Pipers now have available a wide choice of bags. Hide, Sheepskin, Canmore, Ross, Shepherd.

For details of synthetic bags go to the manufacturers site for detailed descriptions. Links at the end. A quick description only here.

Sheepskin will go hard and dry out very much quicker than hide, sheepskin is much more supple than hide, and it has a damp feel to the outside, sheepskin is slightly porous, this is normal and is a way of controlling moisture.
Hide does not need much maintenance and does not have to be played everyday but sheepskin has better water absorption properties. Wet blowers should use sheepskin with a tube water trap and play every day, sheepskin needs seasoning probably every other week. Pipers who only play every so often should use hide. Hide bags sell for about £50, sheepskin for about £90.

Canmore was the first synthetic bag that gained widespread use, made of a goretex material. It needs no maintenance but a tube water trap should be used to deal with water and to give the bag some support. Once stocks are fixed to the bag they cannot be removed except for the chanter which is tied in the normal way, the material breaks up if a stock is removed and it will not be possible to get it airtight again, (maybe possible with Aquaseal from diving supply shops).

Ross is a rubber like material and has a removable canister inside the bag filled with cat litter to absorb moisture, all air to the drones pass through the canister so in *theory* no moisture should reach the reeds. The bag is opened either by a clamp at the back or a zip running along the seam.

Shepherd has a hide covering and a tube trap,the trap has a bottle at the end with a piece of moiture retaining material. The bag is opened by a zip along the seam, the bag is supplied with internal 'valves' called tone enhancers, they sit in the drone stocks and restrict the amount of air going to each drone, also claimed to aid strike in and cut off.

Seasoning. Airtight seasoning, the little tartan tin.

hide and sheepskin.

1: Remove all covers, drones, chanter.

2: place tin in pan of water and heat water till seasoning is completley liquid.

3: insert corks into chanter and two of the drone stocks, put the blowpipe in its stock.

4: if hide bag has not been seasoned for a while then pour in half the tin,this will drain out later. Sheepskin will probably take half the tin every time. Insert cork to stock and blow bag as tight as it will go. Move,or shake, the bag up and down so as seasoning gets moved all over inside of bag. The bag should be kept tight. Slowly remove a cork to deflate the bag, care should be taked as escaping seasoning will go all over the place. Rub the bag hard and try to get seasoning to seam and stock ends. Repeat 2 or three times, then hang the bag by the hemp loop at the back end of the seam, hide will now drain out most of the seasoning, sheepskin will retain most of the seasoning.The bag should be left hanging overnight.

5: brush out all stocks and wipe with tissue.

The first few times the bag is played after seasoning, the stocks should be brushed and checked regulary for any seasoning that will leak onto the reeds, especially hide where the skin will not absorb hardly any seasoning.

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