Cornell & Diehl Three Friars

I was sent a baggie full of this by a forum buddy to try. I find it to be a very interesting and unusual blend. First off, it has a very parculiar pouch smell to it, kinda tart but with a little of the old fashioned dark straight cane syrup of my youth aroma about it. Hard to describe but very different. The tobacco is a very rough cut running from khaki colored to medium brown. Being C and D, it arrived to me in the perfect moisture content, no stickiness and was very easy to pack and light up. Upon lighting up, it emitted a very creamy strong flavor of burley with a touch of sweetness and the spiciness of the perique. Though nowhere near as strong or loaded with perique as Frenchy's SunzaBitches, that is what I thought of when I lit this. Smoking the first half of the bowl, the burley and perique dominate and it is a touch harsh tasting but still very smokable. With light puffing, one can taste a touch of the VA sweetness but with anything other than light, it is very spicy and can bite you a little. But, at the half way mark, look out, the VA takes control and it becomes a spicy sweet smoke that just gets better and better down to the bottom of the bowl. I really enjoy the second half of this one, if it all tasted this good, this would be a regular for me. The room note is pleasant, not great but not bad or harsh. It burns clean, down to a grey ash with no moisture at all it the bottom, in fact i hardly pick up anything running a pipe cleaner through a pipe of this just smoked. I find it smokes much smoother in a large bowled pipe versus a smaller one. I would recommend trying this as it's an experience all to itself. I don't give it four stars because of the first half of the smoke, but a solid 31/2 for sure.

12/14/2011 Update. I don't usually update my reviews, but I feel i have to upgrade my rating on this one to a four star review. The reason is I find that everytime I open a tin of this blend, I find myself not smoking anthying else until the said tin is comepletely gone! This blend is very addictive in a good way, i find i just love the stuff especially during the colder months. I really think this blend offers enough that all should experience it. This blend is gradually becoming one of my regular blends and is for sure in my top ten blends that I keep in my rotation now.

There is nothing as cagey as gustatory memories: as ephemeral as a ballerina's pirouette, and not liable to being filmed, either...The very strong tobaccos that I enjoyed as a younger man I no longer enjoy as much, and have stopped using many of the large pipes that I favoured then. A Charatan full of THREE NUNS was a peak experience of the popinjay and coxcomb I once was...but my taste buds, like my temples, have become grayer. Nothing and nobody tastes as wonderful as it once did.

This hommage to the beloved old blend does pretty well, as far as my fading brain cells will allow me to be certain. The old Nuns probably had some burley in it too, and C & D has handled the Périque?top quality?very adeptly. I will certainly keep some of this around, gladly. And the ribbon-cut makes it easier to use, particularly in a smaller pipe. If only this was available in an elegant tin.

My personal favorite.

I am new to the world of Pipe smoking and have very quickly fallen in love with this blend.

I will do my best to translate into words the little that my inexperienced palate tells me. I taste the sweetness of Virginia and the nuttyness of the Burley accompanied by what i can only related to roasted coffee beans. Not because of the bitterness but due to the earthiness that comes through.

On the nose, when i open the mason Jar where i keep it, I smell the sugars of the virginia and a faint cheese like wiff that i image must com from the fermented Perique.

I smoke slowly so as to be able to enjoy a book while keeping the pipe lit at the same time therefore I feel no tongue bite.

I hope this helps anyone on the edge of giving this blend a try.

Note: I won't be discussing this blend in reference to either the original or the current Three Nuns. I've never smoked it, and I don't think this blend needs comparison to any other.

I generally know whether I'll like a blend or not after my first bowl.

Three Friars is the exception to this rule. This was the first Burley and Perique blend I had ever smoked, and I didn't quite know what to make of it. My first impression was that it had a funky 'old man' taste. But after smoking a few bowls, I grew to like it. In fact, I grew to REALLY like it.

The burley is the star of the show in this blend, but the perique adds a really important element and makes it delightful. The grassy Virginia plays a backup role in this, but I would miss it if it weren't there. The smoke is pretty full and rich, and has a kind of grey velvet quality.

Something I really like about this blend, and which makes it a perfect all day smoke is that the flavor is very consistent throughout the bowl. You can enjoy it as you light it, zone out and forget about it for a while, and come back to it without missing anything.

If you're a burley fan but are looking for something a little more interesting than a codger burley, but which can still do service as a no-fuss all-day smoke, look no further than Three Friars.

