A South African scientist has caused an international buzz with new evidence that Shakespeare's literary work was taken to greater heights with the help of dagga. Headlines around the world reported on University of the Witwatersrand Professor Francis Thackeray's study, which was published in the South African Journal of Science last month.In it, he describes how he borrowed the Bard's pipes from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford upon Avon and did a chemical analysis on them in Pretoria at the police narcotics unit.story_article_left1When the first tests were done 15 years ago, they were pooh-poohed by Shakespeare scholars, who claimed that only nicotine was smoked in England in the Elizabethan era.However, in the light of recent evidence that several substances other than nicotine had arrived on English shores by the 17th century, Thackeray's new paper calls on his critics to re-examine his original articles.His latest paper has sparked global debate, although some media quote literary experts as being "doob-ious"."Chemical analyses of residues in early 17th-century clay tobacco pipes have confirmed that a diversity of plants were smoked in Europe," said Thackeray, who works in Wits's Evolutionary Studies Institute.Earlier this year, he analysed more pipes from the Elizabethan era and found that a variety of plant material was indeed making its way into England in Shakespeare's lifetime and that "much experimenting was going on". Even roses and camphor were being smoked.With Suzanne Young of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, he wrote up his forensic botany article earlier this year. It will soon be published in the newsletter of the South African Archaeological Society."All the evidence is coming together," said Thackeray, adding that literary evidence - Shakespeare's frequent references to plants and their effects - should be integrated with the chemical results.For Thackeray, the fascination with Shakespeare and the 400-year-old pipes has been a long journey.full_story_image_vleft1He was always fascinated by the dramatist , and was reading his plays by age seven. He nearly studied English literature, but went the scientific route instead, and completed his doctorate at Yale University.But the call of the Bard never left him, and one evening, after deciding to read all 154 of the sonnets in one sitting, he had his "eureka" moment.One of the sonnets talks of "strange compounds", and "the noted weed". "I had a hunch that maybe he was referring secretly to cannabis because it could not be explicit. I found references in many other Shakespeare texts too."At that time the Church had forbidden dagga, associating it with witchcraft. Books would be burnt if they made reference to the plant.Following his hunch, Thackeray wrote to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 2000 and asked the curator if the trust still had the pipes taken from the rubble of the Bard's house after it had been torn down - and if he could undertake non-destructive analyses on them."There was such scepticism at that time but now all the evidence has come together and we can integrate the arts and the sciences in an effort to better understand Shakespeare and his contemporaries."But James Shapiro, a Columbia University professor who has published multiple books about Shakespeare's life, is not as convinced that Shakespeare was a stoner."We don't know what Shakespeare did or didn't do," Shapiro told the Huffington Post. "Just because these pipes were found in his garden doesn't mean his neighbour's kid didn't throw the pipes over the fence. There are a million possible explanations."farbert@sundaytimes.co.za..