Pipe Weed, Good or Bad

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I fear that it may be, Bill: those naughty Hobbits will lead us all astray with their tobacco and their beer. I bet that they ate too much red meat and animal fat as well, the little scamps.

In my opinion, it's rather an endearing quality of the Shire that its inhabitants don't seem to worry about their health. I mean to say: would it really be such a nice place if the Hobbits were forever on diets or trying to give up smoking? Moreover, I'm given to wonder where this sort of question will lead us. Shall we discuss whether or not the coffee that Bilbo offered the Dwarves was decaffeinated? Should we spend hours considering the possibility that Fredegar Bolger might develop a heart condition? Will we ask whether it might have been better for Sam to make Frodo a nice bowl of muesli instead of stewed rabbit? I think it best that we apply our health concerns to our own lifestyles and let Hobbits be Hobbits. It is all make-believe after all.