Bakelite Tavern

6" long, 2 1/4" tall including peg, 1 3/4" tall excluding it, 3/4" bore and 1 1/2" stroke. 33g. Handcut vintage Bakelite stem.
 
Nowadays I'll take any excuse to blast a pipe, this shape even more so than most, but the harder I looked, the more stubbornly this pipe refused to give me one. There are no flaws, the grain is tight and strong with excellent coverage, and it's plenty light already. 
 
About the Bakelite. When I first started making pipes I lucked into a bit of Bakelite rod, bought it locally from a retiring clock maker. As often happens, I didn't know what I had, and I used the ivory-colored 1-inch-diameter rods to make pipes because when I put up one with a Bakelite stem for sale, brother, it SOLD. I didn't charge extra for it, or not much, anyway, I was just happy to have a magic spell to sell a pipe. That stuff is profoundly gone. It doesn't matter how much I would be willing to pay to replace it, nobody is selling. I have some of this amber left, which is beautiful but not quite wide enough for bigger pipes, so I made a Tavern pipe for it. And maybe I learned my lesson on the ivory Bakelite. So, let's see how it goes.