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.

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.

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.

Are you serious man?

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.

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!