La Biota Freehand

Michele Sottocasa calls all his pipes ‘La Biota’ in the best Italian tradition. Like Mastro de Paja, Ser Jacopo or Castello, he does not market his pipes under his own name, but has come up with a suitable name for them.

Michele Sottocasa was born in 1983 and lives in Turin, in the north of Italy. He studied photography and graphic design and worked for some time as an art director. These are certainly not the worst qualifications for pipe making.

He was inspired by his father to smoke a pipe and has been making pipes since 2013. He is also a member of the renowned ‘Accademia della Pipa’.

We met Michele in 2025 at the Stuttgart Pipe show. He impressed us right from the start with his individual style and unique approach. We were also impressed by the fact that he thinks about German customers who prefer 9mm filter pipes.

His pipes can't deny that they come from Italy, but they lack the baroque and overloaded look that is often found in Italian pipes. Instead, the influences of Danish classicism are very clear to see.

La Biota Freehand pipes offer a great price-performance ratio. Especially his somewhat simpler pipes with ‘faux sandblast rustication’ are real bargains.