This is an updated version of a video first uploaded in February 2021.

@LucasRogers92

3 ай бұрын

Trueeee!

@TheVigilantStewards

3 ай бұрын

It was a good one though, enjoyable and heartwarming

@woody5476

3 ай бұрын

Thanks. I thought I remembered a video on this.

@GingerTheMusical

3 ай бұрын

I was gonna say this feels familiar haha ❤

@ErwinPommel

3 ай бұрын

That explains the oppressive sense of deja vu.

A gateway drug to cooking mithril

@aquaticpears3183

3 ай бұрын

The Arkenstone is pure glass bro

@orange-qj3yd

3 ай бұрын

Mith heads

@hmd3068

3 ай бұрын

Methril

@Psychol-Snooper

3 ай бұрын

Just you stick to Farmer Maggot's mushrooms!

@Yamaazaka

3 ай бұрын

Yall funny asf 😂

Characterising Saruman as an uptight secret smoker is a hilarious read

@davewatchedthat

3 ай бұрын

The paranoia…it’ll getcha!!😂😂

@Unknown-jt1jo

3 ай бұрын

@@davewatchedthat The palantir was his lava lamp.

@loklan1

3 ай бұрын

Undisputed LOTR nightmare blunt rotation participant.

@JohnPeacekeeper

3 ай бұрын

I like that we also see that he has a whole barrel of the stuff

@davewatchedthat

3 ай бұрын

@@JohnPeacekeeper In the books, it’s a whole storeroom, haha. Barrel after barrel after barrel.

"No one can know I smoke if I just buy ALL of the pipeweed" Saruman the stoner.

@Firehorse40

2 ай бұрын

I did not want to be the one to increase the like count to 70. So funny. I knew at least one weed miser in my day...

@Helltown66

2 ай бұрын

Smoke pipe weed everyday!

@TQFMTradingStrategies

Ай бұрын

We’ve all tried to do it.

This explains a lot especially Gandalf "visiting" The Shire regularly with his cart and donkey.

@user-ii1iy8fz1d

3 ай бұрын

Classic ❤😂

@Reldonator

2 ай бұрын

Smoke and alcohol predate the written word

@tomcollins5112

2 ай бұрын

Dude was buying cartloads of the stuff

@evilforestspirit

2 ай бұрын

gandalf the green

@chrisfrantzis4351

2 ай бұрын

Yeah yeah yeah he loves the hobbits

Sheeesh now I know why Gandalf was a servant of the secret fire 🔥 😎

@kellyjorgenson5840

3 ай бұрын

10 bucks says Gandalf is a big Bob Marley fan.

@ContactsNfilters

3 ай бұрын

​@@kellyjorgenson5840the three little birds sang at his doorstep too! 🐦🎶 🐦🎶 🐦

@susandunlap7754

3 ай бұрын

He's smoking that fire 🔥 bud

@Seraphus87

3 ай бұрын

@@kellyjorgenson5840 Ganjalf

@samuelpierce639

3 ай бұрын

*swish* Nothing but net. I have a new internet hero.

A commenter is never late. Nor is he early. He comments precisely when he means to

@goldilocks913

3 ай бұрын

Nice

@marquesburman1380

3 ай бұрын

Well done

@ramonmff5158

3 ай бұрын

This is the best comment I've ever read. Period.

@growitheflow

3 ай бұрын

This guys high 😂

@mohsenbayati3627

3 ай бұрын

About that I cannot possibly comment

I love how this channel treats Tolkien's work. Tolkien's original intention is always displayed, but there's no harsh criticism of people who have alternate interpretations, or of how the movies changed things. It doesn't feel as elitist or zealous as some people who talk about LOTR. It's just a very informative and friendly community around here, which feels like the vibe Tolkien would've wanted from his fans.

@etienneporras7252

3 ай бұрын

I think that's honestly what Tolkien would have appreciated about this community. No matter what his opinions of the adaptations themselves were, I feel he would have taken great joy in seeing people interpreting and especially re-interpreting his work countless times as ages past.

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

@@etienneporras7252 The evidence implies that this is very untrue and you are extremely mistaken. 1) "343 From a letter to Sterling Lanier 21 November 1972 I am glad to know that you were awarded a prize, but not surprised that it proved useless. I had a similar disappointment when a drinking goblet arrived (from a fan) which proved to be of steel engraved with the terrible words seen on the Ring. I of course have never drunk from it, but use it for tobacco ash." If the re-interpretation runs contrary to his intended meaning, then he would literally ash all over it. 2) Letter 292 has the explanatory note "Tolkien had been sent details of a proposed 'sequel' to The Lord of the Rings that a 'fan' was going to write himself". And says: "I do not know what the legal position is, I suppose that since one cannot claim property in inventing proper names, that there is no legal obstacle to this young ass publishing his sequel, if he could find any publisher, either respectable or disreputable, who would accept such tripe. I have merely informed him that I have forwarded his letter and samples to you. I think that a suitable letter from Allen & Unwin might be more effective than one from me. I once had a similar proposal, couched in the most obsequious terms, from a young woman, and when I replied in the negative, I received a most vituperative letter." 3) From letter 297: "But I remain puzzled, and indeed sometimes irritated, by many of the guesses at the 'sources' of the nomenclature, and theories or fancies concerning hidden meanings. These seem to me no more than private amusements, and as such I have no right or power to object to them, though they are, I think, valueless for the elucidation or interpretation of my fiction. If published,111 I do object to them, when (as they usually do) they appear to be unauthentic embroideries on my work, throwing light only on the state of mind of their contrivers, not on me or on my actual intention and procedure." I think you making this claim after yourself saying "No matter what his opinions of the adaptations themselves were", after the clarifications he himself made in THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR LETTERS is a terrible mistake and opens the way to people destroying his work. Let me not even make the obvious reference. How about: as somebody who has read books by Isaac Asimov, the AppleTV+ series "Foundation" is a horrifying, miserable betrayal of every single aspect of the Asimov books. An entire generation will grow up thinking that Asimov's writing was utter superstition-loving badly-written trash.

