Pipe-weed Pipe-weed, a herb with sweet-scented flowers, was evidently brought to Middle-earth by the
Númenóreans during the
Second Age, as
Merry speculates in the Prologue,
[31] and as suggested by its common name in Gondor:
westmansweed.
[32] It was known among the
Dúnedain as
sweet galenas for its fragrance.
[31] As the Hobbits' custom of smoking it became more widely known, the habit spread to
Dwarves and the
Rangers of the North, and the plant became known as
Halflings' Leaf.
[33]Pipe-weed was first grown among Hobbits by
Tobold Hornblower in
Longbottom (a region in the Southfarthing of the
Shire). Despite its foreign origins, the Hobbits (possibly those in
Bree) were the first to use it for smoking. (As Merry points out, not even the Wizards had thought of that.)
[31] Popular Hobbit-grown varieties include Longbottom Leaf, Old Toby, and Southern Star; its cultivation became an established industry in the Southfarthing.
The Wizard
Gandalf learned to smoke pipe-weed from the Hobbits. In
The Hobbit he turns smoke-rings into different colours. One palpable description of the weed's effects is given by Gandalf to fellow wizard
Saruman upon a meeting of the
White Council:
"You might find that smoke blown out cleared your mind of shadows within. Anyway, it gives patience, to listen to error without anger."
[33] Although Saruman initially derided Gandalf for smoking, at some point he took up the habit himself. After the destruction of
Isengard, pipe-weed is found among its food stores, but the Hobbits
Merry and
Pippin fail to realize the
sinister implications of the discovery that Saruman has had commerce with the Shire.
The word
pipe-weed first appears in the Prologue to
The Lord of the Rings in the section called "Concerning Pipe-weed". Tolkien says the Hobbits of old "imbibed or inhaled through pipes of clay or wood, the smoke of the burning leaves of an herb, which they called
pipe-weed or
leaf, a variety probably of
Nicotiana."
[31] In the same paragraph, Tolkien as narrator refers to "the tobacco of the Southfarthing." Throughout
The Lord of the Rings none of the characters ever uses the word
tobacco. The word
tobacco is only used in the narrative voice of the books.
For example; in
The Two Towers,
tobacco is used once. In the chapter "Flotsam and Jetsam" Tolkien as narrator says "He produced a small leather bag full of tobacco." Merry is then quoted saying "we found they were filled with this: as fine a pipe-weed as you could wish for, and quite unspoilt."
[34] Pipe-weed is used 4 times in
The Two Towers.
[35]Author
T. A. Shippey speculates that Tolkien may have preferred the
Old World sound of
pipe-weed, because
tobacco, an
Arawakan name for a
New World plant, would be an anachronism, and have a "foreign feel" in the world of elves and trolls.
[36]The Hobbit, which was written before the
The Lord of the Rings, uses
tobacco exclusively.
Pipe-weed does not occur at all.
[37]Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_plants
Author
Topic: [DF 31.13] War of the Ring Mod [WotR 13.3] (We're back!) (Read 40074 times)