Original Three Nuns by Bells

[Ahi Ka]

After you kept recommending the Sav as a close smoke to the Three Nuns you are saying they fucked it up? I bought 35 3.5 oz tins back in 2018 when they had it on sale for 15.36 for a 3.5 oz tin which I thought was a good deal. Are you telling me the stuff you really liked was changed back then or did it happen recently? I have been aging all my Sav till it hits the 5-7 year mark. If it did change any idea when it happened?

I have a 2018 tin as well. I think the blend changed prior to this, but the cellaring will mellow out the dark fired. No doubt the blend would have changed again since

 

[JimInks]

I have a 2018 tin as well. I think the blend changed prior to this, but the cellaring will mellow out the dark fired. No doubt the blend would have changed again since

That was when I noticed the change, but I heard it was changed before that. I think you can only trust the first two years, 2014 and 2015, for the original formula. I agree with your other points, too.

 

[sablebrush52]

After you kept recommending the Sav as a close smoke to the Three Nuns you are saying they fucked it up? I bought 35 3.5 oz tins back in 2018 when they had it on sale for 15.36 for a 3.5 oz tin which I thought was a good deal. Are you telling me the stuff you really liked was changed back then or did it happen recently? I have been aging all my Sav till it hits the 5-7 year mark. If it did change any idea when it happened?

Hi Harris,

I also bought some in 2018 and was surprised to find it changed, with much more of a dark fired presence and less Perique. The 2014 and 2015 releases were a pretty good approximation of the Va/Per Three Nuns, more so MacBaren's Three Nuns reboot. I don't know when the blend was changed, but changes in blends seems to pick up around 2016, 2017.

The good news is that a few years mellows out the dark fired and while the result isn't Three Nuns, it's a much better smoking experience for me than when I tried those tins new.

I still have tins of the 2014 and 2015 releases and will parcel them out.

 

[hugodrax]

You're right, it is a sad commentary. Unfortunately for us the consumers we have to take what we can get in 2022.
Today the production of pipe tobacco is all about the money, as it was hundred years ago. Main difference being a hundred years ago all the big blenders in Britain & Ireland were in their heyday, with a huge customer base. They also had the pick of the best tobacco from the best run plantations in the world. That's all gone now, along with their old fashioned & labour intensive way of flavouring the now much missed blends of old, like Three Nuns.
I asked the now retired head blender of Samuel Gawith why they can't reproduce the quality & flavour of my favourite St. Bruno & other old blends. He said for starters, they can't get the consistent quality of leaf like they did years ago, the old way of flavouring blends has also gone out the window, with producers like Mac Barens favouring a 'chemical copy' of the original flavour, which they simply case or top the tobacco with.
Seeing as today we pipesmokers are so few & the difficulties tobacco blenders & producers face today are so many, I think we're all very lucky to still be able to get what's currently available. Whilst all the old blends have either gone or changed beyond recognition, there's still a great variety of tobacco to choose from. I'd personally choose St. James's Plug as today's best Va/Per & recommend people try that one before getting too upset over Three Nuns. Only trouble with it is that it needs 2-3 years or so of age before it really shines, like the flake.
God only knows what will be available for the next generation of pipesmokers. If people are dissapointed today, things will be tragic for them I shouldn't wonder.

While you're not wrong by any means, and I've certainly ranted my fair share about what the filthy sodden emasculated descendants of Vikings did to my Erinmore Flake, every generation since Cain killed Abel has complained about our lax modern times.

When I was a young man, older men were still complaining about what happened when Dunhill stopped blending its own tobaccos. And then they discontinued Virginia No. 10, Walnut, Sugar Barrel, and McClellands, and stopped importing RB Plug, all personal favorites of mine and I joined the chorus.

I still have access to a plethora of good tobacco.

 

[Sgetz]

I'm not sure you will get Doblone D'oro in the U.K.......haven't looked for ages but it wasn't available a few years back......I think I have a bit in a jar somewhere ....if you want to try it let me know and i will post it if you're in the U.K.

That is a very kind offer and thanks.But I've just got some from one of the site sponsors. Not three Nuns but excellent stuff none the less

 

[Ahi Ka]

How would some of synjeco’s VaPer ropes compare to the tobacco base in the original 3 nuns?

 

[JimInks]

As I recall, all of them have a very light Lakeland scent to them. The base tobaccos are high quality, but only Greenodd was anywhere near the Three Nuns base, and it's not a match. Less perique, a little more floral, and no Brazilian or Malawi. Without the latter two varietals, a faithful copy just can't be made.

Sure wish I had some, though.