Granger vs. Granger?

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Grangerous

Lifer
Dec 8, 2020
3,266
13,165
East Coast USA
I’d sat expecting a melt-in-your-mouth-medium-rare-ribeye. But in ritzy, downtown Los Angelos at three times market price—one fancy dry-aged steak went back to the kitchen. I wasn’t impressed by that steak—nor was the LA restaurant manager impressed by me.—Nor the cook. I mean, “Chef”

I told em to have Bobby Flay or whomever hold the next one up to a light bulb to scare it bit and plate it... was still mediocre to me.

And so it goes. Price, fancy clothes and high expectations don’t always cut it.
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So, I finally opened that swollen, bulging old can of Granger. Whomever believes that burley cannot improve with age and fermentation, may wish to reconsider.—Read on.
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The smoke off—Granger vs Granger

Into my cob went the dust from my near empty granger jar, just enough for one last bowl.

Into my 1989 Stanwell went the aged baccy—which signaled its eagerness to exit it’s rusting, bulging can with an audible puff and a pungent scent of raisiny, rich aged Kentucky rough cut burley.

I smoked each bowl side by side.
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The DM1989 Stawell has become my go-to-pipe of late. It smokes like a dream and Wow! —So richly flavored that I hardly recognize it as Granger! The side stream, the retro, the taste, the creamy mouth feel... everything seems richer. So much so, that If it were a blind smoke, I may have unceremoniously dumped it —believing my Granger replaced by some heavily cased and topped mystery blend. But I smoked on, knowing that this strange alien tobacco actually is Granger.
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At mid-bowl, I set down the Stanwell containing the foreign substance.
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I took a sip of my coffee and gave char light to the cob full of jar scrapings. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, there you are, Granger!
I’m glad I’m a simple bastard who enjoys a simple smoke, a simple steak and respects American cobs. (Not like that honey smothering, rim-scorching cob-destroying maniac with the initials @shermnatman)

But I digress.

Just give me simple pleasures—A favorite blend, a fresh, unmolested cob and a pair of well worn blue jeans, strong black coffee and a peaceful hour to drink it all in.

My hope is the pungent aroma will tame with time. Whatever witchcrafty fuckery occurred inside that bulging granger can may be quite desirable to some, perhaps many. But I like my Granger simple.
 

Grangerous

Lifer
Dec 8, 2020
3,266
13,165
East Coast USA
Lemme see, I think I got this right. It was the non-aged regular daily Granger that won the taste test, not the bulging can of vintage Granger. That sounds reasonable.
Correct, MSO. Always a plot twist in my threads

I am now understanding @ashdigger. The time my Baccy spends in the jar, as I smoke through it, does dry it a bit.

Freshly opened tubs are pungent, however, this bulging one had some fermentation going on that really made it seem topped to me.

I’m going to enjoy smoking thru it, but time open should return it to my mellow old friend. While I don’t “dry” my tobacco crisp, Granger is best with a bit of air.
 
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rushx9

Lifer
Jul 10, 2019
2,299
17,244
42
Shelby, NC
My experience with long aged tins is that the first day or two after opening, they taste like straight up fermentation. This can be nice like dried fruit, or rotten like the bottom of a dumpster. Either way, the fermentation smell will begin to gas off and change immediately after exposure to fresh air. Nothing to do with drying, just oxidation. In a day or two the underlying tobacco flavor will come through and the blend will hit it's stride. In a few weeks you'll pop the lid and wonder where that funk went... If you don't finish it off soonafter, you'll be surprised one day by a bowlful of mummified "shit dust".
 

Grangerous

Lifer
Dec 8, 2020
3,266
13,165
East Coast USA
My experience with long aged tins is that the first day or two after opening, they taste like straight up fermentation. This can be nice like dried fruit, or rotten like the bottom of a dumpster. Either way, the fermentation smell will begin to gas off and change immediately after exposure to fresh air. Nothing to do with drying, just oxidation. In a day or two the underlying tobacco flavor will come through and the blend will hit it's stride. In a few weeks you'll pop the lid and wonder where that funk went... If you don't finish it off soonafter, you'll be surprised one day by a bowlful of mummified "shit dust".
It’s raisin-like. Let’s hope the transformation to mummified shit dust takes a while.

I’m a once per day smoker and a fresh tub lasts me three months.

But yeah, I like it better a little less concentrated.
 
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Pipewizard420

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 28, 2020
241
507
I cracked a tin of Granger the other day as well. It had been in the cellar a few months so was far from being "aged" but is still tasty stuff! Ended up jarring up most of it and mixed a bit with some PA and used the mixture to fill a glass jar humidor in middle of pipe rack, making it a easy Codger fill when deciding on tobacco is too much work.;)
 
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