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Hollywood has been wrestling with the thorny problem of smoking-depiction in films ever since tobacco went out of fashion in the 1990s, replacing on-set smoking with herbal cigarettes, e-cigs and CGI.

There's a great deal of smoking in the Lord of the Rings films. Some is obviously computer-generated, but at other times what are the cast smoking?

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    There is a behind the scenes video where Dominic Monaghan talks about absolutely hating the taste of the pipe smoke
    – fez
    Commented Jul 15, 2021 at 6:25
  • @fez - That sounds like it would make an excellent answer.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 15, 2021 at 6:28

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The actual real-life tobacco that they smoked during filming of The Lord of the Rings was Stokkebye Nougat. Brian Levine, who worked at Stokkebye at the time, supplied them with several pounds of it, and then they called back for more.

This comes from https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/lord-of-the-rings.1413/. So when it wasn't CGI they smoked real tobacco.

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    I read that. He certainly seems to be under the impression that it was used on the set, but other interviews disagree
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 20:37
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    @Valorum Maybe it was used for other purposes besides the smoking scenes? I mean probably mainly used by cast members that actually smoked. But to go through a few pounds of it and then ask for more it probably got used in other ways.
    – JMERICKS
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 20:41
  • My own research suggests that the cast and crew both smoked it and it was also used by the cast in preparation for the shooting scenes, but not necessarily on the actual set.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 21:02
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    The props team also made a very large number (hundreds) of prop pipes which they stained by burning real tobacco in the bowl. That would require a considerable amount of tobacco.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 22:57
  • I've found an interview with Brian Levine that you might want to add to your answer; rumble.com/…
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 18, 2021 at 8:18
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Tobacco was certainly used on set by Sean Astin and the other hobbit actors.

For the pipe-smoking scenes, the actors were presented with the choice of either a mild pipe tobacco or an herbal non-tobacco product. Astin believes that all the hobbit actors in the Fellowship opted for genuine tobacco. “Every hobbit is a good hobbit,” he says, “and a good adult hobbit loves his pipe tobacco!” He claims that none of the other actors, during filming, took pipe smoking as seriously as he did.

Pipe and Tobacco Magazine: A Pipe-Smoking Hobbit From The Shire

No mention is made of the human actors, but in an AMA with Elijah Wood, he mentioned that Sir Ian had the scent of Old Toby (i.e. tobacco) on him

Q. What does Sir Ian Mckellen (Gandalf) smell like?

EW: He smells really good! He smells of a sort of masculine incense. I just…I can't put my finger on specifically what notes of the scent are there, but there's something very pleasant about the way that he smells. Incense definitely comes to mind. What an interesting question.

Q. And Old Toby

EW: That was great.

Elijah Wood here. Again. AMA (Ask Me Anything)

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