I had always assumed that it was merely tobacco that the Hobbits smoked. However,in the prologue's 'Concerning Pipeweed' Tolkien does seem to hint that there is not just the genuine weed but that some Hobbits grew and smoked a variety of herbs some fouler, some sweeter. In my youth 'herbal ciggies' (sometimes called wacky baccy) was a euphemism for cannabis!
I read once that Christopher Tolkien, before he gave up the habit, always smoked Navy Cut and had recollections of there always being empty Navy Cut tins around his childhood homes, used mainly for storing miscellaneous bits and bobs like screws and washers.
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"Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."
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