A Wee Case of Vintage TAD

[kasbah]

Went a little bonkers on this latest bout of TAD, which has gotten seriously out of hand :lol: , but taking into consideration the rarity of these things I just couldn't pass them up.
(5) MacBaren Royal Twist 50g (30+ years old)

(12) Bell's Three Nuns 50g (Hand-stamped from 2005 but I suspect they are significantly older than that)

(1) A&C Peterson Escudo (8+ years old)

So far I have smoked the Three Nuns and the Escudo. The Escudo resulted in me picking up a lot of new tins to cellar as it becomes simply amazing with age on it, not to say it isn't awesome to begin with. As for the Three Nuns, indulgent is an understatement for these sugar coated little disks. The tins were evidently very well-stored and the Three Nuns is possibly my favorite blend it has been my pleasure to smoke. I will be gifting a couple of the Three Nuns tins for Christmas this year but the rest will be enjoyed very slowly.

 

[gwtwdbss]

Dayum Mark, what a score!

 

[JimInks]

Does the Three Nuns have perique or Kentucky in the center? If it's perique, then the tins were made before 2003.

 

[mrgunnar177]

Where did you get the 3 nuns!?

 

[kasbah]

Does the Three Nuns have perique or Kentucky in the center? If it's perique, then the tins were made before 2003.

I am almost positive this is the original perique formula because there is no topping that could be this convincing. Look at all the tasty sugar crystals, quite the abundance to be as young as 2005, no?

Where did you get the 3 nuns!?

I owe it all to a friend named Vigilance

 

[mrgunnar177]

Haha nice btw I sent you a PM

 

[ohin3]

Very nice my friend. I don't blame you for spending the dough. Those tobaccos in that vintage are exquisite. Where, pray tell, did you find such a stash of vintage tobaccos?

 

[kasbah]

@ohin3 Thank you, sir. I PMed you about finding the Royal Twist. For anyone else interested in the MacB Royal Twist just shoot me a PM and I'll send you in the right direction. For what it's worth the tin I opened made the vacuum woosh and the tobacco is in excellent condition.

 

[yorkshirepipe]

Those look amazing! Only vintage tobacco i have is some 30+ year old Gold Block, the guy opened the tin just before he sent it to me annoyingly so I had to quickly jar it when it arrived to keep it going longer, hope it works. Enjoy those tobaccos! Three Nuns is a lovely blend!

 

[cigrmaster]

jiminks, do the new tins look the same as the older version with perique? Does the new version of the tobacco look the same as the old one?
Also you are positive it was discontinued in 2003?

 

[captainprophesy]

Very nice... never had any of those, but for whatever reason I have always loved the "Three Nun's" tins

 

[kasbah]

Thank you, everyone, for the kind words.

jiminks, do the new tins look the same as the older version with perique? Does the new version of the tobacco look the same as the old one?

These are the current production style, much different tin as you can see. I'm not sure if the current production was ever made in the original tins though and doubt it because it would have been extremely misleading to do so.

 

[JimInks]

Cigrmaster: Here's what I know. Three Nuns was always Virginia and perique and I was buying up lots of tins (200) between 2000 and 2002. In 2003, I ordered ten tins from Switzerland, and the perique was not present in any of the tins. The tobacco in those tins was straight Virginia. I was told that the company who made it (Imperial) was no longer producing the tin version (sometime later I was told Orlik was the new maker, but I don't know when they started). In 2005, when I ordered again, assured that perique was in the tobacco with the Virginia, I found it was not and Kentucky was its substitute. I bought a number of tins last Nov., and it's still Virginia and Kentucky.
The picture that Kasbah posted surprised me by the darkness of the tobacco. The tin he posted is different from the 2000-2002 tins I have in that the foreign language disclaimer on the front was not on my tins. I don't recall seeing this version until about 2003, maybe 2004.

 

[kasbah]

The picture that Kasbah posted surprised me by the darkness of the tobacco. The tin he posted is different from the 2000-2002 tins I have in that the foreign language disclaimer on the front was not on my tins. I don't recall seeing this version until about 2003, maybe 2004.

Did you get a blend without any perique in a tin that looked like the classic ones in my first post or did they look different? As for the darkness it looks essentially the same as any aged VaPers that I have, how is it surprising? It's fun being able to decipher and unravel little pieces of the mystery that shrouds the plight of the Three Nuns

 

[cajundad]

Wow I am looking into finding some aged three nuns ! May I ask where you aquired them ?

 

[JimInks]

Kasbah: The Three Nuns I got in 2005 were taken out of the tins and vacuum sealed to save on shipping costs, so I did not get the tins in that order. But I do remember the tins at the website looking like the one you posted.
The reason I expressed surprise as to how your tobacco looked is because every time I've opened an aged tin of Three Nuns, the tobacco always has the sugar crystals, but the light Virginias still have a bit of the original color to them. Yours seems completely dark to me, and while I've seen that happen in other aged blends, that has not happened to my Three Nuns to the degree yours did. Btw, I only aged the perique/Kentucky-less Three Nuns for three years and noticed little change in color.
Depending where your friend got that tin - since you taste the perique, it must be there - I believe the tin you have is older than 2005. Just because my tins didn't have the warning label on them doesn't mean that other countries didn't. In your first picture of your newly acquired stash, the Three Nuns tins look exactly like the ones I was buying in 2000-2002.
The important thing, of course, is that you got something very special and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy Three Nuns. Well, the old version, that is. *Sigh!* And it was my all time favorite tobacco in that version, too. I'm just glad I still have a nice stash of unopened tins from that time period.

 

[kasbah]

Depending where your friend got that tin - since you taste the perique, it must be there - I believe the tin you have is older than 2005. Just because my tins didn't have the warning label on them doesn't mean that other countries didn't. In your first picture of your newly acquired stash, the Three Nuns tins look exactly like the ones I was buying in 2000-2002.

I should point out I don't have any experience with the current style of packaging, rather I found that picture with the warning label on Google. What I was most interested in finding out is if any of the current recipe was ever sold in the style of tin in my original picture. The hunt for the truth continues!

 

[jpberg]

The plot thickens... This is the latest tin I got, from a friend in Helsinki.

 

[topd]

I think I'd be 'gifting' a pair of my old, aged hunting socks before I'd give away any of those tins!

 

[cigrmaster]

jiminks, I opened a tin of 2001 or 2002 TN back in August and the tobacco was totally black, there was not a hint of blonde anywhere. It does go black after a decade, and it was wonderful. Kasbah's tins look exactly like my old TN tins, it just is weird someone would hand write 2005.