LOTR inspired beer mugs and tobacco

[killianred]

I remember some of my favorites were heavy in Latakia, but my wife said they smelled like a burning tire!

[shipwreck]

Sweet Fancy Moses, these are cool! Thanks for sharing.

[shipwreck]

Oh, to start a new thread or necromantizize the old one?

I have recently become more aware of and taken an interest in cob pipes, having previously been under some false presuppositions. One of (if not the) last companies in the U.S. to make these things is the legendary Missouri Meerschaum company and they released a line of 'Cobbits' this year; churchwarden-ish pipes inspired by Middle-earth.

http://corncobpipe.com/the-shire-cobbit.html

There is a Dwarf, a Wizard, and Elf, and of course 'the Shire'. They are attractive pipes -- and set me on a train of thought. Would/could the Shirelings have made corn cob pipes?

Sadly, I don't think so but I'd love to see some more scholarly folks weigh in. The reason I say no is not because it's impossible, but it's improbable; if the Hobbits are modeled after rural English folk of the west-midlands in the late 1800s/early 1900s then it seems unlikely that maize would be a product of their agriculture. Of course the word 'corn' is mentioned in the closing chapter of the book (right?) but I've since been made to understand that 'corn' in that context is a general word for grain in typical British usage, so it most likely meant oat or wheat. And even if it's not specifically stated, the pipes of Middle-earth are consistently represented as briar.

What do you guys think? Could a clever Hobbit have dried out some corn and made himself a cob pipe?

[zedturtle]

I think it's entirely up to you... while we can easily say that maize is a New World crop and thus shouldn't be in Middle-earth. But then again so is tobacco and that's what The Hobbit calls pipeweed. So if you want a hobbit blowing smoke rings out of a corncob pipe, that's your call.