The 4th Nun (2016 Christmas Blend)

The 4th Nun is a limited production Watch City Cigar & Pipe of Waltham, Massachusetts released as its 2016 Christmas blend. According to the shop's own description, the blend was prepared based on a pre-World War II Three Nuns recipe that pipe smokers dug out of the archives. Since no machine was available to produce a curly cut, the same leaf list and processing method were applied with a coarse ribbon cut instead. Its composition includes Burley, light-colored Virginia, Perique, and what the original recipe calls "manufactured perique" — Virginia cavendished using rum and anise oil.

In character it sits close to Danish-style mixtures: Burley provides body and nutty dryness, light Virginia its natural sugar, and Perique a plummy, peppery sharpness. The rum and anise of the cavendished portion stay at a casing level and don't turn the blend into a full aromatic. This was a seasonal, one-off production intended for smokers seeking old-style Three Nuns flavor who are accustomed to lightly flavored Virginia-Burley mixtures.