|
|
Welcome to Codger Country, the series where we'll be smoking every codger blend we can find and ranking them in an effort to find the "definitive" codger blend. From Carter Hall to Super Value, we're giving them all a fair shake. Today, we're taking a look at Granger Pipe Tobacco, which if the tin is to be believed, will give us "a pointer on fine tobacco."
Granger is currently produced by Scandinavian Tobacco Group but was formerly manufactured by Liggett and Myers. Our on-site description calls it a "Burley-based blend with a slight top flavor. This rough-cut classic lights and burns easily, delivering a crisp, mellow, medium-bodied smoke and a pleasant, fragrant room note." Let's not waste any time before finding out for ourselves.
My initial impressions
Outside of actual tobacco talk, I've been curious about Granger for a few years. My first introduction to it was reading about Chuck's Grandpa's uncanny ability to control his gang of dogs named Toby with the blend. Whether it was the potential for unparalleled power over dogs named Toby or just the pointer dog on the tin, Granger stuck out in my mind as something to try.
The tin is timeless; it seems just right for a blend like this and upon opening it, I'm greeted by notes of cherry, prunes, walnut, and leather with a tickle of anise. The tobacco is soft with slight wetness and bounces back when pressed. It's easy to pack in the pipe, and lights easily enough. I perceive deep walnut notes at first light with heavy smoke, leather, and vanilla following suit, the prune and anise tickling me a bit more on the exhale. It projects a mellow sweetness as it settles in, with the anise and walnut becoming more subdued. When I set the pipe down, I'm left with a mouth full of leather and what feels like soft peat. Settling into a slow cadence, the walnut moves more toward hazelnut, still with that anise complementing the experience.
Despite being new to me, it's familiar and comfortable — like a favorite sweater. Granger burns easily enough but still requires a few relights. If I found myself entranced in work and puffing with a faster rhythm, I would be in a cloud of smoke whose density was rivaled only by Casey Jones' coal train. Regardless of smoking speed, the smoke maintains a pleasing aroma and I've never heard a complaint about the room note from any I've smoked around. I definitely find Granger to reward a more patient and slower cadence due to the fact that the faster I smoked, the more the flavor leaned toward what I can only describe as chemical with an insidious sweetness. However, that's only a problem when smoking rapidly, like when a drunk college student blows through menthols after one too many Trulys. As the bowl burns toward the end, the experience is suitably mellow with a less than average nicotine hit. I often find myself packing another bowl of it shortly after finishing the first.
... deep walnut notes at first light with heavy smoke, leather, and vanilla following suit
What the internet thinks
Granger is a codger blend that is met with either mild-disappointment to indifference or a loyalty stronger than that of a gambler and their favorite slot machine. Those who love it often call it the greatest of codger blends, a simple 365, 24/7 smoke that will never disappoint, but admittedly never really challenges you too much either. The more indifferent crowd regard it as one of those "smoked it once, smoked it dozen times" type blends in a more negative manner.
An important thing to remember is that there is the Liggett and Myers era Granger and Scandinavian Tobacco Group Granger. L&M is often criticized for harsher burn, a play-dough taste and aroma, and a lower level of quality of control. STG is often held as a more quality-controlled and slightly remixed formula that burns cooler and more consistently, leading it to be considered the superior version.
Granger to reward a more patient and slower cadence
A look at some reviews proves enlightening. One reviewer calls the pre-STG blend a one-dimensional, no-nonsense Burley with a slight molasses sweetness and a toasted woody and nutty taste. A follow-up review by the same user on the post-STG blend considers it generally an improvement with a little more depth with a slightly less nutty flavor and a more pronounced note of molasses. In the end, they gave it three out of four stars.
Another reviewer doesn't understand the hype, considering the tobacco just okay and finding it to be one primary note with deep cocoa notes and a drizzle of honey. They consider it to be more of a "blender tobacco," mixing it with Super Value Chocolate at a 50/50 mixture and regarding Carter Hall as the superior codger blend. Two out of four stars.
