Granger by Lane

[Briar Lee]

New tins seem to be $18 7 ounce size.

Granger is one of the canonical American drugstore, over the counter, codger burley blends.

But even fifty years ago, Granger was not as commonly found as Prince Albert, Velvet, Half and Half, Sir Walter Raleigh, Carter Hall, Kentucky Club, Middleton’s Cherry Blend, Field and Stream, Our Advertiser, or Country Gentleman, at least in Southwest Missouri.

A drugstore had to be large enough to handle Amphora and Borkum Riff to reliably find Granger.

Granger used to be made by Ligget and Meyers, then Middleton, and now Lane (STC).

Granger is straight burley, processed by what used to be advertised as Wellman’s Process, an old tobacco man’s secret. It’s described as rough cut, and the tobacco is darker than most OTC burleys.

This is old school pipe tobacco. There’s a slight topping of a Play Dough essence reminiscent of Velvet, yet the flavor is a classic burley,,,nutty, sweet, with caramel notes. It lights easily, and burns all the way down cool, fragrant, dry and satisfying. The aroma is pipey, heavy, thick, a pipe tobacco smell.

Granger would bite you, if you let it, but it’s a lifetime, every day, all day smoke. Just sip it.

I think it’s the most burley tasting, of the old time codger burleys.

Highly recommended.

 

[chopper]

I rather like the codger Burley blends that I've tried like Carter Hall and Prince Albert.
Granger on the other hand; it starts out real good.
Then after half a bowl it turns bitter.
Maybe I should try it in a small bowl and see what happens.

 

[Staggerlee]

Makes me want to smoke a bowl right now. It is a good every day smoke. Some times simple is best.

 

[Grangerous]

Now, you’re talkin Dirty… You forgot “luxurious“ to the fingers.

Was never made by Middleton. Was made for many years by Pinkerton and that “play dough” or “plastic” flavor was a quality control issue for several Pinkerton brands.

 

[ashdigger]

Let is age a bit or at least after opening the tub let it breath.

Granger is super simple. Always delivers.

 

[Briar Lee]

Now, you’re talkin Dirty… You forgot “luxurious“ to the fingers.

Was never made by Middleton. Was made for many years by Pinkerton and that “play dough” or “plastic” flavor was a quality control issue for several Pinkerton brands.

Thanks for the correction, it was Pinkerton, not Middleton on the middle run.

Wherever you call the essence, it had, and still does, a cherry like fragrance from the pouch, the closest smells I know like it being Play Dough, Velvet, and Pallidin’s Blackcherry (although not as much).

There’s two things I wish I knew about Granger.

Who was Wellman, of Wellman’s Process?

And as the proud great grandson of Yankee cavalrymen, who later became Grangers, then Bull Moose supporters, did Liggett and Meyers pay royalties to the Grange?

The Grange Movement, 1875 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/grange-movement-1875

The Humansville Grange Lodge and GAR stayed active until the thirties.

Old Grangers talked about it.

 

[NomadOrb]

Got a sample from @ashdigger a couple of years ago, finished it and immediately bought myself a tub. Granger is comfort tobacco, can never go wrong with a bowl of Granger.

 

[burleybreath]

There’s two things I wish I knew about Granger.

Who was Wellman, of Wellman’s Process?

And as the proud great grandson of Yankee cavalrymen, who later became Grangers, then Bull Moose supporters, did Liggett and Meyers pay royalties to the Grange?

The "Wellman" of Wellman's Method may refer to Mr. J.N. Wellman who was an officer in the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, the manufacturer of Granger, and who may have originally hailed from Missouri.

~ from a thread of 8 years ago or so. I read it here, so it must be true! On the other hand, I have a hunch that Granger pipe tobacco had as much to do with the Grange movement as Union Leader pipe tobacco had to do with the labor movement.

(Fourth comment down, by none other than the famous author and Civil War historian, Shelby Foote!)

Does anyone have any info on the "Wellman's Process" from Granger? :: General Pipe Smoking Discussion - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/does-anyone-have-any-info-on-the-wellmans-process-from-granger.38009/

 

[Grangerous]

“As the final authority and human with the outright immutable knowledge of GRANGER, let me help the unwashed and uneducated masses so they can partake in the succulent and most excellent Granger.

It needs to be smoked like a fine, and this is where it gets complicated, Oriental OR VaBer, It needs to be dry, but not too dry, it needs to be moist, but not too moist. Think of the perfect amount of bounce and packing “sponginess”.

