Not sure about the wrapping - what is the point of this?
Technically, it's not to protect legs from hot bits, it's to keep the heat in the pipe to prevent turbulence in the gas flow near to the 'colder' pipe walls. Modern equivalent is ceramic or other insulating coating to try to keep the gas temps even across the flow. However wrapped pipes do look quite retro, as that's what folks used to do in the olden days before ceramic coatings were invented.... ish!
