LogFAQs > #890649415

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Modern audiences always assume or project that pipeweed is supposed to be marijuana, but it seems kind of obvious in context that it was actually supposed to be tobacco (and is actually referred to as such a couple times in the books). The personality of hobbits is generally based on old backwoods English farmer types (more specifically, the "up North" or Yorkshire type stereotypes), who would probably enjoy a pint or three and a nice pipe.

Tolkien was basically presenting the hobbits as his sort of idealized perfect culture, but he almost certainly would have hated hippies, so he never would have seen them that way (and probably would have been annoyed by people who do).

Pretty much all this. They have an idyllic agrarian lifestyle, although it's a wonder that they manage to exist undisturbed given that Middle-Earth has things like bandits and Hobbits aren't exactly able fighters, etc.
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