I first came across "loblolly" in the Bloody Jack series of books, by L.A. Meyer.

Jacky Faber is an orphan and street urchin in London, circa 1803. After volunteering to be a ship's boy in the Royal Navy life gets better. One problem: Jacky is a girl and has to find a way of hiding her gender from the other ship's boys and the officers of The Dolphin. In one of the books she meets a ship's loblolly.

I loved these adventure books and can particularly recommend the audio versions with reader Katherine Kellgren.

Most unfortunately, author Meyer died just a few weeks ago.

You can read about the series here: Bloody Jack.

Is there any connection to Jacky Faber of
"Puff the Magic Dragon", or am I confused about the name in Puff?

No connection as far as I know.

The name in the song is "Jackie Paper".
Lyrics here

Thanks, funny how you get a word in your head and it remains.
I've thought it was Faber since first hearing the song.
Appreciate the update of decades.

The name, Jackie Paper, was a factor in the common interpretation that Puff the Magic Dragon was about marijuana use. "Puff the magic drag in."

Oh Wow. I am behind the times. Or just naive.
Thanks much.

It was before your time.

Not really, I just led a very sheltered life, and grew up
in boarding school, very isolated. I always thought the song
very sad, but when I next hear it, I will listen carefully
for a different interpretation.

In the dictionary it is quoted as being a thick gruel.

loblolly. Dictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/loblolly (accessed: January 26, 2015).