In 2001, fans of theLord of the Ringsmovies discovered the popular herb of Middle Earth known as pipe-weed and had many questions about what exactly their favorite characters were smoking. When it comes to high fantasy, fans are familiar with its many elements. They expect elaborate world-building and how it shapes the idea of canon within storytelling. Novelist J. R. R. Tolkien was largely known for the time and effort he took to develop thevery complex world of Middle Earth. Fans look forward to the creation of lore and how it ties even the most complex world together. Tolkien didn’t create Middle Earth as a simple place in which stories were told.
He gave it a diversity of beings with a wide variety of customs, cultures, and physical appearances. He then used those pieces to create larger stories about how civilizations were created or destroyed and what shaped the beliefs of different groups of beings. What fans didn’t expect from Tolkien’s work was for any of the characters to smoke a substance with a description that sounds a lot like something that is frequently enjoyed in the real world. Yet, that’s exactly what Tolkien delivered to fans of his work with the creation of pipe-weed. So what exactly is this substance supposed to be? Like all the wonderfully odd concepts he created, Tolkien definitely has an answer for that.
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What is Pipe-Weed?
Pipe-weed is a dry herb broken up into pieces by characters inLord of the Ringswho then “[imbibe] or [inhale it] through pipes of clay or wood”. While this sounds a lot like something else, turns out that the pipe-weed was more like tobacco. There are even accounts of its existence in the original novels having been inspired by Tolkien’s real-life love of smoking tobacco out of a wooden pipe. According to legend, Númenóreans were the noble race of Men who brought a version of pipe-weed known as Sweet Galenas or Westman’s-weed to Middle Earth.
In the humble realm of the Shire, however, it was Tobold Hornblower – aka Old Toby – who cultivated pipe-weed and sold it to his fellow Hobbits under eccentric names like Longbottom Leaf, Southern Star, Old Toby, and Southlinch. It makes sense that Old Toby was at the heart of this herb’s popularity throughout the Shire as he’d had quite the reputation around the expert use of his green thumb. Old Toby was known for cultivating pipe-weed, but the herb itself was also known for putting in its own work.
Mind-altering Effects of Pipe-Weed
Pipe-weed has been implied to have a euphoric effect on those who consume it throughoutLord of the Rings. Gandalf describes pipe-weed as “an art of the Little People away in the West” that “[clears] your mind of shadows within.” In many ways, though, the depiction of pipe-weed and its effects are jokingly amplified in Peter Jackson’s films.
InLord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, for example, a pre-heel turn Saruman (Christopher Lee) responds to Gandalf (Ian McKellen) recalling what he’s learned about Sauron’s (Sala Baker) ring by accusing the other wizard of having his mind slowed by his “love for the Halflings’ leaf.” He’s essentially telling the other wizard that he’s too high to know what he’s talking about which is funny because Saruman later goes on to purchase literal barrels of pipe-weed from the Shire just to see what all the fuss is about.
InLord of the Rings: Return of the King, it’s implied that the voracious appetites of hobbits like Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandybuck (Dominic Monogan) and Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took (Billy Boyd) are enhanced by their love of pipe-weed. Whatever the lore of pipe-weed, its consumption has given Hobbits the ability to avoid major conflict that the rest of Middle Earth could learn a thing or two from.
The Pipe-Weed Habits of Hobbits
One thing that’s undeniable about pipe-weed is that it brings people together. Viewers of theLord of the Ringsfilms are first introduced tothe accidentally-heroic Bilbo Baggins(Ian Holm) as he shares “the finest weed in the Southfarthing” with his old friend Gandalf. The two sit in front of his home and smoke pipe-weed out of their favorite pipes and playfully compete over who can produce the most complex shapes made out of smoke.
Later on, Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee (Sean Astin) and Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) enjoy a few pints with friends. Each one of them has a pipe full of some variation of Old Toby’s weed to further put them in a relaxed yet gossip-filled mood. In theLord of the Rings: The Two Towersnovel, Merry and Pippin enjoy what they call Longbottom Leaf after bravely helping the Ents take over Isengard before finally being discovered by the rest of the fellowship. Both the films and the novels make it clear that smoking pipe-weed is a pastime best enjoyed with loved ones.
In some ways, it’s very clear that pipe-weed is not meant as an obvious parallel for a real-world substance intheLord of the Ringsseries. It’s smoked in a very long pipe and doesn’t seem to leave those that consume it in a state of inebriation. Tolkien himself explaining that pipe-weed is more like tobacco should’ve been enough to calm any potential in-fandom debates. In other ways, many fans have and continue to make arguments challenging this fact. For them, there are many points in both the novels and the films that contradict Tolkien’s claims.
