Pirate Potheads? On Drugs and Tobacco in the Golden Age of Piracy

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Pirates are famous for drinking rum. Their favorite drink was to mix rum, sugar and lime juice into punch, and serve it in a bowl. This scene was almost ritualistic, and wherever there was a punch bowl, there were pipes and tobacco. Pirates loved to smoke: but what about other substances, like opium, cocaine and cannabis?

Modern sources
1700: Scenes from London Life - Maureen Waller
The Buccaneer's Realm - Benerson Little
Islanders in the Stream - Michael Craton
Pirate Nests and the Rise of the British Empire - Mark G. Hanna



Period sources
The Sea-man's Vade-Mecum - William Mountaine
A Cruising Voyage Round the World - Woodes Rogers
The Supplement of the Voyage round the World - William Dampier
A relation of the great sufferings - Henry Pitman
Wafer's New Voyage - Lionel Wafer

Timestamps
0:00 On Tobacco
10:35 Indian Tobacco
11:48 Other drugs?

#pirates #history #tobacco