"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them". This is the inscription, written in the Black Speech of Mordor, the unique ring reveals whenever exposed to heat. Oh my Goodness! What are the hobbits doing in this madness? I would have much rather preferred to remain in the Shire, enjoying a life of butterflies and geraniums. Still, in both 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings', these small and gentle beings are being dragged to the epicenter of the gloomiest mess in the whole world. Fortunately, they carry a good pouch of Old Toby with them.

Hobbits enjoy the pleasure of good grass, a habit the old and wise wizard Gandalf adopts and for which he is unhesitantly recriminated by Saruman during a scene of the first movie. Saruman does not know how to relax, he walks around all day, stooped over, dealing with orcs. It would have been very good for him to take a couple of drags from the best weed in Southfarthing. Like in that shot in which Bilbo and Gandalf let their minds sail the infinite seas of plenitude.

Further along in the trilogy, at the beginning of the third film, we find another evocative reference to this weed, as the heroes arrive at Isengard after fighting the battle of the Helm's Deep. There they meet Merry and Pippin delighting in some salted pork, beer and a few good drags of the best grass. Poor Gimli cannot believe it.

And what to say about 'The Hobbit'? The recent second release does not include any topnotch smoking. However, on the first, the encounter between Gandalf and Radagast the Brown is noticeable. Radagast arrives in great stress because his forest has been invaded by giant spiders. As he is about to hyperventilate, the wise Galdalf does not hesitate to offer him a good hit of the best Old Toby.

The heads of both sagas nicely insinuate the consumption of marijuana, but is there any truth in it? According to expert hobbitologists, Halflings do not smoke marijuana, but a derivative of tobacco called Pipe-weed o Halflings' Leaf, introduced in the Shire by Tobold Hornblower. The weed strain Old Toby was named after this experienced smoker. Actually, there is a brand that markets different pipe tobacco among its Middle Earth Pipeweed series. Old Toby, an aromatic tobacco, ideal for great freaks and smoking artists, is one of them.

But wait a minute. With all these strange marijuana names on the market and considering the passion the saga stirs among smoking fans, it is impossible that... Found it! What Tobold Hornblower really smoked was a tough sativa developed by Homegrown Fantasy: Old Toby.