How unlikely is it to try Three Nuns and Balkan Sobranie.

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free_byrd15

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Raven's Wing also sounds amazing. I know these are no longer in production. How unlikely is it to get to try these without paying an arm and a leg?
 
Not likely

(unless you've got a rich friend).

But with BS & 3Ns, the stuff is so old by now that it's not what it was once. Arguably, the 3Ns is better for having smoothed out and melded. But smoking it today's an inaccurate "read" on what it was like when Bell was still making it.

A lot of the Great ones (capital "G" deserved) are gone now. But GL Pease, in particular, is alchemising what's still available into tobaccos that stand comparison with about anything that anybody ever made, anywhere.

So it isn't like the story's over.

It's more like, this is chapter two of it.

Onward & Upward, then.

:face:
 
Why would you want to?

If you fall in love with it your doomed to unhapiness..either by not having what you want or not having the coin for anything else. Better to leave dead leafs alone as to suffer a lifetime of discontent. This I learned the hard way.
 
puros_bran":6t7d3kq1 said:
Why would you want to?

If you fall in love with it your doomed to unhapiness..either by not having what you want or not having the coin for anything else. Better to leave dead leafs alone as to suffer a lifetime of discontent. This I learned the hard way.
I understand where you are coming from. Personally, I want to try three nuns and BS not because I plan to smoke it regularly, but because I want to see if I think it lives up to the hype. Just like elusive Opus X for cigar smokers (I am one) I wanted to smoke one for 3 years until I finally did. I thought it was an excellent cigar. I have a few more that I am saving for a special occasion. Some people smoke an Opus X and it doesn't live up to the hype for them, for others it does.

Ultimately, this comes down to me personally wanting to see if it lives up to the hype. I'm not looking for multiple tins or anything of that nature, just enough to try a few bowls to see if I deem it up to the hype or not.
 
Oh, and even if I thought it was the best tobacco in the world, it honestly wouldn't bother me to not be able to get it. It would just be one of those memories like I have of certain cigars...."man, that was the best cigar i've ever smoked and i'll probably never smoke another, but boy did I enjoy it while I could :) "
 
One of my favorite G.L. Pease articles...

A Remembrance of Things Past

I, too, would like to try some of the original Three Nuns, but I can't bring myself to buy any at any of the prices I have seen it. It would surely make for a great conversation piece after dinner with a fellow pipe smoker, much like a finely aged port or a nice scotch, but surely the enjoyment is embodied by the fact that we are consuming a priceless good, a palatable treasure of sorts that will never be back again. The product itself does not yield the quality, it is the story behind the product that we truly savor.

I often times liken it to what would happen if Prince Albert or Carter Hall were to be discontinued and then become rare and hard to find. There are people that would swear it was the best tobacco available and a "classic" among the tobaccos produced today. We may take those blends for granted as we do with many of our other blends that we can order up at a whim for a couple of bucks an ounce. But as a pipe smoker, not a cigarette nor a cigar smoker, we have an opportunity to be an armchair connoisseur of this timeless hand crafted weed night after night and to be able to experience the subtleties and nuances of each leaf and how the flavors meld and argue and come to the forefront or fall to the wayside. In briar, aged decades, hand chiseled and shaped, these blends will interact differently than in Meerschaum, dragged from the sea, delicately carved and formed.

We get to experience all of this. Each pipeful, no matter what blend, should be savored as one would savor the original Three Nuns, as if it were the last pipeful around and it was purely at your disposal. This is our privilege as pipe smokers.

But I digress...unless you can befriend some old codger with a hidden cellar and a generous heart, you are probably going to pay an arm and a leg for any of those tobaccos.
 
brothers, I have both of these and if I get home for christmas I will be offering samples of both plus a few other rare baccies. why? cause I can. stay tuned.
 
yes, I am! the question is though when will I be home? im hoping before christmas, but I can't guarantee that. I figure after spending so much on aged baccies, some have been incredible some not, I can say I have had the greats. is there hype? yes there is, but taste is subjective. I have learned not to buy tins decades old. it has been rare to open a decades old tin and to see tobacco that isn't dried to the bone. but you live and learn.
 
