this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2026
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Hemp was very common back then for many uses. Cannabis does not automatically mean THC.
It does mean that though, even low potency stuff like the plants they grow specifically to make rope still have varying levels of cannabinoids in them including THC, also that's literally the only reason to bother smoking it, might as well pack a bowl with hay otherwise
Well, in the context of a clay pipe, the evidence suggest mary Jane, not hemp cloth.
Ohhh pipe not plumbing pipe
It was in a pipe though?
Sorry, I read it as plumbing pipe for some reason.
Ignoramus here: what's the difference?
The cannabis plant when left to itself doesn't create much THC (which is what gets you high), but it is very useful for making rope and clothing, as well as oil and other products. Only when you make sure that you only have female plants (and take care of them in a certain way) do they produce lots of THC.
So just because the plant is growing somewhere doesn't mean that someone is smoking it.
Thank you for the explanation! I thought that when people referred to cannabis, they always referred to its euphoric properties so I got a bit confused, haha.
I remember having one of these plants growing in my backyard because we had cockatiels when I was a kid and we would throw the leftover seeds in the backyard when they were up for new feed. Sometimes the leftover seeds would turn into plants and rather quickly, we had a 2 meters tall cannabis plant in the backyard which made my dad freak the fuck out and chop it down as soon as ne found out what that plant was. It was a very impressive plant, but probably not an infamous female.
The active drug part of the plant is the resin found at the flowers of the female hemp plant, created during pollination season. There is neglible amounts of THC in the rest of the plant, as in basically nothing. So you would only get high if you smoked that particular part of the plant, not the rest. So sailors could have saved on tobacco by using the dried leaves of the harvested hemp plants they imported for rope, but it wouldn't have made them stoned in the slightest.
It might not have gotten them as high as modern weed but it definitely still would have worked, they're not gonna smoke it for no reason
Yeah it has been suggested it was used for medicinal purposes as early as 1 BCE. I have a feeling they’d have discovered how to make it stronger in the ensuing 1500 years.
Yes but it was found in clay pipes. I.e. smoking pipes. For whatever reason it was being smoked there.
Your sailor analogy is a possible explanation, but it doesn't make as much sense in a home or domestic setting.
To add, hemp was farmed for it's fibers, to make rope and fabric
So he was smoking hemp?