Ed Langille, 1936-2024

The noted pipe bag maker Ed Langille died on August 6, 2024, at 87 in Truro, Nova Scotia.

Originally from Massachusetts, Langille immigrated to Canada in the 1950s and started his piping career in 1960, eventually joining Grade 1 Clan MacFarlane in St. Catharines, Ontario. He started to make pipe bags in the late ’60s and subsequently started L&M Highland Outfitters.

In 1971, Langille moved with his family to Londonderry, Nova Scotia, and ran L&M for the next 25 years, producing bags made from skins and hides more suitable for a drier climate than Scotland. He would use elk, cow, and even kangaroo as alternatives to sheepskin, which has been a standard for hundreds of years.

Langille’s pipe bags were popular the highest levels. Some of his best marketing came when Grade 1 Triumph Street of Vancouver played without bag covers (and mix-matched kilts) for their first few seasons, exposing distinctive L&M dark elk skin bags to the masses, including at the Inter-Continental Pipe Band Championships at the Scottish Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.

Langille eventually sold the company, which continues today in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, specializing in Highland dress.

The visitation and funeral will be on August 19 at 1 p.m. at Faith Baptist Church in Great Village, Nova Scotia.

Our sympathies go to Ed Langille’s family and friends at this sad time.