I'm new (on this forum, not to pipes), but I'd love to try either of those samples if you ever start doling them out. That would be amazing.
 
vaperfavour":g721xl8s said:
yes, I am! the question is though when will I be home? im hoping before christmas, but I can't guarantee that. I figure after spending so much on aged baccies, some have been incredible some not, I can say I have had the greats. is there hype? yes there is, but taste is subjective. I have learned not to buy tins decades old. it has been rare to open a decades old tin and to see tobacco that isn't dried to the bone. but you live and learn.
What do you do with the decades-old stuff you open that is bone dry? Do you re-hydrate it a bit and enjoy it, or doesn't that work?
 
free_byrd15":iwh9hgfx said:
Raven's Wing also sounds amazing. I know these are no longer in production. How unlikely is it to get to try these without paying an arm and a leg?
I on the other hand love both 3 Nuns & Balkan Sobranie & don't find then expensive
I am selling some overstock on Balkan Sobranie @ $20 / pouch in the trade tread
Now @ 15-18 bowls / pouch that's less than $1.50 for a 45 muinute smoke
You can't even buy a cheap cigar for that

Tobaccos For Sale Thread Link
 
I have found that some re-hydrate, some dont. when I find dehydrated baccy that I just paid close to a thousand dollars for, I don't get angry, I learn. the desire to try the long lost greats is a strong one. for years and years I wanted to be able to afford the rare and exclusive. now I can, and if I can help to alleviate the suffering of my fellow hobbiest I would be glad to. and I won't charge a thing..... except to say if you can help a fellow pipester.... do so.....even if it hurts! a moment of sharing can be remembered for a lifetime!
 
vaperfavour":ysk74up7 said:
I have found that some re-hydrate, some dont. when I find dehydrated baccy that I just paid close to a thousand dollars for, I don't get angry, I learn. the desire to try the long lost greats is a strong one. for years and years I wanted to be able to afford the rare and exclusive. now I can, and if I can help to alleviate the suffering of my fellow hobbiest I would be glad to. and I won't charge a thing..... except to say if you can help a fellow pipester.... do so.....even if it hurts! a moment of sharing can be remembered for a lifetime!
You sir, are a philanthropist of the first order. I doff my hat to you. :cheers:
 
vaperfavour":bi9jzcf4 said:
I have found that some re-hydrate, some dont. when I find dehydrated baccy that I just paid close to a thousand dollars for, I don't get angry, I learn. the desire to try the long lost greats is a strong one. for years and years I wanted to be able to afford the rare and exclusive. now I can, and if I can help to alleviate the suffering of my fellow hobbiest I would be glad to. and I won't charge a thing..... except to say if you can help a fellow pipester.... do so.....even if it hurts! a moment of sharing can be remembered for a lifetime!
Thank you for the info. It would be interesting to read more about what makes some able to be re-hydrated and others not and how this affects a tobacco that is decades old. I'm sure this is something most of us will never be faced with but at least we would have learned how to approach the situation from the experiences of others who have been there. In all my research and reading on the www about tobacco I've never seen such an article written. It would be something I'd print out and keep in my cellar for reference. Just a thought if you should ever decide to write something up.

Please count me in on the interested parties in trying out some of the old classics! :pipe:
 
Jeff: With all due respect, the pouch Sobranie that you are selling is not really a true representation of the old BS that is 30-40 years old. I have the pouch BS and many tins of the old BS, some in cutter tops.
Due to blend changes over the years and the actual ageing of the tobaccos, the really old BS (tins in ounces and no Euro designation) is truly a very special tobacco.

The same is true with Three Nuns. The new TN pales in comparison with the old "Made in Scotland" tins.
Unfortunately, Three Nuns is one of those tobaccos that does not re-hydrate well.

Buying vintage tobaccos is a crapshoot at best. Sometimes you win, quite a few times you lose. But when you do come across a winner, it can be extremely satisfying and rewarding.
 
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