Mac Baren Three Nuns (pouch version)

Mac Baren - Three Nuns (Pouch).

What a fabulous aroma, it smells like a tobacconist in a pouch! It takes me back to the smell inside an old tobacco shop I used to visit with my dad when I was a kid. If you like the smell of tobacco then get some of this as it is by far the fullest/natural smelling blend out there, I want it bottled as aftershave! On the lower side it arrives too tightly packed, it's nothing major but I think a slightly bigger pouch would make things more tidy when loading! Mine is a touch too moist, it isn't wet but I take out a small pinch and leave it aside.

The flavour lives up to the pouch-note. The taste is quite a deep one, the tobaccos are evenly balanced with a nutty quality to the smoke. Although there's dark-fired in it this gives a smoky enhancement yet doesn't monopolize the flavour. The burn's good, it doesn't require much time with the flame to get it going and once it's lit it stays that way unless the pipe is put aside for a length of time.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: not great for other folks, but I like.

Simple, four stars!

I should point out two things before launching into this review. Firstly, I've no idea what the older incarnations of Three Nuns were like, never having smoked them, so anything I have to say is based purely on my own impressions of this blend as-is. Nor have I tried the tin version currently available in the US and mainland Europe. And secondly, I suspect there are some pretty odd bits of childhood psychology going on here which influence what I have to say - but more on that later. Although some would claim this is an OTC / supermarket blend, I find it surprisingly complex. Out of the pouch there's a woody aroma, with what appears to be a (very subtle) whisky topping and perhaps a hint of chocolate. It takes a light easily, and at first I detect a hint of soapiness (oh dear, not the dreaded curse of Erinmore!), though this soon gives way to some subtle florals. As it burns though, I get more robust scents of fresh leather and old rope. On relighting I increasingly get a woodsy scent like new-cut oak, which at times is so strong I wonder whether I'm actually burning the briar of the bowl (though no fear of this, as the bowl is well-carbonised). It's not a polite blend, in the sense that it can bite if not properly handled, and delivers a surprisingly decent nicotine kick. In all, I would class this as a proper, grown-up smoke of surprising complexity. But there's something else, something less tangible and for me quite deeply rooted; and it's in the room note. For all the rants about Three Nuns being nothing like it was in days gone by, there's something in the lingering note that's playing with my memory. My dad used to smoke Three Nuns when I was a nipper. I only know this from seeing the old, empty tins he used to stash in a drawer, as by the time I was old enough to notice, he'd switched to Clan (Clan! Was the man mad?) It's the scent of my earliest childhood. I also recall the exact same smell lingering in the public spaces of my youngest days: the railway station waiting rooms; upstairs on buses; and - it sounds bizarre in these health-obsessed times - the surgery of our old family doctor, a bear of a man who lived into his 90s and used to dispense pearls of medical common sense from behind a veil of pipesmoke ("Always go to work on a proper cooked breakfast, and never go to bed without a tot of good whisky inside you"). Some may consider this blend a bit cheap and cheerful. For me, it's so much more.

I love three nuns in the pouch. It is a very old smoke for me and the pouch makes it so easy to take out. It goes in and out of my rotation as a daily smoke. At this point I keep a three year supply on hand. When I open a pouch I smoke it and the leftovers get tossed into the jar. The next day I just grab a new pouch. It always smells better in the jar. It lights very well and burns so smooth. Ash is pure white. No globs here. Taste is stright forward and if you are not a mad puffer you will get the flavor. This is one of the few I will smoke in anything. No ghosting or harsh clean up. I push one pipe cleaner in when done and walk away.

As a newbie piper (35 years a roll up smoker) I am going through as many OTC tobaccos as I can to find something that suits my personal palate. On a trip to Truro in search of a no longer trading tobacconist I eventually found a newsagent that had a reasonable variety of pipe tobaccos. Realising that of all he had to offer I had alreay tried bar one, I bought a 50g pouch of Three Nuns.

At home, freshly cleaned Parker at the ready I opened the pouch and stuck my nose right in there.....WOW.....what a gorgeous aroma.....surely I will enjoy smoking this stuff I thought. I thought correctly....it is a truly lovely smoke indeed, slightly sweet but with plenty of tobacco flavours and very little (if any?) casing.

Slightly stronger than some folk find it but certainly one I will be purchasing again. I may mix a small dollop of this with an equal dollop of Clan (not a favourite of mine) which I have hanging around to see if I can mellow it a little but if that doesn't work out I will still be happy to smoke this again exactly as is from the pouch.

