Old Toby

From Tolkien Gateway
This article is about the pipe-weed. For the the Hobbit named "Old Toby", see Tobold Hornblower.
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Old Toby was one of the three most notable varieties of pipe-weed, grown in the region around Longbottom in the Shire's Southfarthing.

History

The leaf took its name from the Hobbit who introduced pipe-weed to the Shire, the original "Old Toby", Tobold Hornblower, who grew the first true pipe-weed in his gardens in the days of Isengrim Took II about the year 1070 of Shire-reckoning.

How Old Toby came by the plant is not recorded, for to his dying day he would not tell.

Etymology

The genuine Westron name was zara-Tobi.

Portrayal in Adaptations

Item-Old Toby Pipe-weed.jpg

2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:

The smoke from Old Toby Pipe-weed takes the form of a large heart with a ring inside it.