Do Hobbits get Lung Cancer?

[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?

[Eönwë]

THey wouldn't get lung cancer. I don't thing Old Toby was like Tabacco. Also sometimes they smokes athelas (or Kingsfoil) which was a healing herb. And Gandalf does cough a bit from smoking in Minas Tirith in the extended edition of the return of the king. Also Gandalf smokes and Saruman copies him, so it must be a good sign, no?

*smirks to self as I notice that in the fellowship of the ring movie, saruman goes "Your love of the Halflings leaf has clearly slowed your mind"*

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"Old Toby, the finest weed in the South Farthing" Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Eönwë

THey wouldn't get lung cancer. I don't thing Old Toby was like Tabacco. Also sometimes they smokes athelas (or Kingsfoil) which was a healing herb. And Gandalf does cough a bit from smoking in Minas Tirith in the extended edition of the return of the king. Also Gandalf smokes and Saruman copies him, so it must be a good sign, no?

*smirks to self as I notice that in the fellowship of the ring movie, saruman goes "Your love of the Halflings leaf has clearly slowed your mind"*

________________________________

"Old Toby, the finest weed in the South Farthing" Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

There's actually a bit of subtext in that line. Somewhere (I think it is in the Unfinished tales,) there is mention of the fact that during one of the Councils in which both Gandalf and Saruman played a part, Gandalf took out his pipe and smoked. Saruman was irritated by this, and criticized Gandalf for playing with "toys of fire and smoke" at such a weighty affair. I think that this is why Saruman insults the pipeweed and also why he conceals the fact that he himself smokes (As I recall even when he is treating Gandalf cordially he never smokes in Gandalf's presence or offers him pipeweed, as Frodo does automatically.) To do otherwise would be to admit Gandalf was right and he was wrong and Saruman's pride would never allow that!

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

You know, in the EE of FotR Merry and Pippin sounded quite drunk singing there bar song and also later as well in the movies. But I'd say that they probably wouldn't after all you peoples have said, because well lets take Bilbo for example he lived to be 131 in Middle-earth (not counting the years he probably lived in Valinor) and he smoked for a long time, there didn't seem like a very big effect on him, but of course the ring might have done something too!

[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.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Eonwe, pipeweed was specifically a plant of the genus Nicotiana: tobacco.

Bethberry: that isn't necessarily true. The Cherokee for example smoked small personal pipes regularly, quite apart from the ceremonial 'great pipes.'

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

Eonwe, pipeweed was specifically a plant of the genus Nicotiana: tobacco.

What I mean is that when they DID smoke things like Kingsfoil (athelas) then maybe it countered the effects. After all, Aragorn does say in the book that it has many uses, and it IS powerful enough to heal you from trying to attack (and killing) the witch-king.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

The hobbits had no idea that athelas was any more than a weed.