Judging from the looks of older (19th - century) pipes (silver, ivory, sometimes exotic woods, non mouth-blown) they must have been exteremely expensive but were fairly spread, though. It is but very unlikely that all the landlords were accomplished pipers. Are there any sources about how piping “happened” in those days?
Cheers,
Hans
At least on the continent, it became fashionable for ‘aspiring gentlemen’ (we call them ‘new-money’ today,or ‘money/no-title’ back then) to appear musically cultured, ‘in-tune’ with the new, }then-hip{ trend of Romanticism, In order to impress titled chicks, or more importantly, their father’s even-deeper pockets. Certainly in France this took form in a devotion of the ‘baroque’ Musette, wether or not the fasion extended to the isles a generation or so later is unproven, but highly likely.
I’ll take a jab and say- nothing new: wish I (fulltime musician: culture/ no money) could afford some of these hot-dog pipes out there. 