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A Took and a Brandybuck (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 months ago by threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works to c/lotrmemes@midwest.social

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[-] Dadifer@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago

I'm pretty sure it was tabacco.

[-] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 44 points 2 months ago

It explicitly and unambiguously was tobacco, but it's still funny to think it was weed. Peter Jackson certainly liked to imply it was.

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 8 points 2 months ago

I think there's an interview with Billy Boyd where he talks about filming this scene in a few different ways, as if they were happy, drunk, or stoned.

[-] BreadOven@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Where's this coming from?

[-] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 26 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The books, Tolkien's letters, and a section of the appendices at the end of RoTK all explicitly say it's tobacco.

Speaking of Hobbits, Tolkien wrote:

they imbibed or inhaled, through pipes of clay or wood, the smoke of the burning leaves of a herb, which they called pipe-weed or leaf, a variety probably of Nicotiana [tobacco plant].

Tolkien was a big smoker. You rarely see pics of him without a pipe in his mouth.

Plus, given the Hobbit was released in 1937 in England, it's likely that Tolkien didn't even know what Cannabis was. He'd certainly be unaware of its future popularity/cultural relevance.

[-] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Cannabis had at least some level of presence in Europe for centuries. Robert Hooke, a contemporary of and fierce rival to Isaac Newton experimented with it in 1689. Still though, I have no idea to what extent. You may well be right that Tolkien never heard of it.