Cannabis had at least some level of presence in Europe for centuries. Robert Hooke, a contemporary of and fierce rival to Isaac Newton experimented with it in 1689. Still though, I have no idea to what extent. You may well be right that Tolkien never heard of it.
It explicitly and unambiguously was tobacco, but it’s still funny to think it was weed. Peter Jackson certainly liked to imply it was.
Where’s this coming from?
The books, Tolkien’s letters, and a section of the appendices at the end of RoTK all explicitly say it’s tobacco.
Tolkien was a big smoker. You rarely see pics of him without a pipe in his mouth.
Cannabis had at least some level of presence in Europe for centuries. Robert Hooke, a contemporary of and fierce rival to Isaac Newton experimented with it in 1689. Still though, I have no idea to what extent. You may well be right that Tolkien never heard of it.
I think there’s an interview with Billy Boyd where he talks about filming this scene in a few different ways, as if they were happy, drunk, or stoned.