Most reviews, regardless of ranking, hold the general consensus that Granger is a no-nonsense Burley at the end of the day with reliability akin to Maxwell House coffee. It's not the best coffee in the world but of the bulk pre-ground coffee, it'll serve you well time and time again. Granger is a reliable smoke that requires little thought and can be an all-day companion while offering a slightly more nuanced approach than its competitors.
As our first stop in Codger Country, Granger is a blend that's hard to go wrong with. It's no nonsense, but I think it carries enough depth for those more discerning but interested in an all-day smoke. When smoked without thought, it's mild and inoffensive for the most part, and come afternoon I often myself smoking a few bowls idly as I work. My only real complaint is that it doesn't jive super well with naturally fast smokers like myself, but that's really my own personal problem. I consider Granger to be affordable for the seven ounces in a tin. However, I don't think it'll really lend itself to cellaring. I definitely consider this to be a buy-one-tin-at-a-time blend, but you may disagree. Overall, Granger is a codger blend I believe will stay in my rotation for years to come.
Granger is a reliable smoke that requires little thought and can be an all-day companion
You can grab your own tin of Granger on-site right now. Have you tried Granger? Leave a comment down below sharing your thoughts on this classic, and join me next time as we set sail for more Aromatic waters. See ya then.
You may also enjoy:
Comments
I am super excited and looking forward to the Codger Country series. I just started pipe smoking and I have loved all the codger blends I have tried. Carter Hall, Captain Black, and SWR.
This series is a fantastic idea and I look forward to following along. I've not smoked Granger, but it will be worth a try on my next fishing/hunting excursion.
What a great series to go with! I'll be looking forward to at least trying them to see if there will be a clear cut winner or two to add in the rotation...
Since I am an old codger myself, this sounds like a fun project!
I'm looking forward to more articles from this series. I love boutique, limited, or unique blends, but there is something special with the old standby codger blends. They are a solid, straightforward, and satisfying smoke.
I am a 74 year old codger and I have great memories of my grandaddy sitting on his front porch with his feet propped up against the porch post methodically smoking Granger in hid GBD pipe. When I turned 19 I bought a drugstore pipe and began my pipe smoking experience with Granger and I still enjoy a bowl to this day. I wouldn’t say it is my favorite tobacco today but when I want to enjoy a great burley and reminisce early days in my life with my grandaddy I’ll fire up a bowl. Thanks for featuring in in your review.
I think this new series is an excellent idea! By age alone I certainly qualify as a codger myself, and I do like to smoke a codger blend from time to time. Sometimes I like them, sometimes not, but it’s interesting connecting with what used to be the more typical experience of pipe smokers in the past. I would love to find one that I could enjoy on a daily basis, but they tend to be primarily Burleys, and I’m not a big fan of straight Burleys. To me Burley tends to burn hot and has a bitter or sharp edge to it that I don’t like. For me, codger blends are not even so easy to find anymore, i.e. drugstore tobaccos, because in the tobacco repressive city where I live drug stores are no longer even allowed to sell tobacco at all, and most of the dedicated tobacconists have been driven and harassed out of business. However, years ago—more than ten, but no more than twenty—a tobacconist I frequented (different owner now, not nearly as good a place) wanted to clear out some old stock. The owner offered me a large, 14 oz. tub of Granger at a price too good to pass up. At that point I’d never had Granger. Every once in a while I smoke a pipe of it. I enjoy everything about it—aroma, how well it burns, everything, but by the end of the bowl there is that burley sharpness or bitterness to the flavor that I don’t care for. But I smoke another pipe of it perhaps two or three months later. I like that connection with the past! I’ll be able to continue that way for a long time—the tub is still almost three quarters still full. Incidentally, although you wrote that Granger was originally produced by Liggett & Myers and now is part of STG, there must have been another owner between the two. The tub of Granger I have says that it was manufactured by The Pinkerton Tobacco Company.
I'm with Mark on burley tending to burn hot & deliver sharp bitterness that I'd rather have not experienced. There are many who like it straight or blended, & that's okay. I remember many an upper midwestern farmer favouring Granger. "What's that in your pipe?" & Granger often would be the response. It has a nice fragrance, but it's not anything for which I'd jump up & down. And Mark was correct on the over-blown trends against any tobacco product. Just the mere mention of it & some avid joggers will designate the individual as leperous. Their validity dissipates like a puff of smoke when those same joggers dash along sucking in urban pollutants. I'm looking forward to your review of Bond Street if that's even available these days. Thanks for establishing "Codger Country!"
