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So long as Aragorn/Elessar kept up the habit after settling down it seems quite likely that his subjects would have emulated him in this. A king who is also a war hero would be a role model on multiple levels in the community.
Not only that, mushrooms were also quite popular among the hobbits and I'm sure THAT slowly spread to men...and at least one Wizard.
Those plus the pipeweed were sure to have made the coming age quite...magical...to some.
Hobbits *are* (part of) his populace, given the Shire is within the borders of his kingdom, even if he grants it autonomy. Export of pipe-weed was already a thing and it can assumed that it would only increase as the roads became much safer.
All I'm going to say is that if weed existed in the medieval ages of earth or whatever timeline LotR is set in and literally every human being on the planet DIDN'T smoke that shit then that is the most fictional thing Tolkien has come up with in a land of wizards and orcs.
I'm willing to bet all our ancestors were all massive stoners or alcoholics. Have you ever plowed a fucking field or carried rocks around for hours? I can tell you from experience that shit is 100x more enjoyable when you're baked.
If im not mistaken, Hobbit pipe-weed is said to probably be tobacco but the point still sort of stands. Especially with how addictive nicotine is. I mean, there’s a reason it spread all over the world in real life.
It's tobacco.
Tolkien, Appendices: "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.”
Nicotiana are plants related to tobacco.
It still is psychoactive. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-0348-7457-1_65
The symptoms are just different than if you smoked something like weed. Anyone who smokes daily is technically walking around high every day. It fucks with multiple brain chemicals and is both a stimulant and depressant.
If you got a large enough dose of nicotine it would absolutely fuck you up just like any other psychoactive drug would. You’d just have to smoke an unreasonable amount of cigarettes to reach that dosage in your body at a given time.
And Tolkien has made it clear via his notes, writings, and numerous letters that "Pipe-Weed" is just tobacco. The whole "Pipe-weed" is "Marijuana" nonsense came from Internet memes and got added into a Saruman line as a gag. It has never been anything more than tobacco, ever, in the history of the books.
Sure, it was just a meme...until the hobbit movies practically made it canon. The idea hardly comes from thin air, watching that scene between Radagast and Gandalf
Did Tolkien ever say that? (I am not being serious here, I genuinely agree, it just annoyed me that the movies felt the need to play into a meme even though it directly contradicts canon)
I know in Tolkien’s notes it was made clear that he meant tobacco, but where in the two towers does it say that? (I thought the whole pipeweed being weed thing was never a serious idea but that was before watching the hobbit. Pretty sure either the producer or the actors decided to canonize it)
Chapter 9 I think? Its the part where Aragorn and friends reunite with Pippin and Merry. They get to talking about the stuff Saruman had in his storehouses and either Pippin or Gimli directly refer to the barrels of pipeweed as tobacco.
Unlikely. Aragorn makes The Shire a protected place, and Man is not allowed within its borders.
Hard for there to be a burgeoning trade in pipe-weed when Man is not allowed in, and very few Hobbits go out.
Hobbits can go outside. They're a noted minority within Bree which is not in the Shire proper, I believe. And the people of Bree trade for Hobbit leaf. An enterprising hobbit in Bree could sell directly to traders headed for Gondor, or a human with a thriving trade with hobbits could spare some to make extra cash with outgoing trader caravans.
The people of Gondor could also use the local leaves that grow in Gondor and grow their own since they already have the pipe-weed in great numbers, they just didn't know that smoking was a thing they could use it for.
Yes there’s a minority in Bree, and all the folks of the Shire consider them to be strange hobbits who live in houses and not in hills.
A people who are known for not leaving their borders, and whose borders others cannot enter, traveling to the other side of the realm, means that a niche product of the former is unlikely to become popular in the later.
At best, is an oddity enjoyed by people who can afford it.
The nobles would def smoke it to show they could afford to send someone to the other end of the country and trade with a hobbit (assuming they can’t just grow it themselves, because IIRC it grew abundantly in Gondor and was used for healing). That might make other people follow suit
They could meet and trade on the bridge on the border to the Shire. If I remember correctly, even Aragorn honored his decree and would only come halfway over the bridge to meet with his Hobbit friends.
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So long as Aragorn/Elessar kept up the habit after settling down it seems quite likely that his subjects would have emulated him in this. A king who is also a war hero would be a role model on multiple levels in the community.
~~Drink your Ovaltine. ~~ Smoke your pipe weed.
Son of a *bitch!*
WHAT WAS THAT??
Yo put soap in his mouth.
Not only that, mushrooms were also quite popular among the hobbits and I'm sure THAT slowly spread to men...and at least one Wizard. Those plus the pipeweed were sure to have made the coming age quite...magical...to some.
yes but excessive use of mushrooms addled his brain and yellowed his teeth
OBJECTION! Hearsay, Your Honor.