I am giving this a 4 star rating because this blend gives you a great virginia/perique smoke without all the usual prepwork that other "higher quality" vaper flakes require. Coming in pretty small pieces is its only negitive with me; smaller than ribbon, shag like. I have no need to dry this blend due to, like most C&D tobaccos; especially bulk, it comes rather dry.

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Friars smokes sweet with a nice light perique pepper background. Mid-bowl the sweetness subsides to a nice grassy flavor that a virginia lover would recognize. Grassy is not right, but close. Perique has a tendency to sour in vapers at the bottom of a bowl. Not so with this blend. Friars is not that heavy in nicotine and is light on the palette. It makes for a great all day smoke, if it doesn't get to sweet for you. Pound after pound, this never lets me down.

The description says simply "A combination of Virginia ribbon, Brown Virginia burley and Perique." It is my understanding that this blend was created with the legendary "Three Nuns" in mind.

Pouch aroma: Grassy, nutty scent that is more akin to peanuts than cashew or walnut.

Composition: Mostly light brown and blonde (nearly white) flecks of short-cut ribbon. There only seems to be a 5-10% composition of dark ribbon, which I will attribute to the perique.

Taste: I chose an Ashton XX-sized prince that has only seen VA/Perique as the initial bowl. Flame hits weed and my pallette is very happy. Vegetal sweetness from the VA's are the first taste, the perique does not really announce itself, but it would be apparent if this condiment was missing. I can not help myself but to compare it to the best bowls of Three Nuns that I have experienced. There is little if any bite from this blend, the moisture content is spot on. After the Virginia sweetness subsides, a rich, cigar-like body tickles the nose and begs to be rolled about on your tongue. The Virginia's were complex and sweet, it was only towards the end of the bowl did some considerable strength build up that forced me to slow down. For some people, this gathering of strength is the best part. 🙂 The finish was clean with no gurgling and a fine, fluffy ash is the end result.

I do not care for a large portion of perique (but many of C&D's blends cater to those who differ from my preference), but the balance in this blend is just right. Given that most C&D blends are created "on the spot" I can not wait to see how this tobacco improves with some age to it. Whether or not this blend compares to Three Nuns is irrelevant, it stands well on its' own as a fine Virginia-Perique blend.

A solid nine out of ten stars for this masterpiece.

A Va forward VaBur with a dash of Perique, made to a British codger style.

This is a short ribbon cut tobacco, quite light in colour, and very dry. The tin note has malt and caramel notes with a distinct spice.

Burns easily. This is a one match tobacco,

The Perique asserts itself throughout in that ineffable way that it has. The zing of salted plums, a strange pepper on the lips. It is imo perfectly balanced; supported by some very tasty Va's, with just a touch of Burley to provide a foundation.

Finger-stuffed into a Falcon Dublin, a Coopers Sparkling Ale, and cricket on the radio: the real world can wait another day.

Strongirish says it all in his review.

Very reminiscent of Frency's Sunzabithces. But this one has better manners and doesn't cross the line into harsh like Frenchy's likes to do some times.

If you smoke any OTC codger burley you just have to try this. It's loads better than the PAs and Cartehalls of th world (I like those blends too). And guess what? It's cheaper!

C&D quality. The most welcoming great tasting blend I've smoked in recent memory. Just a really fine smoke.

I'm starting to really appreciate C&D VAs along with their burley. Sure McClelland has that nice sweet round stoved red VA in many of their blends. But this light colored chunky C&D VA that I keep running into is really good stuff too. Pardon the food reference but it's somehow sort of like fresh baked biscuits with molasses or something.

I think this one would be rated much better, but for the whole 3 Nuns thing.

Forget this has a 3 in the name and buy some. I think you'll love it for what it is. I do.

I have to agree with Moe on this blend. It is simply a great blend. It is also a great value. It is a shame that some knuckleheads have to post "edited" reviews that bring the rating of this blend down below what it richly deserves.

Just enough Perique for a fair nosebite and just enough brown burley to keep the virginias from biting. This is a a very well balanced blend

This is one of my favorite C&D tobaccos. I used it to break in a "new" 30 year old Castello KKKK and it was excellent. It really shines in a CAO Meerschaum as well.

It is an all day smoke if one is so inclined and it has just enough tin moisture to last for months from a 8 Oz. tin.

Yes, there are other good tobaccos besides Christmas Cheer 2005 and 2006