JRR Tolkien was so fond of his pipe that he couldn’t imagine his country gentleman, Bilbo Baggins, without one–in spite of the fact that tobacco is native to New World. To disguise it a bit, he called it “pipe-weed“. (He called potatoes “taters” for the same reason.) If you like the idea of halflings, leprechauns, rakshasa, and others smoking, here are a few ways to incorporate it into your campaign.

Pipe-weed or Sweet Galenas

One way to add pipe-weed is to simply say your realm’s inhabitants smoke pipe-weed or sweet galenas (as Tolkien). Tolkien gave different strains their own names: Longbottom leaf, Old Toby, and southern star. (Longbottom was a place, and Old Toby was the first cultivator of the plant.)

Tolkien specified that the plant was “a variety probably of Nicotiana,” meaning tobacco, but the effects and terminology (and the “probably”) have left people free to imagine he was referring to marijuana or some fantasy plant with similar narcotic properties. And you are free to do the same.

Brown-fellow, Smoke-leaf, Gaffer, Hook, Haldo, Smooka, Sabash, Ganjish

You can make up your own name for a similar plant and give it any properties you wish. You could make it a stimulant (like tobacco), mild narcotic (like marijuana), or a mild intoxicant (like beer), and it could believably be accepted by the society.

This could be an imported herb or a home-grown one, in which case you might want to mention it now and then being traded or grown somewhere in the realm.

Dream-nut, Vision-flower, Lotus Petal, Smoke-root, Hek Powder, Zaka Dust, Hindar, Black Spice

You could also invent your own smoked substance–be it the leaf or dried latex secretion like opium or even the powdered remains of a beetle–and say it’s an intoxicant or hallucinogen.

Of course, if you make your plant an addictive drug, you may be introducing something that could wreck your campaign world or at least threaten to take over the campaign, if–for example–your players decide to become drug smugglers.

If you make it illegal and addictive, you’re more likely to wreck your campaign. If you make it legal and the results rather mild (or strong but rare), it can probably stay a fun and silly background element.