One thing I did notice was how quickly I got through the first bowlful, something like 15 minutes whereas the very same pipe filled with say Condor (RR) will last me a good 40 minutes or so. Odd is that.

I've had a few pouches of this over the past couple of years, so I'm surprised I had not got round to writing a review for it. oh well, I'm here now so let's get it done.

The pouch aroma is one of fruits, earth tones and hay, very pleasant. Packing and lighting are easy enough. The first time I smoked it, many moons ago, I found the first few smokes a little rough, not impressed. But I persevered and over the course of the pouch this tobacco revealed itself to me. There are wafts of fruit, hints of hay and some deep earth tones that turn this tobacco into a pleasure to smoke. There is a hint of some kind of topping or casing on here but the smoke is none the worse for it.

I had not heard complementary things about the pouch version of this prior to picking up a pouch and those first few smokes seemed to back them up. But this tobacco has won me over, maybe not enough to keep it in stock but enough to buy it on at least a semi-regular basis. If you've not tried it give it a shot, and don't go for a sample, go for a pouch.

This is the pouch version, not to be confused with the tin version, where the tobacco is coin cut. Outside of the having the same name, their chief similarity is that both are tobacco products. The rubbed, pouch version of Three Nuns tastes sludgy with little nuance and complexity. The tinned version in any incarnation is superior. This one is course cut with different colors. I see some perique, bright Virginia, a touch of toasty, earthy, woody burley, and little pieces of a dark Virginia. The varietals offer a little spice, a bit of tart and tangy citrus, mild tangy dark fruit, grass, wood, light earth, and a bare hint of nuts. The prune, apple and anise toppings are very light. The strength is in the center of mild to medium, while the taste is a step past that mark. The nic-hit is a couple of slots past the mild mark. Dry in the pouch, it burns quickly with some heat on the tongue, though it doesn't bite. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires few relights. An all day smoke. It may have some of the same ingredients of the coin version, but the resemblance really and truly ends with the name of the tobacco.

-JimInks

This is one of those blends that I really should have taken the time to check out the reviews prior to buying, but I like all of the tinned versions of Three Nuns so I didn't do it. To make matters worse, I bought two aged pouches of this. In short, this bit like a rabid dog. I smoke a lot of different blends and am fortunate in that I seldom get tongue bite. I smoked this in small bowls, large bowls and everything in-between. I tried different cadences and different levels of moisture. I never made it through the first pouch and didn’t have the heart to pass on the other pouch. I think just about every tobacco has some redeeming quality so I seldom toss out a single star review. The only reason I did it here was because there isn’t a zero star option. I do wonder if, like the tinned version, there were different pouch versions too?

I have seldom found a blend that i can simply describe as being * a pouch of tobacco*. This blend really is just that.

Dont get me wrong, it is not disagreeable in any way, it just does not stand out im afraid. I taste the Virginia and the Kentucky and together they are good. I have a pouch in my desk drawer and will fill my pipe with its contents if i see it first, i just dont go looking for it.

It burns well, smokes cool with no bite.

All in all a good tobacco, just not memorable in any way.

Not sure why I'd not tried this one before given how long it has been around, but I'm glad I did. I can't compare it to previous versions over the decades (and I get the issues and sensitivities with changed recipes of historic blends), but I can say this is a great tobacco. For me it's not an all-day blend as I find it a little strong (both in flavour and nicotine, although not massively so), but it is smooth and satisfying with a Christmas/plum pudding type flavour aroma of stewed fruit; dark, sweet but not sickly. Burns well in the bowl too.

My review is based on one out of two old pouches, bought some many years ago (2000-2001) before TN (both the pouch and tinned version) disappeared from Italian tobacconists. The pouch is just like the one pictured above, it just show the word Mixture instead of Tobacco. It was made in England by Imperial Tobacco Limited Liverpool. I had read somewhere this is the popular version, probably the scraps coming from the production of the curlies (of the time) going in the tin. I think it may easily be that. This is not a bad tobacco, not at all. I would buy it if still available at a decent price. It falls in the VaPer category, on the mild to medium side of strength. The flavor is typical of VaPer’s: ripe fruits with a faintly piquant note, partially reflecting in the room note – of cookies – which remains quite neutral and unoffensive. If some flavouring help, it should be very minimal. Mild in the body. Burns nice but needs care to avoid hot smoke and bite. Bowls from medium to large are preferable, avoid the small ones.