Mac Baren Three Nuns (pouch version)

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 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.

Having placed my order my first impression on arrival was disappointing. The tobacco arrived in a cheap plastic wrap and the colour was much lighter than I remembered. Course cut as against the coin version of old. On checking, the packaging colour and writing looked like the original without the word ORIGINAL. OK let's move on. I took a cleaned pipe noting I never use the same pipe two days running. On lighting I found the first taste impressive, mild and pleasant on the palat. The burn was excellent and the pipe bowl remained cool throughout. No tongue or lip burn and continued to give an even pleasurable smoke to the end with little ash. I'm trying various tabaccos to find the penultimate smoke and would recommend this as a canny smoke, but not absolutely perfect, just enjoyable.

Before I start this review this NOT the spun cut version available in the U. S AND Europe. This is basically a fluffy shag cut.

Opening the pouch I swear this smells exactly the same as borkum riff bourbon. It has that same maltiness, biscuit sweet over tone

Packing is easy enough and takes to the flame readily. What you get at the start is what you get at the end is a nice slightly sweet smoking experience. Nicotine is quite mild so it won't put you on your back and the Virginia's burley and kentucky pops up from time to time to add a different dimension but it isn't complex by any stretch of the imagination, I would even go as far to say it will be a nice Introduction to a new smoker.

Stays cool and doesn't bite unless pushed, room note is fairly decent my other half didn't turn her nose up and it shouldn't do with most.

All in all its a pleasant enough tobacco, I can't see me stockpiling it, but it is a decent enough otc. If I was out and about and no tobacco I would certainly pick this over the current incarnation of condor but I wouldn't pick it over st bruno or ennerdale.

Don't get me wrong it's not bad by any stretch it just doesn't get me jumping for joy when k smoke it.

Glad I tried it though.

I would say two and a half stars but would be unfair to only award two stars so I'll give it three.

Edit to add 8th April 2020.

I have to say the more I smoke this the more I enjoy it. While it isn't the most complex , smoking it in a dedicated pipe really brings out the nice flavours, biscuit sweet, a slight maltiness and a nice whiskey overtone. While I won't stockpile it I will definitely buy again.

50g UK pouch.

Contents: Mottled tan, brown, black ribbon/rough cut ready rubbed. Moisture is about right and on the dry side; this doesn't need to be wet.

Have been smoking this on and off for about 4-5 years.. I have never tasted the tin version or the past incarnations.

Three nuns pouch is quite a brash smokey smoke; great indoors or outside in the dreariest cold weathe;r it comes through full in taste be it fog or frost.. I wouldn't recommend it for windy conditions though.

Takes light easy and gives a full taste smoke. Nicotine is medium to full.

Taste: A woody cedar, malted digestive biscuits, Black pepper, Brown sugar , Chickory /natural liquorice root (the twigs not the confection.. Has a kind of red Virginian tang with a french mustard hotness meets leather body with the darker treacle-esque and burnt malt condiment.. This is quite a spicy smoke ,almost latakian but in a different way.. Once into the sweet zone it developes a toasted fruit malt loaf and hazelnut / nutmeggy buttery creaminess. On the smokey character which is the Kentucky; it has a latakian way about it but its more of a peated smoke; like a natural tasting property of the leaf, slightly like Laphroaig single malt. Its a kentucky like a peat smoked latakia..

Its a hottish burner and also quicker than some but not by a massive margin. It will only extinguish if you don't pay attention..

This is one of those tobacco's that taught me the art of pipe smoking more than any other because I really wanted to like this one but had difficulty in the beginning of taming it.. It can bite if abused, but also I have found that the bite is not immediate but arrives at the end of the day after smoking many bowls..

I tried every gimmick pipe to get it right; clays, pyrolytic graphite and bakelites, meerschaum lined etc : I was breaking in many pipes at the same time with different tobacco's at the time, and so it took me a while to realise the virtues of a caked bowl because I hadn't been able to generate one yet;- Three Nuns pouch likes a well caked briar bowl because it seems to neutralize most of the potential bite factor..

I am now able to enjoy this in my favourite falcon pipe with a regular briar bowl.

Three Nuns pouch smokes just as well dry or moist really.. I found in the early days that drying the pouch removed some of the propensity to nip without sacrificing the integrity of the smoke.. Its convenient that you don't have to jar this one to preserve it.

I don't detect any applied casings or topping,i feel that what you get is basically the tobacco.. If there is any humectant at all it is not really detected.

I have to concur with somebody below about the magic way in which this Three Nuns pouch although a new recipe, conjures a feeling and vibe that it has been around for decades already.. It tastes so much like an old school classic no nonsence british OTC; kind of like clan meets walnut flake and condor or something. The old woody meaty aroma evokes a real sensation of false nostalgia which doesn't really make me wish to try the old recipe in case it disapoints me. This Three Nuns pouch tastes like an original even if it isn't.

I have mixed in a pinch of some Gawith & Hoggarth blending perique a few times with this blend to kind of invent in my imagination what I imagine the original recipe was like ; no doubt the original was probably different than my attempt at creating my own nostaligia for the untried original but;-

But i will say though;- that adding perique doesn't do anything significant to enrich this blend; it only changes it ,thickens it with a slight plummyness but muddies and mutes the malty properties that I like so much in the standard pouch.. Although the UK pouch has no perique in it, it has quite a black peppery aroma that is more pronounced than many aged vapers I have smoked.

Aging doesn't seem to change much in this blend really; that is partly because I leave my jarred stash open 1st to dry it anyway, but even in the pouches I have opened a year later it doesn't taste noticeably different to fresh ones.There isn't really anything wrong with the recipe where I feel it warrants any deliberate aging.. Its like condor; its ready to go.

Goes really well with a simple cup of tea and a biscuit.

Totally worth 3 stars for what it basically is and what it magically imitates in my false nostalgia syndrome whilst smoking it..

Very nice smoke. Lots of tastes and defiantly one I would recommend. Not very good at staying light but I may of smoked it a little to wet so make sure it's dry before smoking it.

Before I start this review this NOT the spun cut version available in the U. S AND Europe. This is basically a fluffy shag cut.

Opening the pouch I swear this smells exactly the same as borkum riff bourbon. It has that same maltiness, biscuit sweet over tone

Packing is easy enough and takes to the flame readily. What you get at the start is what you get at the end is a nice slightly sweet smoking experience. Nicotine is quite mild so it won't out you on your back and the Virginia's burley and kentucky pops up from time to time to add a different dimension but it isn't complex by any stretch of the imagination, I would even go as far to say it will be a nice I troduc5ion to a new smoker.

Stays cool and doesn't bite unless pushed, room not is fairly decent my other half didn't turn her nose up and it shouldn't most.

All in all its a pleasant enough tobacco, I can't see me stockpiling it, but it is a decent enough otc. If I was out and about and no tobacco I would certainly pick this over the current incarnation of condor but I wouldn't pick it over st bruno or ennerdale.

Don't get me wrong it's not bad by any stretch it just doesn't get me jumping for joy when k smoke it.

Glad I tried it though.

I would say two and a half stars but would be unfair to only award two stars so I'll give it three.