I read it some time ago (~2011) and don't remember the details. At the time, I knew nothing of money and took most of the book at face value.
However, when I later began studying Austrian economics, it became quite clear that Graeber's assumptions were based on circular reasoning, and that Graeber's writings on economics are through a left-leaning lens. That isn't to cast doubt on his work on Anthropology, which is fascinating to read, but I have doubts that he truly understood Menger's argument to begin with (or perhaps willingly chose to filter it to fit into his world-view.)
Indeed. In fact, OP's quote is considered and dismissed by Graeber in Debt using precisely the same example:
"Occasionally, we can even find some kind of currency beginning to develop: for instance, in POW camps and many prisons, inmates have indeed been known to use cigarettes as a kind of currency, much to the delight and excitement of professional economists. But were too we are talking about people who grew up using money and now have to make do without it - exactly the situation "imagined" by the economics textbooks."
This is prominently discussed by Graeber in the book, so this comment leads me to believe you have even read it.