@squidikka

3 ай бұрын

@@troffle wat

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

@@squidikka What?

@duck_entertainment

3 ай бұрын

@@troffleTranslate this to something someone without a degree in 20th level English can understand

Gandalfs secret to remaining so calm through such incredible events was bhutanese shadow garden grown dark evil pack

@MsAlliwannadoisdance

3 ай бұрын

Legolas: "A Balrog of Morgoth! We are doomed!" Gandalf: *hits bong* "Chill, bruh... I got this..."

@Unknown-jt1jo

3 ай бұрын

@@MsAlliwannadoisdance "Fly, my dudes. Fly."

@christopherstein2024

3 ай бұрын

This shit is straight outa Mordor. This shit is what shot Boromir. RIP my ni66a fr dawg.

@Pablo9svn8

2 ай бұрын

Joe Biden approves this message

@crow4936

Ай бұрын

Run you fools don't let it take my stash 😂😂😂

“The best homegrown still comes from that district” 👌

@s1ckboirari

Ай бұрын

fr I'm smokin that straight Longbottom 🍃🍃🌬

@robertgreen9980

28 күн бұрын

Humboldt County?

@ernstthalmann4306

15 күн бұрын

Damn that southern shire fire

Some of that sticky Samwise Ganja

@infinidominion

3 ай бұрын

SanSamwisa: Seedless

@caseyschryber1255

3 ай бұрын

Mr indicill

@Pneubeteube

3 ай бұрын

He's got the last light of the 2 trees if you know what I'm saying

@nikkiward1715

3 ай бұрын

Exactly 😂

@lonewolf9390

3 ай бұрын

"Got no bugs, no stems or seeds, Samwise Ganja is good pipeweed!" 😮💨

My grandfather was a pipe smoker, so I've always known intrinsically what pipe weed was, particularly in that my first ever sight of Tolkien was the black and white photo of him smoking a pipe on the back cover of the edition I owned. My grandfather had a whole circular rack of pipes, owning more than a dozen ranging from work pipes to ornate 'special occasion' pipes. Likewise, at any given time, he'd have on hand between 3 and 5 different brands/flavors of pipe tobacco. And I specify 'pipe' tobacco because it's as completely different from cigar or cigarette tobacco as it's possible to be while remaining tobacco. Moisture level is different, drying process is different, even cut is different.

Regardless of what he called it, it was about the state of mind, not the biological or medicinal effect. Pipeweed or tobacco was about comfort, cosiness, fostering kinship, and taking the time to breathe deeply and slowly. It was about taking a moment away from the horrors.

@wizardvrse7338

3 ай бұрын

This is the best explanation I’ve ever read pertaining to it.

@matbroomfield

3 ай бұрын

@@wizardvrse7338 Thank you. x

@AndyMcGehee

3 ай бұрын

I completely agree. I never really picked up the habit of the pipe, but a priest friend of mine did, and it is a way for him to be as deliberate in his leisure as he is in his work. Smoking a pipe cannot be rushed, and there is a ritual to it. I can see the appeal even if I lack the patience for it, or perhaps because I lack the patience for it.

@matbroomfield

3 ай бұрын

@@AndyMcGehee What a lovely observation Andy!

@user-ii1iy8fz1d

3 ай бұрын

❤ as in many cultures.

I love how thoroughly you present topics that are "world important" rather than "plot important" (to use your words). It's such a nice diving into and relishing the atmosphere of a book.

"Nature's bounty is my only treasure" -Radagast the Dank

@miamicatfish6724

3 ай бұрын

Apparently, he enjoyed his shrooms, too. hahaha

The Hobbit rather casually introduced pipeweed as tobacco, without an explanation for it's origin, probably unworried that this American grown plant introduced to Anglo culture only a few generations ago wouldn't turn up in a traditional fairy tale. But the Lord of the Rings was much more serious literature, something Tolkien was self-conscious about, to the point of revising some parts of the Hobbit to conform more closely to his other work. Tobacco plants just randomly growing in what was supposed to be prehistoric England was too unrealistic, it undermined the idea that this was a mythology for England, so the origin of pipeweed needed a plausible sounding explanation that could be woven into the greater picture of Middle-Earth. That is probably the main motive for dedicating a whole essay to pipeweed in the prologue of The Lord of the Rings and the connection to Numenor, rather than this information being necessary to understand the role pipeweed plays in building up to the Scouring of the Shire, although the added context makes that element of the story that much richer and life-like.

@Loreweavver

3 ай бұрын

This is a very well thought out argument. It's also ridiculous and can be easily proven incorrect with the potato.

@TheDoctorofOdoIsland

3 ай бұрын

@@Loreweavver The potatoes have always bothered me too, they aren't supposed to be there.

@Loreweavver

3 ай бұрын

@@TheDoctorofOdoIsland yep. My whole life was a lie. Lol. Also, I meant the situation was ridiculous. Not you.

@Etlelele

3 ай бұрын

I'm pretty sure Tolkien removed references to tomatoes at some point, so he was at least aware of the problem.