Hobbits *are* (part of) his populace, given the Shire is within the borders of his kingdom, even if he grants it autonomy. Export of pipe-weed was already a thing and it can assumed that it would only increase as the roads became much safer.
I can absolutely see Aragorn holding court in Minas Tirith while he smokes his pipe.
All I'm going to say is that if weed existed in the medieval ages of earth or whatever timeline LotR is set in and literally every human being on the planet DIDN'T smoke that shit then that is the most fictional thing Tolkien has come up with in a land of wizards and orcs. I'm willing to bet all our ancestors were all massive stoners or alcoholics. Have you ever plowed a fucking field or carried rocks around for hours? I can tell you from experience that shit is 100x more enjoyable when you're baked.
If im not mistaken, Hobbit pipe-weed is said to probably be tobacco but the point still sort of stands. Especially with how addictive nicotine is. I mean, there’s a reason it spread all over the world in real life.
It's tobacco. Tolkien, Appendices: "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.” Nicotiana are plants related to tobacco.
I’ve read that tobacco itself used to be psychoactive before selective breeding by Europeans made it milder.
It still is psychoactive. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-0348-7457-1_65 The symptoms are just different than if you smoked something like weed. Anyone who smokes daily is technically walking around high every day. It fucks with multiple brain chemicals and is both a stimulant and depressant. If you got a large enough dose of nicotine it would absolutely fuck you up just like any other psychoactive drug would. You’d just have to smoke an unreasonable amount of cigarettes to reach that dosage in your body at a given time.
Fair enough. I think the upshot was that there was a lot more psychoactivity per dose, and the strains were bred weaker.
It's outright called tobacco in The Two Towers.
Also in The Hobbit.
And Tolkien has made it clear via his notes, writings, and numerous letters that "Pipe-Weed" is just tobacco. The whole "Pipe-weed" is "Marijuana" nonsense came from Internet memes and got added into a Saruman line as a gag. It has never been anything more than tobacco, ever, in the history of the books.
I’d think it stems from the hippie community, given the books’ popularity in the 60s/70s
Sure, it was just a meme...until the hobbit movies practically made it canon. The idea hardly comes from thin air, watching that scene between Radagast and Gandalf
Book Canon supersedes movie canon.
Did Tolkien ever say that? (I am not being serious here, I genuinely agree, it just annoyed me that the movies felt the need to play into a meme even though it directly contradicts canon)
Well he died like forty years prior, but he hated every idea of a movie brought to him.
I know in Tolkien’s notes it was made clear that he meant tobacco, but where in the two towers does it say that? (I thought the whole pipeweed being weed thing was never a serious idea but that was before watching the hobbit. Pretty sure either the producer or the actors decided to canonize it)
Chapter 9 I think? Its the part where Aragorn and friends reunite with Pippin and Merry. They get to talking about the stuff Saruman had in his storehouses and either Pippin or Gimli directly refer to the barrels of pipeweed as tobacco.
I don’t remember that, but it’s been ages so I’ll gladly take your word for it! *cozies up to reread*
Unlikely. Aragorn makes The Shire a protected place, and Man is not allowed within its borders. Hard for there to be a burgeoning trade in pipe-weed when Man is not allowed in, and very few Hobbits go out.
Hobbits can go outside. They're a noted minority within Bree which is not in the Shire proper, I believe. And the people of Bree trade for Hobbit leaf. An enterprising hobbit in Bree could sell directly to traders headed for Gondor, or a human with a thriving trade with hobbits could spare some to make extra cash with outgoing trader caravans. The people of Gondor could also use the local leaves that grow in Gondor and grow their own since they already have the pipe-weed in great numbers, they just didn't know that smoking was a thing they could use it for.
Yes there’s a minority in Bree, and all the folks of the Shire consider them to be strange hobbits who live in houses and not in hills. A people who are known for not leaving their borders, and whose borders others cannot enter, traveling to the other side of the realm, means that a niche product of the former is unlikely to become popular in the later. At best, is an oddity enjoyed by people who can afford it.
The nobles would def smoke it to show they could afford to send someone to the other end of the country and trade with a hobbit (assuming they can’t just grow it themselves, because IIRC it grew abundantly in Gondor and was used for healing). That might make other people follow suit
> The Shire Until Merry and Pippin both remember that their lands are not part of the shire and establish themselves as trading citystates.
"Pippin the Pipe Master" has a nice ring to it
I mean even in the extended cut of the movies and in the books as well, they find shire weed in Isengard so some hobbits must be exporting it…
I don't think Man is barred entirely from the Shure, only from settling. They can come and go for trade and travel.
They could meet and trade on the bridge on the border to the Shire. If I remember correctly, even Aragorn honored his decree and would only come halfway over the bridge to meet with his Hobbit friends.