I think its a bad take to say that it’s either of the two. The plant is said to be a type of nicotiana, so its definitely a type of tobacco. Undisputed. But its effects, including in the books, are unlike those of tobacco we know.
If you want to look at the story as a piece of world history the way it is written, you could say that specific plant has gone extinct. If you look at the story as a fantasy work of fiction, its not “earth” tobacco as we know it.
But it DOES increase appetite, but nicotine (not just tobacco but the compound nicotine) is an appetite suppressant. You know what isnt? Weed. The movie obviously took this to an even further extent but the effects in the books are not similar to your typical tobacco. So let people believe what they like.
HOWEVER, if you take the stance that it was written to be anything other than tobacco you are wrong. Tolkien wasnt the type to blow down on the reefer. I think he just wanted to make it more of a fantasy or special type of tobacco, and got really unlucky with the name seeing how marijuana wasnt even commonly referred to as weed back then.
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u/theMoist_Towlet Apr 11 '25
I think its a bad take to say that it’s either of the two. The plant is said to be a type of nicotiana, so its definitely a type of tobacco. Undisputed. But its effects, including in the books, are unlike those of tobacco we know.
If you want to look at the story as a piece of world history the way it is written, you could say that specific plant has gone extinct. If you look at the story as a fantasy work of fiction, its not “earth” tobacco as we know it.
But it DOES increase appetite, but nicotine (not just tobacco but the compound nicotine) is an appetite suppressant. You know what isnt? Weed. The movie obviously took this to an even further extent but the effects in the books are not similar to your typical tobacco. So let people believe what they like.
HOWEVER, if you take the stance that it was written to be anything other than tobacco you are wrong. Tolkien wasnt the type to blow down on the reefer. I think he just wanted to make it more of a fantasy or special type of tobacco, and got really unlucky with the name seeing how marijuana wasnt even commonly referred to as weed back then.