@Nickname-hier-einfuegen

3 ай бұрын

It's a fictional mythology in an age were the continents had completely different shapes and all kinds of fantasy creatures lived. And you guys argue if it's realistic to have this or that plant? It's also not meant to be a mythology specifically for England. Arda is earth.

I'm glad we can still enjoy the occasional smoke, even in the seventh age.

I'm enjoying a little pipeweed right now!

@MatthewTheWanderer

3 ай бұрын

I wish I was

@rockoutmichigan

3 ай бұрын

Cheers! **raises pipe in the fashion of making a toast**

@MartFord

3 ай бұрын

Me too! Let's smoke one for King Aragorn.

@Svensk7119

3 ай бұрын

I gave up tobacco almost two years ago, and do not regret it. Still, I have an e-cigarette in my hand now.

@majornugzzz5424

3 ай бұрын

Likewise!!

Tolkien loved tobacco and so gave it a more spiritual use by the hobbits. It's not that it gets them high but it's like how lembas invigorates and refreshes you, pipeweed brought them joy and and filled them with a sense of home and wellbeing.

@grilledleeks6514

3 ай бұрын

Nah it isn't tobacco

@daveyjones6148

3 ай бұрын

I.e, weed and feeling pleasantly stoned

@ContactsNfilters

3 ай бұрын

Why not both? It's common to mix them in the UK and it could be in Middle Earth too.

@daveyjones6148

3 ай бұрын

@@ContactsNfilters good point!

@Captain_Insano_nomercy

3 ай бұрын

​@@grilledleeks6514it quite literally is though, he talks about the actual strain name and it's something like nicotiana or something. I wrote it down once because the name was beautiful

Old Toby never let me down 😂

@disguiseanimal5478

3 ай бұрын

No matter where you go, Old Toby knows how to get the best Herb

@christopherstein2024

3 ай бұрын

If the black riders mess with old toby we finna riot

@justinbayless3219

Ай бұрын

It was so fun to grow this in the online game. You blew out dragon shaped smoke.

shoulda waited 5 days to upload this one honestly, 4/20 would prolly done well for a topic like this.

@growitheflow

3 ай бұрын

A missed opportunity indeed

@majornugzzz5424

3 ай бұрын

Yeah Dropped the bong on this one

@martavdz4972

3 ай бұрын

Hitler´s birthday? As in, had Hitler just relaxed with a pipe by a fire, the world could have avoided a war...

@Aaron-zk6jn

3 ай бұрын

@@martavdz4972 "4/20 was the birthday of Austrian Born German Politician, and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party a fella went by the name of Adolf Hitler" ..... "I didn't even know he was sick"

@worldtraveler930

3 ай бұрын

I am glad that someone else has pointed out that 4/20 is Adolf Hitler's Birthday!!!

That is why they are the race that can carry the ring.

@thomassmartphone7125

3 ай бұрын

Yeah when you are stoned you are friendly 😂

@ryansauchuk7290

3 ай бұрын

They have Tegridy

I love what you say about readers taking what is it meaningful to them out of the story, as opposed to a pedantic allegory. You've brought something meaningful to something as seemingly inconsequential as pipeweed, which, as you point out, is actually very important. Thank you, as always, for your insightful and brilliant analysis!

“'And a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors, into the bargain.'" -An Unexpected Party, The Hobbit "...a herb, which they called pipe-weed or leaf, a variety probably of Nicotiana..." - Concerning Pipe-Weed, The Fellowship of the Ring

@dandiehm8414

3 ай бұрын

"You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all! 'Thank goodness! ' said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the tobacco jar." - The last phrase of The Hobbit

@miamicatfish6724

3 ай бұрын

key word there is "probably"

@ExtraVictory

3 ай бұрын

People want it to be Weed so bad when its just not

@miamicatfish6724

3 ай бұрын

@@ExtraVictory What makes you think that? Just reading the words, the "probably" is what makes it uncertain, not some badly desired want of People.

@ExtraVictory

3 ай бұрын

@@miamicatfish6724 its not uncertain at all lmao. The hobbit is very clear that its tobacco, and is indeed a prequel to LOTR. Its not weed

There are two types of smokers, something Tolkien would have known. The first are those who just feed an addiction. They will smoke anything, usually the cheapest. The second is the person who sees smoking as a ritual. Who lovingly blends various types, to form something to aid in meditating upon great things.

@davidg4288

3 ай бұрын

Like most drugs, the form is important. Like comparing grain alcohol to beer. Tobacco cigarettes are the crack of the nicotine world, you smoke one, get a rush, want another. Cigars you shove a wad of tobacco in your mouth, don't inhale much, it hits slower and wears off slower. Pipes are a lot of trouble,you need to have a bunch of them and clean them often or you get a mouthful of tar. So I was too lazy to get into that and can't comment much. I suspect they are closer to cigars. Someone gave me some probably stale native American "ceremonial mix" which I did have to smoke in a pipe. It was quite mild. There's nothing psychoactive in it that I could tell but tobacco. I quit before vapes, don't want to start again so not gonna try it. Anyway be very careful with tobacco. Everyone I know that started as a young teenager was *never* able to quit.

The word 'tobacco' is directly used in The Hobbit, even though only indirectly referred to that in LotR in the Foreword.

