# Smoke a rope **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047 "2009-12-12T23:56:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/1 "2009-12-12T23:56:58Z")
What’s the origin (and time period) of the expression, ‘to smoke a rope’. I’m under the impression that in the early part of the last century, people (sailors?) believed one could get high from smoking (hemp) ropes. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/2 "2009-12-13T02:03:35Z")
Tobacco was once sold in long spun bunches called ropes or twists. You can still get them as a specialty item. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/3 "2009-12-13T02:55:49Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Tobacco was once sold in long spun bunches called ropes or twists. You can still get them as a specialty item. Cool. Looks like a big [turd](https://www.thebackyshop.co.uk/images/Brown%20Irish%20Twist%20Tobacco.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/4 "2009-12-13T03:31:14Z")
OMG, **John**! 😃 Have you ever heard that song (played maddeningly fast) about the Titanic? Someone years ago linked me to it and I Napstered it at that time, but I don’t have it anymore. Oh, shit, it’s hilarious and it’s about what you wrote about, IIRC! Someone know what I’m talking about? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/5 "2009-12-13T03:43:59Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > OMG, **John**! 😃 > > Have you ever heard that song (played maddeningly fast) about the Titanic? Can’t say I heard of it. (BTW: Got the book from your friend. Thanks.) ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/6 "2009-12-13T03:53:22Z")
Then you’re in for treat my friend! 🙂 (The Legend of The Titanic, it’s called, I believe) Enjoy the book, **Johnny** , and I already told him you wanted to work on the movie! 😉 They’re still shopping it around, and have the movie rights! Hopefully, it will make it to the big screen, and you and I can finally meet, dammit! 🙂 Your pal, Quasi ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/7 "2009-12-13T04:12:29Z")
Here’s a link to the song, Jamie Brocket’s “[Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic](http://users.cybercity.dk/~ccc89333/jaime/legend.htm)” and the 497 and a half feet of rope. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/8 "2009-12-13T04:14:34Z")
**RealityChuck** comes through!!! Thank you Sir!🙂 Enjoy, y’all!!!🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/9 "2009-12-13T05:10:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Here’s a link to the song, Jamie Brocket’s “[Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic](http://users.cybercity.dk/~ccc89333/jaime/legend.htm)” and the 497 and a half feet of rope. Funny. So in addition to tobacco being sold as ‘ropes’, there was definitely the hemp thing going on. So is ‘smoke a rope’ from the tobacco, or from the hemp? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/10 "2009-12-13T05:12:54Z")
Hemp, buddy! 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/11 "2009-12-13T05:16:40Z")
[Tobacco or cigar](http://books.google.com.au/books?id=i33BWgxbvXgC&pg=PA639&dq=smoke+a+rope&cd=5#v=onepage&q=smoke%20a%20rope&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/12 "2009-12-13T17:59:05Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Tobacco was once sold in long spun bunches called ropes or twists. You can still get them as a specialty item. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Funny. > > So in addition to tobacco being sold as ‘ropes’, there was definitely the hemp thing going on. > > So is ‘smoke a rope’ from the tobacco, or from the hemp? That image of a “tobacco rope” is not smoking tobacco. It’s chewing tobacco. Smoking tobacco doesn’t come in ropes. So, it’s more likely what **don’t ask** linked to–a cigar. The earliest cites I could find for “smoke a rope” also is in the 1900-1915 range. And they were referring to “rope” as being smelly, inferior cigars. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/13 "2009-12-13T21:13:20Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Cool. Looks like a big [turd](https://www.thebackyshop.co.uk/images/Brown%20Irish%20Twist%20Tobacco.jpg). Maybe one of yours perhaps, if so, sitting on the throne can’t be a very pleasant experience. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/14 "2009-12-13T21:34:28Z")
Hmmm. Apparently I stand corrected! 😉 I “snookered” **myself**! Still like “The Legend of The Titanic” though!🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/15 "2009-12-14T16:12:30Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Here’s a link to the song, Jamie Brocket’s “[Legend of the U.S.S. Titanic](http://users.cybercity.dk/~ccc89333/jaime/legend.htm)” and the 497 and a half feet of rope. I used to hear this song on FM radio back in high school. A couple of years ago I picked up the record at a yard sale, not remembering the song – one of those pleasant surprises. (There’s one other song vaguely like this on the record, a talking blues – the rest is wifty folk-pop, you would never think it was the same person.) By the way, the artist’s name is actually Jaime Brockett. (And apparently when he wrote the song, he didn’t realize that it was actually the RMS _Titanic._) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/16 "2009-12-14T19:50:06Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > (And apparently when he wrote the song, he didn’t realize that it was actually the RMS _Titanic._) Or that it was sailing in the other direction. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-a-rope/521047/17 "2009-12-15T01:19:08Z")
I love you, **John!** 😉 🙂 Q