At 5.5" I doubt it would feel too unbalanced. I've had a couple of Canadian variants between 5.5-6" and both are comfortable to me, though I'm not much of a clencher. I really like the shapes though it's more of an aesthetics thing than any superior smoking characteristics in my experience.
How are they in the clench, Ash? Are they heavy or unbalanced???
I certainly have to be more cadence-aware when smoking a nose-warmer, so I believe there is something in the shank length "myth"
I only clench. They are great at it. A vast majority of my collection is under 5.5 inches because of clenching only. It’s a lever fulcrum issue. A light short pipe, for me, just sits perfectly.
A Sasieni One Dot Specially Selected. 
That's a beauty.I bought from an estate and then had Anthony refinish an XL Comoy's Blue Ryband extraordinaire that turned out nice. It's not my normal shape but I like it quite a lot and use it often.
Shoot, you want picky??? All my pipes are either Billiards or Dublins. That's it. They have to be between 5 1/2" to 5 3/4" long, period. The bowl must be between 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" tall with an inner diameter of 0.73" to 0.78". Other than 2 glove compartment emergency pipes, all my pipes are from only 3 makers. See why this is so difficult for me??? This pipe would be different, and I dont do different! (Sigh)My first Lovat that I can remember owning is my first Rad Davis Lovat. It is barely 6" long and it is a large group 4-small group 5. I was blown away by his stem work. I had smoked pipe that were thousands more and not a none had a stem like this. I also was amazed at the balance and the pipes ability to smoke itself and to never need a pipe cleaner to get any moisture out of it. It smoked bone dry and I live in SW Florida. The pipe began an obsession as besides how incredibly well it smoked, it looked pretty good as he had a deft touch on the sand blaster machine. I am at 22 Rad's and am always looking for a great deal on another. My criteria for buying a pipe these days is very strict and I don't go ojut side my zone for any pipe. I ended up buying 2 more Lovats from Rad and a couple of others from another maker (?).
I do have a rule of never going past 6.5 inches as that length unbalances the pipes look and it's feel. I am a picky piper, there are probably way more people not nearly as picky as myself. I like what I like and make no excuses for my choices. Most of the people at this site know what a picky guy I am and don't try to kick me out so I think I am ok for now.
First Rad Davis and first Lovat. I purchased this in August of 2012 from Marty Pulvers . It was 395.00 brand new, not sure if I paid shipping. It was the pipe that made all my Danish,English and Italian pipes seem second rate. I was blown away at how the pipe performed. I began collecting new and estate American pipes and I have never regretted it.
Here is where the obsession began.
The next two, both Rads were like a brother and sister as they were almost the exact same size and I smoked 2007 Stonehaven only in the for a number of years. Here are those two.
You probably never let your peas touch your mashed potatoes, or you separated the peas from the carrots, before you ate them when you were a kid. Just saying.