@exantiuse497

3 ай бұрын

Perhaps Tolkien changed the name for the sequel because some people took offense to people smoking tobacco in a children's book. I know presenting drinking alcohol in positive light was deemed inappropriate at the time, it's possible tobacco was viewed similarly though I'm not sure I don't think he even thought of cannabis when writing it though. Cannabis was not commonly used in the UK when the book was written, nor did they call it "weed" ("locoweed" was a slang word for cannabis but not just "weed" afaik, that is newer)

@DMBlade4

3 ай бұрын

Concerning Pipeweed in LotR uses the word tobacco verbatim

@BrettWMcCoy

3 ай бұрын

@@DMBlade4 The term "tobacco" also appears in the Index, where it's cross-referenced to "pipe-weed"

@whynottalklikeapirat

3 ай бұрын

You mean the foreWEED, of course

@Fujifoo77

3 ай бұрын

In the films its implied that its weed

Gandalf: "gives patience to listen to error without anger" Ok where do I get this???

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

Your local smoke shop. The stuff is literally 100% tobacco. Tobacco nicotine is a relaxant. There is nothing more special or "weedy" to it.

@Eschatonin6666

3 ай бұрын

@@troffle I know, it's just, I feel like it's a requirement to be able to use Facebook without a post filter as it's been for the past few years

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

@@Eschatonin6666 AH. My apologies. Well, best of luck. That's why I got out of Facebook. ... heck, this very page is starting to convince me this site is just as bad.

Why I'm glued to this channel: Robert takes something seemingly obscure-though it's often a question I've asked myself, many times-and not only finds the answer, but reveals something I hadn't considered. In this case, it's something about Saruman. He is "the man of skill," the white hand that can make anything, but he's remarkable short on ideas and has to borrow other people's-whether it's Sauron's ringmaking or Gandalf's love of pipeweed. Gandalf later remarks that Saruman missed his calling as a jester-he could have earned his keep imitating his lord's councillors. For a wizard of such power, he comes off as a might-have-been.

it's actually really funny to me that people thought it might be anything other than just tobacco, always seemed pretty obvious to me the way it was written but still learned a lot else about it from this vid thanks!

@thomasderouin72

3 ай бұрын

Saruman tells Ghandalf "Your love of the halflings leaf has clearly slowed your mind"! That tells me it's pot because tobacco doesn't do that lol!!

@decepticonpecock

3 ай бұрын

The book makes it pretty clear it's either tobacco or something very close to it, but the movies don't have that exposited anywhere and the Peter Jackson movies have what are very clearly meant to be weed jokes so it's easy to see where the confusion comes from.

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

@@thomasderouin72 Not true. "Smoking and Cognition", PubMed article DOI 10.2174 by Campos, Srebrisky and Castaldelli-Maia: "Smoking reinforcement could be due to the initial cognitive improvement [...] However, heavy smoking is associated with cognitive impairment and cognitive decline in middle age."

That scene at Isengard with Pippin and Merry was actually one of several takes they did, each one being different, some playing it straight, some even more "smacked up" (to quote them) than the one they settled on. I think it was a good choice cinematically because it was a bit of light heartedness after period of seriousness in the movie, but not over done. They got the tone about right, even if it wasn't a strict adherence with the lore.

I went to a Ren Faire yesterday and had Longbottom Leaf for the first time! I can officially cross it off my Hobbit Bucket List.

This is such a wonderful channel. Everything about it is amazing. From the images chosen to accompany the speech, to the fact that it's a real and pleasant narration voice instead of a stupid AI voice. Easily the best LOTR channel I've seen.

I'd like to think that "a traveler" from 2:40 was one of the rangers. No one from the north has business in the south and no one of the south has business in the far north. Except that one family of rangers. Just like Aragorn visited Minas Tirith "once before, a long time ago", his (great) grandfather also visited the city. And on his his journey he found and brought with him this herb.

I'm now smoking tobacco and enjoying in this video. Never has it been this enjoyable to smoke!

The Hobbit ends with Bilbo Passing a jar of Pipeweed to Gandalf

@jonathanpidock3006

3 ай бұрын

A jar? That proves it’s marijuana. It has to be cured and a lot of people use those mason jars.

@austinwilkerson84

3 ай бұрын

@@jonathanpidock3006Pipe tobacco is commonly kept in jars, too, for the record.

@dandiehm8414

3 ай бұрын

"The Hobbit ends with Bilbo Passing a jar of Pipeweed to Gandalf" He does not. He hands him "the TOBACCO jar".

@Nickname-hier-einfuegen

3 ай бұрын

​@@jonathanpidock3006 Pipe tobacco also gets cured and many people enjoy aging their tobacco. Mansion jars are the most common for that and had been looooong before canabis became popular (or even known) in western countries.

@jonathanpidock3006

3 ай бұрын

@@Nickname-hier-einfuegen so actual mason jars have been around longer than western culture? It was a joke btw.

Hello Robert. I watched alot of your Videos and i just want you to know that you are doing a great thing and i am grateful. Keep it up and i wish you best for everything.

Wanna get arkenstoned?

@terrylewis7414

2 ай бұрын

Good one

@toeknee5464

2 ай бұрын

Depends what your tolkien

@reecejacobmusic

Ай бұрын

The beacons are lit bro!

@RS3isRealscape

Ай бұрын

@@toeknee5464 One Tolkien Over the Line Sweet Jesus

@thamuswitwill

Ай бұрын

I am the heart of the mountain

As someone who enjoys smoking a pipe of tobacco in the evening, i can let you know that it is indeed calming and relaxing. I have no idea why people think it HAS to be marijuana because it "relaxes you."

@brigidmadden5577

Ай бұрын

Probably because it’s called Pipeweed. Tolkien kinda walked into that comparison like Sideshow Bob did with those rakes

@LangstonDev

Ай бұрын

I think smoking weed might be more mainstream than tobacco now, weirdly enough - or at least it's more socially acceptable - so a lot of people don't seem to understand the psychological benefits of nicotine.

