Tobacco, Hookah, Incense, and Magic

I have a city in my Last Land setting based on Egypt, the city of Shosnar. Smoking and the burning of incense are common throughout the Middle East. Has anyone thought of enchanting tobacco, pipes, incense, and similar products? How would this differ from using potions? Hmm...

That's an intriguing idea. Incense for area effects, tobacco for effects that only work on one person?

I'd think that either one pinch of incense or one puff of a pipe would be enough to have a magical effect, or magical smoke is better suited to effects that last a while/are gradual than potions. At least, the usual ruling is that drinking a potion takes very little time, and a pipeful of tobacco lasts a while.

yes, this idea has been used since the 70s in the game. as magic items, as traps, as spell components, as drugs with effects and so on...

edit: even in the novels. kender smoked hookah in the DL books during the 80s.

I saw tobacco on a list of trade goods for D&D and Gandalf was famous for his smoke rings. I have read that Persian faeries lived off the scent of incense and perfume. What was the caterpillar in Wonderland smoking?

This idea is...

I love this so much, that I'm gonna steal it for every game I run from now on, even games that it wouldn't make any sense for.

"Welcome to my RoboCop campaign, guys. Here's your magical tobacco pipes."

Just some ideas off the upper region of my cranium---
A magical incense that is strongly aromatic and is made by the peris, fey spirits of the East. It takes 5+1d6 minutes to burn and inhale a stick of this herbal preparation. Anyone within 10 feet for this entire duration can partake the benefits of the incense, being the equivalent to a full meal and a 4 hours of sleep.

A flavoured tobacco prepared for smoking in a hookah that is dangerous and addictive but commonly used by workers, this purplish brown pipeweed tastes of anise and cloves. When smoked it increases the Strength and Dexterity of the recipient but risks the permanent loss of Constitution. Many workers use it increase their efficiency so they can earn more money.

An enchanted hookah that turns any potion poured in its water into a vapour that can effect up to 2d4 smokers. It takes a full minute of smoking to gain the potion's effects.

I very much like the idea. Very flavorful and very genera appropriate. Thank you for bringing to my attention something I've been neglecting in my setting.

Some quick rule ideas off the top of my head, balancing the technique against more traditional potion making.

a) Potions meant to effect the imbiber made in smokable form take longer to have an effect, but have increased duration when they do so.
b) Any gaseous cloud spell can be made in smokable form and gains a free +1 caster level compared to bottled forms, but the pipe itself must either be in or adjacent to the area of effect.
c) Cure spells can't be made in smokable form, but other healing type magic (cure disease, restoration, etc.) still function.
d) Divination spells made in smokable form gain increased caster level compared to ones that are drunk.
e) Spells that induce sleep can be made in smokable form, regardless of their target or area of effect, and gains +1 caster level. However, range is limited in the same way as gaseous spells.

Characters which can Brew Potions can make the smokable version of the potion with a successful Craft (Apothecary) check at DC 15 + spell level. Failure ruins the potion. Alternately, at the time Brew Potion is taken, the character can indicate that they wish to specialize in smoked potions. In this case, they can make smokable potions normally but require a Craft (Alchemy) check to brew the imbibed form.

I'm going to need to create a range of exotic drugs as well. Of course, knowing the mentality of my current players, this addition to the setting is likely to provoke a lot of junior high 'teehee' behavior.

Oh well.

I've done this. I had a culture in a campaign world that was a blend of Aztecs and Edding's Nyissans, and the Nyissans use drugs for just about anything. The one time a PC personally encountered incense based magic, the incense had a combination of magic and pharmaceutical effects. A merchant was using an incense that made his customers suggestible. This is considered fair game in their culture, by the way. IIRC, it was a very hard perception roll to notice anything was wrong, since most of the town was filled with odd smelling smoke, and the PC walked out of there with several items he hadn't planned to buy and paid quite a lot more than was reasonable. It wasn't till the next day that the PC realized something was off, and by then it wasn't a big enough deal to go back and try to make an issue of it.

Found something of interest:

http://blackmarches.wikidot.com/forum/t-649071/hookah-of-draconic-smoke

Also, I am looking for any actual myths or superstitions regarding tobacco, incense, or hookah. If you know about a story or custom surrounding this issue, please do tell...