Russian samovars are painted on nesting dolls, rolly polly musical dolls, lacquer boxes, santa figurines... They are very popular in between Russians. Every other household has a samovar for practical or decorating purposes. Old samovars are put in very bright spots, so they can be seen from everywhere in the house. Samovars of different kinds, designs and times are a part of Russian culture and Russian traditions going hundreds of years back... According to the scientific account the first samovars appeared in the small (then) town of Tula when two brothers crafted one out of iron and then started to produce limited quantites of those and sold them first to their neighbors. Then the demand grew and of course this growth was accompanied by competition. Later the city became the center for Russian samovar production known all over Russia. Turls were the one of the first people who liked samovars and imported them.
Samovars are typically crafted out of plain iron copper, polished brass, bronze, silver, gold, tin, or nickel. A typical samovar consists of a body, base and chimney, cover and steam vent, handles, faucet and key, crown and ring, chimney extension and cap, drip-bowl, and teapot. The body shape can be an urn, krater, barrel, cylinder, or sphere. Sizes and designs varied, from large, "40-pail" ones holding 400 litres (110 US gal) to those of a modest 1 litre (0.26 US gal) size.
The samovar was an important attribute of a Russian household and particularly well-suited to tea-drinking in a communal setting over a protracted time period. The Russian expression "to have a sit by samovar" means to have a leisurely talk while drinking tea from a samovar. This compares with the German Kaffeeklatsch, or Turkish nargile culture.
In everyday use samovars were an economical permanent source of hot water in older times. Various slow-burning items could be used for fuel, such as charcoal or dry pinecones. When not in use, the fire in the samovar pipe faintly smouldered. As needed it could be quickly rekindled with the help of bellows. Although a Russian jackboot сапог (sapog) could be used for this purpose, bellows were manufactured specifically for use on samovars.
In modern times, the samovar is mostly associated with Russian exotica and nostalgia, though they are also quite popular with Iranian immigrants and their descendants. Samovars may be purchased in Europe, and in the United States, they may be found in neighborhoods with heavily Slavic populations, such as New York's East Village or Coney Island in Brooklyn, or in areas with large Iranian populations like Los Angeles.
(Excerpt from "Samovar", Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samovar