Rattray 3 Noggins

This is a nice mixture from Charles Rattray, apparently developed to be a slightly stronger version of 7 Reserve, itself a derivative of Red Raparee dialled back to allow all day smoking... I love Red Raparee but it's very hard to come by in the UK now, and I certainly enjoyed this mixture too, although it lacks the "wow" factor of Red Raparee.

The tin contains black and brown ribbon, with a little brown broken flake / pressed peak which may represent the cavendished tobacco. It was supplied very wet indeed, which Charles Rattray "a good blend is dry" would certainly have disapproved of.

The tin aroma offers fruit, yeast, brown sugar, spice, and very subtle smoke from the Latakia. The fruitiness is so prominent in the newly opened tin that it had me wondering if there is a topping. Certainly not in the original blend, Charles Rattrays blending booklet (easily located online) is very clear that his mixtures are natural. And having spent a good bit of time sniffing at it I'm persuaded this must be from the choice of Virginia tobacco and perhaps the (unflavoured) Cavendish.

The flavour on lighting is predominantly of fruity Virginia. Fruity gives way to malty as one progresses through the bowl, with an undercurrent of glorious Oriental spice. Smokiness is the merest smidgen in the background throughout, this blend contains a very restrained dose of Latakia. It's a very smooth blend, smoother and milder on the tongue than Red Raparee, so I'm sure it would be well suited to all day smoking if that's your thing. One thing to note though - it has more nicotine than I expected, the mild flavour being deceptive - I found this quite satisfactory!

My main gripe is that it is supplied pretty moist, and as a result can get rather steamy, which isn't kind to my tongue. A little drying time worked wonders.

In my book this is an excellent "background" smoke while engaged in other activities, it's not distracting and I don't feel I'm wasting the experience as I might with a more complex or richer mixture such as the Red Raparee. Seems suitable for any time of day, and any season.

Lately, I've been moving away from English blends because Latakia was leaving me with alkaloid mouth, sometimes powerful enough that I would stop smoking before finishing a bowl. This morning, I opened a tin of Rattray's 3 Noggins that i bought in 2006. For me, the level of Latakia was perfect. Enough for that wonderful smoky flavor; not enough to produce that ashy, sour punch in the mouth. The Orientals were lovely. The Virginias sweet and smooth. Unfortunately, this is my last old tin. I'm looking forward to popping one of my one or two year old tins of this famous old blend. My "highly recommended" rating is for the 2006 batch, only.

Appearance is a medium brown ribbon. Tin smells of sweet figs.

Sadly, 3 Noggins is a poor addition to the Rattray's line. Harsh and slightly bitter, I can not see how CR made this from 7 Reserve, a much better blend. Advice on making the most of this is to dry it well and smoke it slowly. 3 Noggins only just makes it above a negative recommendation, that is to say, try it. Where I could not, you may find what Charles Rattray's customer wanted when he asked for a change from 7 Reserve.

I think this blend would be better received if it was not labeled as a full English. I expected something along the lines of Artisan's and was disappointed in that respect, but all in all this is an acceptable medium blend of balanced flavors that smokes well. Unlike others I found no bite in this. I enjoy coming back to it from time to time as a change of pace from Virginias or mixing it about half and half with DaVinci for a very flavorful, cool evening smoke with a brown ale or four.

A bit pricey, but not bad to have on hand.

I keep coming back to this blend, and I keep coming up short on describing it. There's a very minor vanilla note from time to time, but nothing stands out in the tobacco dept. Not an English, not an Oriental, sort of the Carter Hall of the imported tobacco world Will finish this tin, but another is not on the horizon.

Well, my original review is now suspect as I have been smoking this blend for a year. I still think it a very wonderful blend for those who like fuller Oriental blends. My change of mind (?) is that whatever Latakia noted originally is absent (transfer from equipment used for Latakia blends? Some unique Turkish leaf? Fire-cured Cavendish?).

3N is analogous to McConnell's Original Oriental Mixture. Both are well done offerings from K&K, and actually of the same genre. I do not seek either when Latakia is desired, and I smoke 3N, OO, Orcilla, Embarcadero, McC's Grand Orientals, etc. quite often. They have begun to outstrip my attention given to Latakia blends.

Rating remains the same.

When I first opened the tin I noticed the exact same aroma as Highland Targe. A faint vanilla smell. There is very little difference in the two but this blend is a bit fuller bodied than HT. Like Highland Targe there is very little latakia, and that component in this blend isn't noticebale. I seperated out some of the black tobaccos and smelled and tasted the black leaf and it's sweet cavendish.

Again, the original had Syrian latakia and Kopp seems to have replaced the latakia components in these blends with sweetened black cavendish. On it's own merit this is a nice tobacco. The virginia is sweet and soft at the beginning and later becomes tangy. The oriental tobaccos are present and add some nice spice about 1/4 of the way into the bowl. It really is a pleasant blend and the quality of the tobacco is very high. I liked this blend and will smoke it occasionally. However, I believe that if they are going to call this "3 Noggins" and use vintage tin art then it should be closer to the original blend and have some of the fragrant properties of latakia present.

As of late, I've been enjoying Solani 633, Laural Heights and an old tin of Four Square that just ran out. I also occasionally enjoy the varities in the McClelland line of tobaccos. Recently I found in my cabinet a tin of 3 Noggins Full- only a 3rd full and very dry. It had been a while since I had a bowl of this blend. I chose a large bowl--a Radice that smokes nice and very cool, and I was pleasantly surprised with the Noggins. I noticed that the reviews were all over the map, but I wanted to put my two cents in here and say the flavor was good and as I smoked it slowly 3NF supplied a satisfying experience.

This is not the same blend I smoked back in the late nineties. I opened a can I had from 1999 and compared it to a new one, just to make sure, and - trying to set aside aging (!) - it's just not the same tobacco. The newer stuff is more bland and has more bite toward the bottom of the bowl.

It's an interesting blend, but as others (more erudite in smoking terminology) have pointed out, it comes across as somewhat bland (if not full) English and has a bit of tongue bite. I remember it being a smoother, fuller, and sweeter, but not particularly exciting blend. However, it still works well in small bowls. I tend to smoke very large bowls, and 3 Noggins just doesn't continue to please more than half way down. That's when it starts biting. And boring. In a large bowl, packed half way, it's worth the time. But, it will never again be a staple.