@brigidmadden5577

18 күн бұрын

@@LangstonDev also tobacco companies kinda burned (pun not intended) any public good will with all the crap they suppressed like cancer risks and even the effects it would have on pregnancies. Not helping matters were the attempts to appeal to kids with crap like Joe Camel.

Another lovely analysis. I am especially struck by how you approach what might be a whimsical topic and point us towards how important some of these little things are. Thank you, Robert.

I always assumed it was just tobacco, but given a cutesie Middle-Earthy name.

A very smooth and flavorful analysis. Thank you! For what it's worth, when I run role playing games I like to have pipe-weed in it. I describe it as smooth smoking and pleasant tasting, with a very low yield intoxicating effect. It essentially does just slightly more than "taking the edge off". I hope Tolkien would find that amusing.

I'll have a little pipeweed tonight

@MrGreenThumbGrows

3 ай бұрын

Indeed!

@NoOneAtAll-bz3zb

3 ай бұрын

In 30 mins, I go on a quest to get some of the finest weed in the the south valley myself...Gandalf my old friend, this will be a night to remember 💨🌿

@thekillerprawn

3 ай бұрын

About to spark up my own rolled up pipeweed...

@tuulenkoti

3 ай бұрын

Cringe

@redstonebrain40

3 ай бұрын

@@tuulenkoti 😭 bruh are you lonely, let's smoke together bud!

Glad that you are remaking videos about a lot of these basic/common topics. The quality has definitely improved over the years

Hey this is fantastic. I always thought it wasn't clear what it was, but there you have it! I must add that past readings have led me to believe tobacco was once more psychoactive than it is now, probably the more potent effects were gradually lost creating profitable strains that produced big disease resistant plants. People kept smoking. A woman travelling in the 1970's Congo wrote that the local tobacco given to her deep in the bush; a white leaved tobacco was practically like smoking cannabis.

This feels like an answer to a recent debate on a LOTR fan page I follow on Facebook. It would be hilarious if it was. Great video. I really enjoy your "live and let live" take on it.

@DMBlade4

3 ай бұрын

If it's the group Fans of Middle-Earth I ended up leaving that group. There's way too much ignorant discourse from people who have never read a single word of Tolkien's. It was really cringe

It's easy to forget, in the shadow of our own culture's fascination with marijuana, how important tobacco was to the world economy 500 years ago. Tobacco was even thought to have medicinal properties, especially for those with respiratory illnesses. So, in an age when tuberculosis and pneumonia were widespread, it's easy to see why tobacco would be popular as a medicine. We can still see this today -- certain subsectors of our American society still view menthol-flavoured tobacco as "healthful" and "curative," especially for respiratory illnesses. The world trade in tobacco was almost as important as the world trade in sugar. Tobacco grows best in the warm, humid climates of the Deep South in the US, and in the Caribbean, as does sugar cane. And because it is so labor intensive, it could only be profitable if slave labor was employed for its production -- just like sugar. While public health entities have done a bang up job of educating the American public as to the harms of tobacco, the rest of the world has not been so easily convinced. In other cultures around the world, tobacco is seen as simply a harmless pleasure. In fact, in countries where alcohol is forbidden by religious taboo, smoking is quite common. In Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia, smoking tobacco is simply seen as a pleasant and harmless indulgence. It does not hold the Puritan stigma of "vice" as it does in the United States. So, given the time and place in which Tolkien was writing, I suspect he did intend "pipe weed" to be based on tobacco, rather than marijuana, which did not become popular in world culture until much later. Another clue to the effect time has had on the LOTR: When Tolkien created the character of Gollum, he had Gollum eating raw fish as an indicator of how loathesome a character he was. When Peter Jackson's films were finally screened in California, the whole theater laughed -- sushi was by that time such an integral part of California culture that the reference was funny, not revolting. In the same way, the public/international perception of tobacco in the early 1930's in England is not the same as its perception today.

@danem.9402

Ай бұрын

Interesting context thanks for sharing

I just have to say I've been watching your videos for a while now and i absolutely adore them. Keep this shit up. You put it a lot of work in for these and I want you to know that it does not go unnoticed. Thank you for all you do. :)

To be fair, as a smoker of both cannabis and pipe-tobacco, I can honestly say the unlike cigarettes, there is a significantly more noticeable relaxation effect from a pipe. I'm no chemist, or pharmacologist, but it seems simply to me that the person ingesting gets a much larger dose of nicotine in a much shorter time when smoking a pipe, and thus feels greater effect. And, to a non-smoker or someone who hasn't had any in quite some time, a packed pipe of strong tobacco may honestly disorient a person as much as something like cannabis. The cultivation of tobacco, processing of it, and conversion into cigarettes was very much intended (from a capitalistic point of view) to make it palatable and regular to the everyday person. If one were to cultivate a particularly strong strain, like Old Toby, it is totally reasonable to expect strong and lasting effects. I would also note that while there is a habit-forming sense of addiction involved in the cannabis culture and the plant itself, nicotine is a remarkably addictive thing in the realm of drugs. I think you are right in saying that it doesn't really matter. Tolkien meant what he meant, but we as readers are allowed to take what we'd like from these stories. I, myself, always saw it as tobacco. It is an historic trope to have wise-men and sages smoking a pipe. It fit perfect for Gandalf... and gives a nod to the simple wisdom of the Shire-folk in that they tend to just mind their own business and live life to its fullest. Hobbit-life really sounds pretty appealing.

