This is rather embarassing 
but a friend of mine lent me his pipes to play the other night and notwithstanding the fact that these pipes are probably the best sounding ever I heard, the stench was near unbearable. 
..apparently he plays alot and has doused the bag with an odor that would welcome a bodhran player. 
i dont want to hurt his feelings so I am publicly posting this in an effort to gain insight on approaching the subject in a sensitve way when we meet next. 
Please refrain from joking from the bellows and keep in mind what Confusiuos Say:
āHe who fahhht in Church ..sit in his own pew!ā 
wellā¦i would start with a combination of febreeze and lysol sprayā¦i would just tell him that it needed it and suggest he hit it with febreeze once a month or so (maybe heāll put 2 and 2 together and take the hint himselfā¦)
Considering the bag is skin and heās blessed it with armpit odour, perhaps you should consider spraying/rolling it with an antipersperant.
Or get a new bag.
Smelly Pipes? Say, wasnāt that a song from one of the characters on the American comedy āFriendsā? 
I bet the smell is derived from bag seasoning. In that caseā¦ buy him a new L&M bag for Christmas and advise him to stop using GHB methods on uilleann pipe bags 
PD.
Smelly Pipesā¦Oh Smelly Pipesā¦yah thats the ticketā¦Iād buy him a new bag but heāll just stink it up again! I heard of bag bellow farts but this odor comes without noise?? 
I can handle bellow farts this is a form of pipersā dispair that permeates the air .
Its a good thing the man can play the pipes yet again with every world class piper there has to be an inherent flaw somewhere along the line!! 
Perhaps one of those cleaning agents for suede/leather garments? Or try a dry-cleaner who does leather. Imagine trying to explain what the hell that is to the little oriental fellow at the dry-cleaners! 
djm