“they grew fiber hemp”——While I’m not sure how many uses the founders had for hemp a big one came to be the US Navy. Clear up until WW II the US Navy used rope made from hemp and all those old plantation owners were the source for it.
I was reminded of that bit of history when the Movie Tora Tora Tora was being made. One of my friends was hired for a scene where a sailor used an axe to cut a mooring line. But they set him up with a nylon line. He pointed out the rope was wrong and they shut down until they found some hemp rope which was locally available from an old marine store warehouse that I also used to buy from.
No idea how much of the rope actually got smoked but that’s where the old line came from.
LOL. Smoking the rope would do nothing. Rope is made from the stalk fibers. The flower is where the juice is. Hemp has 1000’s of uses. Once of which is an efficient fuel. I wonder why it was made illegal?
Hemp was used for rope and also paper. And cloth, too. Hemp grown for fiber has almost no THC in it at all. A lot of hemp grown around where I live, for medicinal use. Almost impossible to get a buzz off of it, according to locals.
PS the woman I used to go to for acupuncture, her husband grew or grows medicinal hemp. CBD oil is made from it (I think that’s the acronym). She said the magical uses claimed are not true, that it can help calm nerves, with sleeplessness, and ease pain. Since she’s “in the field” so to speak, I trust what she says. I have other friends who’ve grown hemp and made the oil on a small scale, and they say the same thing.