I'm a pipe newb, so take my side of this series for what it's worth. If there's a tie, or any question in your mind, you'd probably be better served to go with Rev's opinions here.
Regardless of my experience, I am eagerly anticipating doing this series of eleven (or more) reviews with the Rev. We will be reviewing the same tobaccos from the same pouch in most cases. Some are brand new and some have more than a decade of age. This will be a great opportunity to calibrate and refine my tasting. I hope you enjoy this series. I know I will benefit a lot by concentrating and doing these.
So, here goes:
This is a review of the current incarnation. Listed as Virginia with dark Kentucky. No Periques. Smoked in an old Kaywoodie supergrain with the stinger intact.
0.0 - 2.0 = poor/inferior quality
2.1 - 2.9 = fair
3.0 - 3.5 = good
3.5 - 4.5 = excellent
4.6 - 5.0 = superior
1) Aesthetics: the look of the tobacco - Curly cut into small coins. Coins here are about half the size of Escudos. Densely packed into the tin. It's hard to remove the coins intact. I count that as neither a plus, nor minus as I tend to rough up coin cut anyway. The lights and darks are well distributed. This is not a bullseye coin. The tin note is strong molasses. Reminds me of sweet horse feed. Very nice presentation.
Score for aesthetics:4.3
2) Pre-light Construction: I dried this bowl for two hours. That was too much. It was easy to pack, if a bit too dry. I folded and stuffed the coins with ease. They crumbled, packed and lit easily. No casing or flavorings are detected. This is non-aromatic. Score is partially based on prior experience with this tin.
Score for Pre-light construction:4.5
3) Post-light Construction/How it smoked: Smoked evenly, somewhat hot, but that is my fault for drying too long. Other bowls I have smoked were very cool smoking, even when getting carried away puffing. The ash is salt and pepper, turned white on relights. Very fine ash cap. There is some gurgling, but not as much as I have experienced with other tobaccos. As soon as I feel a gurgle, I disassemble, blow out the stem and run a pipe cleaner. This is my normal procedure.
Score for post-light construction:4.0
4) Flavor and strength:Solid medium. Nutty, sweet, earthy with some decent spice. This spice was apparently designed for to replicate the missing perique. I love it. This is a very pleasant tobacco. There is a nice, warming nicotine hit. If I were to guess blind, I'd say it's a VA/burley blend. No latakia, or orientals detected. This one hits all the marks for me. I have no reservation giving it a perfect mark here.
Score for flavor and strength:5.0
5) Aftertaste/Finish: Starts with a spicy and peppery aftertaste. After a good ash cap develops, transitions to a calm nutty, wood and earthy aftertaste. Reminds me of the transitions in one of my first favorite cigars, the DPG cuban classic. That was the first cigar that "changed" for me while smoking.
Score for aftertaste:4.5, though I don't know what would be better.
6) Aroma: Moderate aroma. Has pleasant smells. Nutty and sweet.
Score for aroma:4
7) General Comments Good any time of the day smoke. Highly recommended.
Overall score for the tobacco:4.38
8) Recommendation: Would you recommend this blend? Highly Recommended
If you remember the old Three Nuns, clear your mind. This is obviously not the old one. Try it for what it is: similar in name only. I would assume if you like VA/Burley blends, you'd probably like this one. It is no secret that this is one of my faves. Curious to hear your thoughts on this one..