Customized Cob Churchwarden

I've been smoking out of a cheap $3 MM Cob I picked up at the local Indian smokeshop. I absolutely love the way the cob smokes, but am not crazy about the way it looked.
The first thing I did was take a Ebony wood stain and apply it to the outside of the bowl and shank by dipping a cloth into the stain and wiping it on, letting it set for a minute, and then wiping it back off and repeating the process a few times until I achieved the look I wanted. The top of the bowl and inside were not stained, but colored through smoking and ended up matching very well.


Then, after having the ugly yellow plastic stem that came on it wear out, I decided it was time to upgrade to one of the "Forever Stems" offered by Walker Briar Works.

I ordered my stem late Sunday evening, expecting maybe to get a confirmation Monday night. Dave Wolfe at Walker Briar Works had an email in my inbox before dinner that Sunday! And I had my stem the following Friday. It's comforting to see that they are on top of things the way they are.
I ordered the Churchwarden stem, and it looks amazing! It smokes amazing as well. This pipe went from being a cheap cob that served only as my "truck pipe" to being a favorite companion. For less than $30 I now have an amazingly cool, smooth smoking churchwarden which is truly unique.

Thanks for the complements guys, but I didn't do much other than the stain on the bowl and assembling parts. The real credit should go to the people at Forever Stems who made the new stem I put on it, that's what really makes the pipe.
Nothing like smoking fine aromatic cavendish out of a corncob churchwarden deep in the woods watching the sunset through the trees to make you feel like a wizard! I love this pipe.

I'll get into the garage tonight sometime and see what brand the stain was, but I have not had any problems with taste, odor, or anything else you might expect.
I didn't "paint" the stain on either, I dropped a small droplet on a soft cloth and wiped it on the cob then wiped it off a few moments later. I continued this over and over again until the pipe had the color and darkness I wanted. I also let it sun-dry for 2 days before smoking out of it.
The pipe has actually darkened a bit more on its own since I took those pictures, and now has a pretty unique looking pattern to it. I'll take some more pics and post them up soon showing the way it looks now.