La Biota

La Biota pipes are made by Michele Sottocasa in Turin, in the north of Italy. Before becoming a pipe maker, he trained and worked as a designer and art director, and he has now been making pipes under the la Biota name for over a decade. His interest in pipes began in childhood, since his grandfather smoked one, and his smoking pipes carry a designer’s drive toward a distinct aesthetic vision, with each one meant to keep its own character.

The name comes from ecology, where biota means the plants and animals of a habitat, and it stands for the deep connection between people and nature, a connection well represented by the handmade tobacco pipe. Sottocasa draws much of his inspiration from walks in the mountains of northern Italy, and he shapes each pipe by hand on a wood lathe. The results are earthy and organic: bark-like sandblasts and rustication, accents of horn and antler from Italy’s native deer, bowls of briar, morta or olivewood, and hand-cut camouflage ebonite stems. Most are remarkably light and easy to clench.

When La Biota pipes come to us, new or as estates, we list them here.