Details vary according to the tradition of each regiment.
In civil life, lairds, chieftains, and chiefs are those entitled to pipe banners which either display their arms over the whole area or the whole coat of arms with crest and supoorters. The former is the older form. A chief has three pipers, a chieftain two, and other lairds one. Only the senior of two or three pipers bears the the pipe banner. They are not permissible by professional pipers as a piece of meaningless show, i.e., when not appearing for a person entitled to a pipe banner.