In Deep Geek answering more hard hitting questions! All jokes aside, this is awesome stuff

It is one of the great tragedies of our time that the noble and gentle art of pipe smoking has become an endangered pastime, unjustly lumped in with cigarette smoking as something to be avoided, shunned, and despised. The fact remains that the great artisanal pipeweedages like those of G.L. Pease, truly natural, and never adulterated with chemical additives, provide benefits that will never be realized let alone appreciated by those who cannot comprehend them. Yet, those who know, know.

Well done… I’ve been following and listening to your stories and interpretations for years. And not too sound critical of your past work, this post, discussion or description is at the top of your work so far… Again, well done… Carry on.

I'mma just say, thank you for being so passionate about your video subjects. There's far too many folks nowadays trying to insert their own opinions and fan fiction in as canon. I love that you research the words of the author instead. Please keep doing this for as long as it makes you happy.

Knowing who Tolkien was, the irony of hippies just assuming "it's weed, maaaan" is palpable.

I wonder what the lung cancer rates were in The Shire.

Fun fact, there's a cherry and vanilla aromatic blend of Cavendish tobacco called hobitsweed and it is the most delicious pipe tobacco I've ever tasted. No longer manyfactured from the original maker, a company called 4noggins makes a supposed match of the flavor profile. Sooo good

Don't forget that in Tolkien's lifetime, they didn't make tobacco into cigarettes and smoke them all day. Cigarettes were there, of course, but you usually smoked one or two after a meal then left them in the case for the rest of the day. The same for pipes and cigars. There were people who did smoke constantly, but they were usually considered rather coarse and vulgar.

Well, the word weed originally doesn't mean specifically cannabis, but just any wild plant in general. I would've thought it was obvious what pipweed is: a wild plant smoked in a pipe, no vague "it is what you want it to be" meaning necessary, the prologue just being there to clarify the importance of it in the story.

@mattdeinken6580

23 күн бұрын

I believe it's a plant that has tobacco and cannabis effects in one plant,but only found in Tolkien reality

Wasn't this already uploaded once....?

@just_limerence

3 ай бұрын

And a lot of these comments were the exact same too… i thought i was going crazy

@cavejohnson5916

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, this is very weird

@gummybread

3 ай бұрын

In Deep Geeks mentioned in some other uploads that sometimes old videos get revised or updated in some way, and the changed one is a new upload. Might not be much different from the old one, but there was likely a change that happened, and this is the "new" replacement

@just_limerence

3 ай бұрын

@@gummybread I would assume the marijuana references might have hindered monetization and so were cut and the video was slightly reworked, or maybe that’s not the case at all and I’m delusional! Either way, I won’t ever turn my nose up at an IDG episode, even if I’ve already seen it

@grilledleeks6514

3 ай бұрын

​@cavejohnson5916 not that weird spaz. Relax

There is much in hobbit lifestyles that capture what Tolkien thought of as an ideal. The bucolic scenery of the shire, the farming and living off the land, the joy in simple pleasures like food and drink (but not strong intoxicants). So its no stretch to see how Tolkien would have had the hobbits smoking pipes, as he loved it so.

This channel and it's deep diving in to lore and such just give me life

Started watching this at 4:20PM

@martavdz4972

3 ай бұрын

Ehm... which time zone? 4:20 can be anything...

@worldtraveler930

3 ай бұрын

Remember that 4/20 is Adolf Hitler's Birthday!!!

@GrosvnerMcaffrey

3 ай бұрын

It's actually tobacco so you can smoke it anytime just not in public

@Nickname-hier-einfuegen

3 ай бұрын

​@@GrosvnerMcaffrey Which dystopian country prohibits you from enyoing a pipe in public?

@michaeljebbett160

3 ай бұрын

@@GrosvnerMcaffrey I know, I just thought it was too much of a funny coincidence not to mention

Another gem, thanks!! :D

Gondorian florists must have come to Bree and imported them, and when its first smoker arrived, he probably saw promise in it, and bought them. How lovely!

An immediate reaction to the headrush of a particularly potent tobacco can definitely make someone feel like 9:01 for a moment

"Smoked various herbs" 😂😂😂

I imagine Gandalf and Bilbo in the undying lands begging Yavanna for a fix😂

@katherinegraham3803

3 ай бұрын

Imagine Yavanna singing pipeweed into creation during the Music of the Ainur. Eru Iluvatar: 🎶All of Creation! And The Children: Elves and Men. 🎶 Melkor: 🎶D̴̗͑͝i̷̖͍͊͊s̸̜̔͠c̶͕̏ò̶ͅṟ̸͉̓̿d̷͓̝̍̈́ ̷͚̈́̽ 🎶 Yavanna: 🎶Weeeeeeeeeeeed! 🎶

Its been almost 3 decades since i first heard of Tolkiens Hobbit and LotR, and through all these years of delving into his world, my favorite part of the culture/lore side of it was finding In Deep Geek. Thank you Robert, for your donations and stories which only makes me love Tolkien amd tge world he had created gor us.

I imagine that the Rabbit room had influence on the importance of pipe weed to the story.

…and yet, here we are, with more than half of the comments still 100% believing he intended pipe weed to be marijuana, despite that not even being something that was popular in England at the time he wrote these stories, and despite him being an avid pipe tobacco smoker himself. while i think it’s fine for people to take away messages from stories that might not have been intended by the author, it’s pretty annoying when people purposely disregard all the evidence for something in favor of their own personal head canons. it’s not pot guys, it’s just tobacco. maybe actually watch the video first before commenting and telling others that “it’s tooootally not tobacco man!”. sheesh…. the one track mind of a stoner is incredibly eye rolling from the outside. a pity they themselves can’t see it.

