natural sweetness of the Virginias and nuttiness of the burley. The room note is nothing to write home about, but the flavors are incredible. This is a blend that is great for any time of day. It is full in flavor, but in terms of nicotine it is on the medium side. I would highly recommend this blend to any pipe smoker who enjoys full flavored blends.

I haven't added a review in years, but my recent experience with the 'reformulated' 3 Nuns seems worth sharing.

Opening the tin, I was greeted with rough looking roundels, smallish in diameter, and ranging in colour from blonde to dark brown. The note from the tin is sharp and woody: the first waft is of a light viriginia, immediately followed by the much heavier, peaty presence of the dark Kentucky leaf. It smells delicious, to my nose, and the moisture level at opening was on the dry side.

I smoked three bowls in three different pipes over a few days, and then wrote down a few impressions. Words such as 'dark' and 'consistent' occur frequently, as does the phrase 'burley-dominated'. I smoked 4 more bowls over the next ten days or so, words and phrases similar to the above followed.

The flavour is the much the same as the tin note - dark, slightly rich, and musky, without much detectable change throughout the bowl - very 'tobacco-y'. There is some strength there, and the blend has a tendency to bite, so slow sipping is needed. This is not a tobacco that will change much with aging - it will taste practically the same 5 years from now, likely owing to the tentative virginia proportions.

My overall impression is one of a quality, but undimensional offering. I haven't much experience with 3 Nuns of yore, when it was THE va/perique blend of choice, but the current formula does little to excite my senses. A less judicious application of Kentucky could have served well here, or even the inclusion of a bit of perique to offset the dominating presence of the burley; either of these would hold my attention longer. As it is, I am about half-way through my tin, and will finish it, but with no plans to replenish or cellar. There are simply too many superior blends available currently to warrant struggling with this one.

To finish, I have tried mixing this with a few favourites, such as Dunhill Navy Rolls, in a 1:1 proportion, and Squadron Leader at 2:1. Neither of the aforementioned blends survived the experiment, such is the tenacity of the dark Kentucky. If you love the stuff, you will be in heaven here. I'm a bit ambivalent, thinking it better utilised as a condimental addition than relied on as a base, so bear that in mind as you consider whether it is a tobacco for you.

Opening a 1 year old current production tin of Three Nuns I was greeted with a mix of light brown coins with some lighter flecks mixed in and dark centers. There were loose shreds of mostly brown with some black all mashed into the tin together. The moisture tended to the dry side, but not too dry, and was just about perfect for me. The smells were dark and sweet like molasses, there was a hint of sour cider, and it reminded me of the smell of Cup Plug Chew. An unlit sip was oily and nutty, and the initial light brought caramel and molasses along with a hint of spice. As the bowl progressed it tasted mostly of a smoky nuttiness with a light and quick sour finish. There were notes of sweet hay and molasses with the faintest hint of a peppery spice. This blend had a moderately rich combination of flavors. There was a short sour finish and it left a pleasant room note. I pretty much enjoy everything about this blend and recommend it to anyone who likes Dark Fired Kentucky as an accompaniment to Virginia.

I tried this blend because everywhere I read, it was recommended. I am almost done with the tin now. When lighting it has a nice aroma quite good. But through half of the bowl the smell goes away and it starts to taste like ash unfortunately. Also it burns too hot. Not for me. Maybe for very very slow smokers