Unfortunately I sanded the shank down just a little too far and exposed the cork in the shank.
I have a bunch of stem blanks and I choose an oval saddle. So when I shaped the shank I got a little carried away with sanding. Not a big deal though, I loaded up the lacquer to cover it.
I line the mortise with cork because after making several of these I noticed the ash tends to expand and contract a little when smoking it. Ropp did that with their cherry woods, so I figured they must have been on to something.