Longbottom Leaf and In Deep Geek pair so well together!

@kekero540

3 ай бұрын

I’m dying.

Regardless of what Tolkien intended, Peter Jackson clearly interpreted it as something that gets you stoned. There are several moments in the films where it's described as slowing your mind or literally makes you go cross eyed. I'll never forget the deleted scene when the hobbits literally hotbox sarumans storehouse and they are laughing hysterically. Merry and Pippin being the biggest smokers are also constantly talking about food lol. The way I see it, it's tobacco in the books and a drug in the movies.

Awesome channel and an amazing narrator, thank you!

In fact, take a shot whenever you see a picture of Tolkien himself, with a pipe.

@jellyfishjones4741

3 ай бұрын

Better yet, take a pint.

I think we know why Gandalf reeeaaallly wanted to protect the Hobbits so bad

@Kay13Jay

3 ай бұрын

😂

Melkor's lettuce? I say nay nay.

A thing to remember about tobacco historically, is that today tobacco is dominated by Virginia and Turkish style, which basically means the tobacco is toasted in the drying. This kills psychoactive effects and enhances stimulate effects. This is what commercial forces have found to sell best, but in WWI and before, especially outside the US, other types existed. With very psychoactive effects. Tobacco culture was very different and prevalent. For example, even into WWI many regular soldiers were instructed by their officers ti constantly pass around the officers pipe and smoke. This was because, filling in a pipe was considered a masculine achievement so people tried to speed run it. But especially pipe tobacco at that time was cured differently and was probably in come cases akin to psychoactive mushrooms. So, a bit harder to chain smoke. We forget that tobacco has a history of its own, and has been different things in different places.

In the way the shire & hobbits are Tolkien's idealizations of by gone eras of country living, I see hobbit's pipeweed as an idealization of tobacco. It offers a relaxing kind of stimulation akin to tobacco, but without the negative affects/addiction. So pipeweed is like weed that gives the effects/stimulant of tobacco. Or tobacco that isn't toxic, breath & teeth staining, or addictive.

Weed that you smoke with a pipe.

Aragorn CLEARLY brought the weed from the Elves. Bro is smokin it at the prancinpl pony when we meet em lol

There are many others, but In Deep Geek is the best

It's tobacco. Look at the time this was written in. And nowhere does it say that it makes anybody act high. And the idea that it was sweet smelling would lead it to believe it's tobacco which does smell sweet out in the field. I've never heard anyone say marijuana smells sweet in the field. Next people will be saying that the droughts that Treebeard gave Merry and Pippin was really LSD.

@mrs.c1755

3 ай бұрын

Plus, Tolkien was Catholic, and born when he was. Yep, definitely tobacco. Even in the US, until 1934, cannabis was only used in oil form for headaches and such. It was medicine, and no one would have smoked the leaves (which, I agree, do NOT smell lovely and sweet lol). I’m not sure about the UK’s laws, but that was the sitch in the US.

@davideberhardt6150

3 ай бұрын

@@mrs.c1755 Nobody smokes marijuana leaves to this day, so there's your clue that it is, in fact, tobacco: it's the leaves they smoke, not the flower. However, my grandfather, a humble farmer, grew hemp. Mainly for the fiber, it's a very versatile plant. He said they would occasionally smoke "some of it" because it made the hard labor days in the field go by easier. It was called "Knaster".

@user-lo4me9oe9z

8 күн бұрын

thanks for the world building tolkien, but we will take the lore from here. 🌲🌲🌲

Since Professor Tolkien has been an avid pipe smoker it's nothing but plain old tobacco, period. Being an connoisseur of tobacco, especially cigarillos, myself, I understand very well why he saw it worth to be added to his work.

@eldersun9877

2 ай бұрын

Yes and they call it weed ? ..... yeah ok

This video is just fantastic I think you nailed it in recognizing hobbits enjoying the wholesome little pleasures in life and seeking no trouble.

I enjoy hearing you talk about Tolkiens books as much as I enjoyed reading the ones I have. You're voice is magical and soothing. PS: If you havent already you really should do a naration on the books! Please!!!

I mean, "Sweet Galenas" is pretty thoroughly established as a *species* of tobacco but not strictly the same as we have in this more prosaic state of imagination. Less addictive, less harmful to your health, more calming... there's nothing to say that it DOESN'T have a mild euphoric effect as well. I find it entirely plausible that Pipeweed is the conceptual midpoint between "real" tobacco and "real" weed.

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

... tobacco nicotine DOES have a euphoric effect with absolutely no cannabinoids.

@LangstonDev

2 ай бұрын

Tobacco - mainly nicotine - has psychological impacts. For many, including myself, it's calming and focusing. There's a reason why so many are addicted to it, including Tolkien himself. It's funny all the people arguing it's THC because it has a psychological effect. You must've never smoked tobacco...

@troffle

2 ай бұрын

@@LangstonDev oh thank you, thank you so dearly for the fact-based input.

Patience, and the capacity to consider disagreement without anger. That alone is proof of what Pipeweed truly is.

Masterfully made and beautifully done voice over work. Very excited to be subscribed and to learn more :)

I love this, thank you. I especially like how generous you are about different fun interpretations, while also being rigorous as always about what's in the text. The one thing I wish you'd covered is weird but cool anachronism that has a New World crop as an important feature of a story set in a fantasy version of medieval Europe. The same is true of potatoes. You should do a video about those anachronisms - they're one of my favorite subtle narrative tricks Tolkien used. The way the Shire seems to be very much like agrarian England circa the 18th or 19th century, but as the characters travel southeast they seem to travel further back in time to the medieval period.

