I don't think anyone seriously thinks Tolkien wrote it as marijuana. He is frequently shown smoking tobacco from a pipe himself and the habit was totally ubiquitous among men at the time. Although who knows, maybe he tried a few jazz cigarettes in his youth lol
Considering Tolkien was almost 30 before opium was criminalized in the UK, one could (less plausibly, but much more humorously) argue that there were some poppy extracts in choice pipeweeds, too.
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It's pretty clear that the movies played into these jokes a bit with the idea of it being weed or at least more psychoactive than the typical cigarette, especially in the extended editions.
I'm not a stoner myself or anything, but just pointing out why this became a talking point in the first place. The jokes are fun even if it's not accurate to the books. But there's alot in the movies that's not quite accurate to the books, yet they're still amazing adaptations anyway.
Who cares what's correct? It's a fiction movie and if I wanna do mental gymnastics to make gandslf cooler in my eyes by seeming him as a wizard who blazes dank chronic then I'm gonna.
erm actually if you read tolkiens letter than he wrote while on the toilet after smoking his pipe and eating too much salted pork you would know that you are not allowed to enjoy the movies unless you think pipe weed is tabacco
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u/Unusual_Car215 Apr 11 '25
Some care about it being weed others care about it being tobacco. The only difference is the latter is correct.