Worth mentioning that Granger was a favorite of Carl Jung. Maybe just the thing to awaken your Anima…
Though Carter Hall is my daily smoke, I have a tin of Grainger on my shelf at home and load a bowl every week or so. I also find it a bit sharp because I'm a fast smoker, though I'm trying to teach myself to slow down. 40 years on the coffin nails and I'm having a hard time relearning how to just go slow. I too am looking forward to this series of articles. I enjoy some of the newer, trendier blends from time to time, but at 55 years old, I can't be bothered to keep up with the younger generation and the hipsters... I'm just looking forward to making my mark as the local codger in my small Texas town of 3,900 folks, leaving a familiar note of pipe smoke wherever I go, much to the embarrassment of the teenage ruffians that share my home and take my money.
When I first tried Granger, it was sent to me by a friend. He sent me about two ounces and I enjoyed it. It was almost graham crackery with a fantastic room note. I bought two 14 ounce tubs and when I opened one it didn't smell the same. I loaded a bowl and fired it up. It burnt my mouth up so bad and it tasted like burning plastic. I was confused because the stuff my buddy sent me was great. I let it dry out, tried it in different pipes, changed my smoking techniques, nothing worked. It was a real bummer because I had two pounds of junk I didn't want to smoke. I gifted the tubs away so they didn't go to waste. Fast forward ten years a later I bought a 7oz can and tried it again. Now it tastes and smells like cigarettes, pure nasty cigarettes. I smoked Prince Albert every day all day ,so I love burley. Since that I discovered Cornell and Deihl blends I don't really smoke "Codger" otc style blends anymore. Velvet and Half and Half are the same way to me, hot nasty tongue biting grossness. Now I like Sir Walter Raleigh regular and aromatic, Paladin Black Cherry, Prince Albert and Captain Black. I used to like Carter Hall and still have some US made stuff, but I tried the Dominican made stuff and it's horrible.
I’m a pipe smoker for a relatively short time; been smoking a pipe for 5 or 6 years, but only once a week or so. I appreciate this Codger Archaeology so to speak because I am looking for a good blend that doesn’t damage my delicate palate and affords me the memory of my Uncle Sam Sjolander. I recall as a child when we visited, the old man often had a wreath of rich smoke around him that I’m still searching for. I was way too young to notice what he smoked, but even after nearly 60 years, I think I would recognize it. Thanks again for Codger Country and I will use it to find some roots (and leaf).
Ahh yes. Tried them all in my tender "youth" in h.s. and college. Smoked my first nominally sized coronas, claro wrappered "Senators" in the 7th grade. Delicious and a favorite, when I could find them. At 30-cents a copy, it was not a frequent indulgence. The over-the-counters are good, until one tries the complex brands which weren't much more expensive, but just stocked in fewer locations or else limited to tobacconists who would take the risk to stock a brand to enhance their shop's variety. They were all equally agreeable, though my own favorite was Edgeworth "ready rubbed". I can wait to read the review. It was the late-great Mr. Bert Shires of Logan Square Tobacco in Chicago, who smiled indulgently, winked and sold me my first tin of something non-aromatic and"serious" after I'd struggled with a dozen or more Scandinavian blends which cost almost twice as much as the OTC's at around 70-cents for two ounces. God Bless you Bert!
I love Granger! It packs easily, smokes well not too strong or mild. My wife enjoys the aroma which is a plus as Im allowed to smoke it indoors. It has become my goto.
As Codger blends go, Grainger is probably my favorite. I admit to being a blend snob and usually opt for higher end stuff like Country Squire or Orlik Golden Slice or Rattray. But Granger holds its own. Nothing fancy pants or really complex but I like it for a change of pace.
Definitively a burley. I tend to be a straight Virginia or light aromatic man myself, but Granger has that light nutty taste that goes great with a cup of coffee.