Wizard Pipe, Beauty and magic

I will keep telling myself, I am not a pipemaker, I not a pipemaker, I am not a...
...and so, it happens again. This one started while visiting with Skip Elliot. You may know him as a well known pipe maker that owns The Briary. He is a friend of mine that lives just down the road here. Anyways, He was working on sandblasting a Dublin plateau, ...and abruptly stops and chunks the stummel in the trash, causing my jaw to hit the floor, right after my pipe does. I couldn't believe it. "It has a pit. It's garbage." He wipes the sweat away and grabs another block of briar.

"Ummm, could I...? Do you mind if I...?"

"No, you can't have it. It's garbage."
Now, since I've known Skip, he keeps making pipes that are exactly what I had been waxing poetic over around him. If I mentioned the beauty of a military stem, he'd show me a military stem that he'd made shortly afterwards. "It's already sold," he'd tell me as showing it to me for the first time. I'd describe an excellent flake burner, and a few weeks later, he'd show me the pipe I'd described with a, "it's already sold." Every pipe he makes seems to sell the day he finishes it, before he even posts a picture. I can't seem to ever get one of these dream pipes.
Later that night, I was laying in bed wishing that I had pocketed that stummel. Oh, to make a stem for that lovely blasted thing. I dreamed of a stem that just grew out of the stummel that evening, sprouting a single silver leaf, a tobacco leaf. It was all craggy, green, vibrant, growing... like a wizard's staff or a magic wand. It was going to be a magical pipe.
The next time I saw him, he hands me the stummel. "Sorry, I saw that you really wanted it. I was just frustrated."

"I'll take it," as I snatched that thing and had it in my pocket in no time. I offered to pay, but... this was a magical transaction.

I used a brindled green stem (you can't call it Cumberland, because that name is from a brand of Dunhills that uses brindled stems), a simple silver band with a AAA grade ruby set in it, with a hand forged single leaf. The stains are black and reds, with layers of sanding and polishing to bring out the craggy surface even more.
And, maybe it was magic, but I can't find a damn pit in the thing anywhere. There was one small pinprick in the chamber, but I just rubbed a little pipe mud over it, insignificant, IMO. Now, I will pack this thing with a magical blend and set forth the perfect formula for bringing more beauty into the world. Magic Just Happens.

Thanks guys. I'll see him tomorrow, and I'll let you know what he says. Ha ha!

Thanks gentlemen,

Yeh, agnostic, it's not sold, but I've already smoked it. It's just so dammed hard to get a Skip Elliot pipe, so I had to make one, Ha ha. I probably won't be letting this one go.

Thanks again guys!

MSO, I've noted your preference for metals on pipes from other conversations, and that you like this one means a lot.

I was thinking that if it was too large, it would fall into the ridiculous. If it was too dainty, it would be too much of a pure adornment. But, with this size it kind of looks natural, like it grew there. I just plucked the pipe from a tree as I walked by and smoked it, ha ha.

With metal, I have the luxury of just remaking parts or resoldering. I guess with pipes, you just have to start over when you hit a flaw. I can understand a pipemaker not wanting to send out a bad pipe. But, for me, I'm glad it was too flawed for him, just right for me. Ha ha

I had posted this a while back, but I made the stummel on this one. I don't have a lathe, but I did fairly well with a drillpress and some carving burs in a flexshaft.