I was going to say, “Not really” – except they (‘they’ being Homo floresiensis) apparently existed up until quite recently (up to 10,000 BC). At least one batch of researchers are sure now that they were a real, distinct species. I dunno: maybe Tolkien accessed that old Jungian collective unconscious and ancestral memory told him of halflings. Or maybe Eru Ilúvatar
I still doubt the pipeweed. Unless it was hashish. Everybody smoked that stuff.
HT: Instapundit and The Volokh Conspiracy.
Moe Lane
*Or yes, sheesh, maybe Johnny Two-Rs just made it all up. Tough crowd…