Do Hobbits get Lung Cancer?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

True; but also the plague is said to have decreased in virulence as it spread northward. This is in fact what happens in most RW epidemics, like the Black Death: the most deadly mutations of the disease agent tend to kill quickly, thereby depriving themselves of hosts.



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It is also said that in the Shire in the annus mirabilis 1420 "no one was ill," which implies that in ordinary years some Hobbits were ill. Gaffer Gamgee suffered from arthritis. While the Shire is in many ways idyllic, it was no Lorien.

And Lotho does have pimples!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

True; but also the plague is said to have decreased in virulence as it spread northward. This is in fact what happens in most RW epidemics, like the Black Death: the most deadly mutations of the disease agent tend to kill quickly, thereby depriving themselves of hosts.

Definitely. But I believe both factors played their roles here. Hobbits are hobbits and Dúnedain are Dúnedain. That is, in my opinon, why neither of them were affected even though smoking (among other reasons named in this thread).

[Mithalwen]

I will cheerfully admit that I had forgotten about the great plague but I would point out that isolated healthy populations can be particularly vulnerable to a newv disease as has been shown in our own world when local populations have been destroyed by diseases unwittingly imported by colonists and conquerors, to whom the same disease was far less lethal because they had established some immunity

I do wonder that given their healthy appetites and supply of vittles the no one was ill refers more to the relatively minor indispositions that accompany over indulgence rather than serious illness. I would have to check this out but my memory (which we have already established is imperfect) cannot recall any specific hobbit being ill other than Frodo and nor any mention of any hobbit skilled in healing. Though didn't Bilbo give the gaffer some liniment for his arthritis - which was surely given his age and occupation osteo arthritis causes by "wear and tear". I would point out that by saying "not prone to illness generally " I didn't mean that I thought Hobbits had an elvish imperviousness to illness and age. There is a difference.

I doubt that the modern lifestyle police would approve of the hobbits calorie intake and attitude that it was unhealthy to be lean either .... nor of the consumption of more than a few glasses of old winyards a week for the sake of one's heart...

As for Tolkien himself - smoking can exacerbate stomach ulcers and he did (according to Carpenter) hope to match his longlived Suffield (?) relatives.

So pipe smoking is not a good idea either (so saith Auntie Mith). Oral cancer is not fun and pipe smokers also shorten their life expectancy by being irritating and tapping the wretched things out. I am sure strangulation is a major cause of death amongst them...

[Bêthberry]

Given that we are talking about the Third Age, would it be likely that Hobbits would recognize a respiratory illness as in fact "cancer"? Wouldn't they be more likely to have a very different vocabulary for diseases and discomforts?

Cancer became the word for the medical pathology circa 1600--interestingly, because wasn't tobacco introduced to Europe around that time, after the new world invasions? Before that, the word tended to denote the astrological sign and the word "canker" was used for bodily complaints.

I'm sure there's a great deal in medieval medical vocabulary that would be great fun to apply to Middle-earth, in particular relating to spitting, spewing, coughing, hacking, pustules, open sores, running sores, fevers and agues, to say nothing of the theory of humours.

Hmmmm. Hmmm. Do I hear the sounds of an RPG strumming in the back ground here? Yes, a story of why the elves tended not to pay much attention to the hobbits. Perhaps the elves could not stand the experience of watching bodily decline and disability? I wonder if they would be grossed out by the effects of the gift? Certainly death was a great shock to Arwen.

Either that or REB IV, the Last Homely Old Folks Home.

[Lindale]

I do believe that the lifestyle and the lack of pollution in the Shire has caused much to the advantage of the Hobbits' resilience when it comes to the ring and physical diseases.

If I may add so, I think that the simple and at some point "rustic" composition of the Shire has also shaped their morals, generally--Frodo and Sam and Bilbo, and also at some point Lobelia.

[Selmo]

Do we know how much Hobbits and Men smoked?

In LoTR and The Hobbit, our heros were travelling light for most of the time. They could not have carried large quantities of pipe-weed and so would have smoked very little to make their supplies last as long as posible. Is there any evidence that they smoked more heavily at home?

A pipe of tobacco on the bench outside the front door after breakfast and perhaps one more with a jug of ale in the evening would do much less damage than smoking forty cigarettes a day.
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[Gwathagor]

Hobbits ARE very tough in the fiber.

[Lindale]

Originally Posted by Selmo

Do we know how much Hobbits and Men smoked?

In LoTR and The Hobbit, our heros were travelling light for most of the time. They could not have carried large quantities of pipe-weed and so would have smoked very little to make their supplies last as long as posible. Is there any evidence that they smoked more heavily at home?

A pipe of tobacco on the bench outside the front door after breakfast and perhaps one more with a jug of ale in the evening would do much less damage than smoking forty cigarettes a day.
.

Well, Hobbits rarely travel, Frodo & Co. excluded, so generally I think you have a point there Selmo. Being at home, I believe, has much more "temptations" (sorry for lack of better word) to smoke and drink. I kinda remember Pippin and Merry so joyous upon finding the Toby leaves in Isengard.

I'm still Googling for any significant difference with respect to lung cancer if one uses cigies or tobaccos. Not that I've found anything yet.

Hey, just a thought. Liver cancer from beer or whatnot. Although... maybe just the same as lung cancer?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Selmo

Do we know how much Hobbits and Men smoked?

In LoTR and The Hobbit, our heros were travelling light for most of the time. They could not have carried large quantities of pipe-weed and so would have smoked very little to make their supplies last as long as posible. Is there any evidence that they smoked more heavily at home?

A pipe of tobacco on the bench outside the front door after breakfast and perhaps one more with a jug of ale in the evening would do much less damage than smoking forty cigarettes a day.
.

An interesting perspective. Tobacco amongst the First Nations peoples in North American was 'controlled' by highly developed and formalised social and ritual uses.

Perhaps the hobbits just didn't pop out for a quick ciggie during coffee break. If hobbits were least likely to fall under the domination of the Ring, perhaps this can be extended to all addictive substances, alcohol and pipeweed alike. And in not succumbing to the addictive effects of nicotine (which is a very highly addictive drug), they just didn't have the need to smoke 24/7.