Pipeweed: How Saruman Corrupted the Shire | Tolkien Deep Dive

Pipeweed's five-thousand-year journey from Númenor through Gondor to the Shire reveals fundamental truths about pleasure and corruption in Middle-earth. Originally valued by Gondorians only for fragrant flowers, the plant reached Bree where hobbits first smoked it. Around S.R. 1070, Tobold Hornblower transformed it into an agricultural masterpiece in the Southfarthing, creating legendary varieties like Longbottom Leaf and Old Toby. Hobbits elevated smoking into an art form representing their philosophy of simple earthly pleasures. Gandalf embraced this wisdom, but Saruman could only mock it while secretly imitating out of pride. His need for supplies led him to corrupt Shire families through commerce, using pipeweed money to gain power over the Bracegirdles and Sackville-Bagginses. When Merry and Pippin discovered barrels of Longbottom Leaf at Isengard dated S.R. 1417, it revealed Saruman's ongoing secret dealings and foreshadowed the Scouring of the Shire.