Tolkien was avid pipe smoker, so it's pretty obvious that pipeweed was inspired by tobacco. Not much to talk about, really.

"It gives patience to listen to error without anger." This description fits another herb so well. Sometimes you really do need a good drink or a good smoke before you can tolerate a certain degree of, as Gandalf would put it, 'foolishness'.

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

No, tobacco nicotine does it too. It's a relaxant. It absolutely does not have to be weed.

@Stathio

3 ай бұрын

Considering the immediate reply here, it seems like some of that herb is in order right now.

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

@@Stathio Let me put it another way: you're not here for Tolkien, you're here for your own misguided uneducated dishonest sense of "community". You can get that anywhere else you like. If you're not here for the Tolkien, then what's the point of you being in the community? And you think you're going to shame me out? NAUSEATE me out, perhaps. Disgust me out with obscene dishonesty. But if you can't put in the base work to understand the material, what right have you got to be somewhere that's about Tolkien?

@iainballas

2 ай бұрын

@@troffle Ah yes, I forget. Because Lord of the Rings is only for true tolkein worshipers.

@troffle

2 ай бұрын

@@iainballas No not at all. Lord Of The Rings is for everybody. But if you're going to say it's cannabis instead of tobacco, then you're being disrespectful and going against the guy who created this thing you claim to love.

“You smoke too much, pip” Aaaaamen 🙌🏽

Excellent job! I have never concerned myself with the subject myself, but I just assumed Tolkien was playing fast and loose with the facts as every fantasy author should (along with potatoes). The fact is he was a man that loved his pipe, and what else should you take into your fantasy world but the things you love?

I think the term pipe-weed in universe started as a catch-all term for the various herbs smoked, and then became generally known as the term for tobacco because of it's popularity. It would be one of those really nerdy etymological things that make linguist like The Big T happy happy and allows for the term to be applied more generally for those with differing ideas about what exactly was in the pipe.

Ngl I'm a little disappointed this wasn't released on 4/20, but this is a question I've had for ages XD

"You smoke too much, Pippin" I think about this screen a lot, especially when I'm vaping with my Airizer Solo 2

Good vid, and good take on alternate interpretations of pipeweed. Love the attitude, so you get a sub for that alone.

Having just rewatched the trilogy, I find it hard to believe anyone can, in good faith, interpret pipeweed as marijuana. Not a single character ever seems "high" after smoking it. There are never any changes in speech or mannerisms. It just looks like a moment of relaxation, an even milder effect than the modern cigarette. Mary & Pippin are in good spirits when they find it because... they're just really happy. They just found barrels of pipeweed & good food, AND they just won a battle after having been POWs to orcs for some time. I was looking for examples that would make pipeweed weed, but in the original trilogy there aren't any.

@TiagoH1710

3 ай бұрын

Well, they ARE drunk, so there’s also that

@troffle

3 ай бұрын

Can I throw in one more reason, even based on the movies and not the books, for believing it's just tobacco? Can you imagine people whose LIVES depended on their fighting skills and staying clear-headed getting stoned? Can you imagine Boromir and Aragorn getting high? Reading the comments from people here arguing so hard for it being marijuana has helped me lose a lot of faith in humanity.

@pronounshismajesty3542

Ай бұрын

@@troffleDUUUUUDE WEED LMAOOOO

@cruz92895

25 күн бұрын

​@@troffleI can imagine soldiers using marijuana considering how many soldiers were using marijuana during the Vietnam War.

@troffle

24 күн бұрын

@@cruz92895 You can imagine that, but it doesn't work. It's not just a VERY DIFFERENT kind of conflict, it's a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORLD. That's the problem with all the Hollywood writers now - they're falsely imagining these fictional worlds as being their own stupid little backyard of American urbanity. The Vietnam was is the one that created the name "post-traumatic stress disorder". Vietnam had civilian guerrila action, heavily corrupt governments and American civilians protesting the atrocities. In Tolkien's world, a company of soldiers breaking their oath is such a transgression against the laws of nature and supernature, they become A COMPANY OF VENGEFUL GHOSTS held until released by the Rightful King. That's how important honour and honesty were. You didn't have IEDs or villagers friendly half a day earlier committing murder in the night. People were getting stoned out of their skulls at Woodstock while Vietnam was happening. What local lord in the outskirts of Rohan or Minas Tirith is going to have SUBSISTENCE-LEVEL FARMERS getting stoned instead of working on crops? The SHIRE was genteel and urbane and you saw how well Frodo and Sam got through their trials and COULD NOT HAVE DONE SO if they were stoned, they had Galadriel's blessing. Merry and Pippin didn't go through the same degree of horror, yet they too were changed. But they had Ent-draughts to make them STRONGER, not to get them stoned. I get you can imagine that, but look at the situations and reconsider. Anybody convinced it was weed, like the evident decerebrate above, is too small-minded and intellectually incapable to understand a different kind of world.

He uploads videos on existing topics when he has updated info & opinions. I'm not mad about it.

To be fair, one has to mention as well, that regular(not that mass produced commercial tobacco) does have a mild psychoactive effect. I have smoked many times with elders from native tribes in canada, and they smoke naturally grown tabacco, and i have to say, it was like a very mild sativa high. I have also heard, if you don't smoke pipe tobacco regularly, and, even though you are not supposed to, do inhale said tobacco, it has the same effects.

I was actually looking for an IDG video about this exact topic the other day 😂. Seems I was just a day early then.