At last Gandalf pushed away his plate and jug — he had eaten two whole loaves (with masses of butter and honey and clotted cream) and drunk at least a quart of mead — and he took out his pipe. ‘I will answer the second question first,’ he said, ‘– but bless me! this is a splendid place for smoke-rings!’ Indeed for a long time they could get nothing more out of him, he was so busy sending smoke-rings dodging round the pillars of the hall, changing them into all sorts of different shapes and colours, and setting them at last chasing one another out of the hole in the roof. They must have looked very queer from the outside, popping out into the air one after another, green, blue red, silver-grey, yellow, white; big ones, little ones; little ones dodging through big ones and joining into figure-eights, and going off like a flock of birds into the distance.

Love this passage. Had to capture it quick, before it scuttled off.

Small detail, but look how Tolkien used em-dashes to break up dialogue.

Next time I’m at brunch its going to be toast with butter, honey, and clotted cream, what ever glorious thing that is.

Also, skip the mimosa and go for the mead.

Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Hobbit: 75th Anniversary Edition. United States: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. pp114