Don’t abuse it with heat, but gently tickle the glorious leaf with the initial light, then one light tap, not two you unwashed heathen.

Then sit back and bask in the glow of absolute perfection that is akin to hanging out with Raquel Welch, not Rosie O’Donnel. “. -October 26, 2020 @ashdigger

Hall of Fame, Tobacco Reviewer and man of impeccably fine tastes, obviously.

 

[OverMountain]

Interesting read above on the link. Especially about packing tobacco inside maple trees to cure! Talk about adding sugar to a leaf!

Didn’t know Shelby Foote was on the forum at one time either.

 

[Briar Lee]

Interesting read above on the link. Especially about packing tobacco inside maple trees to cure! Talk about adding sugar to a leaf!

Didn’t know Shelby Foote was on the forum at one time either.

It was a photo of Shelby Foote, who died ten years before that post.

Folks may think I’m as dashing as Lord (soon to be Baron) Inverchapel but I only use his photo.

Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[OverMountain]

Don’t believe everything you read on “teh internets!”

 

[Ky pipemaster]

Every time i find Granger on sale I pick up two or three more tins for the stash ,I'm trying to only smoke just one tin a month but its a little difficult sometimes

 

[mso489]

My dad grew up north of Chicago and smoked Granger from about age 15 until 65, when he quit to take a job at a non-smoking campus. He smoked from just after breakfast until bedtime, and only smoked Granger in the foil pouches. When he was gifted a tub, he put it in the empty foil pouches.

At that time, in the Chicago area, you could buy Granger anywhere -- in groceries, drug stores, gas stations, and for his purposes at indoor and outdoor newsstands all over the business district in the city where he worked, where you could also buy quality American factory briar pipes. He only smoked one pipe at a time until it cracked or burnt out, usually about a year as I recall.

He's smoked his Granger through WWII when he was a junior officer and then the skipper of a YMS minesweeper on both U.S. coasts and in the Philippines during the war.

When I finally bought a pipe in my mid-thirties, never having smoked one, I had all the technique and moves down cold, from observation. I was close to my dad, and though I was never a Navy officer, I did serve on a minesweeper in the South China Sea. I joked to him that we were a minesweeper dynasty.

 

[Briar Tuck]

I like Granger. It's reasonably priced and a good smoke.

 

[bullet08]

Still have a 12 oz tub I got few years ago. I think I figured out how to smoke Granger without nasty tongue burn. But keep forgetting to smoke it. When things go just right, the blueberries are amazing.

 

[fMf Piper]

After reading this, I am going to have to pick some of this up. I must be more of a codger than I give myself credit for, because I find I enjoy many of the codger tobaccos.

Always on the lookout for good smokes that are reasonably priced.

 

[huntertrw]

In a post (see link in burleybreath's post above) to a 2014 thread regarding "Wellman's Process," I mentioned that, "J.N. Wellman appears to have been a principal of the Wellman-Dwirf Tobacco Company..." The correct name of that firm was the Wellman-Dwire Tobacco Company. My apologies for the typo!

 

[f4phantomdriver]

I really like Granger. I'm a loyal Prince Albert smoker, but burley is my favorite leaf if done correctly. Prince Albert "in my opinion of course" is the best "for me". The only thing that stopped me from Granger being my everyday smoke is the horrendous bite it causes me. It has nothing to do with experience, cadence or packing techniques, I'm not a young new pipe smoker. It has something to do with whatever additives is used. I have the very same issue with Velvet, Half and Half, Chatham Manor and most MacBaren tobaccos. I'm thinking it is either a flavoring or a preservative. A friend sent me some Granger from the 90s I think, or maybe the 80s, I honestly can't remember the year it was made. But it was completely different from today's stuff. It was almost Graham crackery and zero bite. I liked it so much I bought two 12 ounce tubs before Scandinavian Tobacco ruined the packaging amounts. I was so excited I immediately opened a tub and let a few bowls worth set out to dry a bit. It bit me like a rabid dog. I tried it in different pipes, different times of the day, packed it different, slowed down, nothing worked. I ended up gifting both tubs out to my buddies. I was thinking about getting another can a few years later, so I did. It was the stupid 7oz cans they have now ,anyway the only way I can enjoy it is to smoke it in my Savinelli's with a 6mm charcoal filter. Which is fine because like I said before, I really do enjoy the taste and aroma.

 

[minerLuke]

I love Granger, it's one of my favorite 'codger' blends. The more I smoke those old classics, the more I think those old guys were really onto something.