If there is no deviation from 90 degrees in the shape of the shank, it's not a bent pipe, it's a bent stem.
During my first few months of frenzied ebay pipe acquisitioning when I started smoking a pipe, I became 'creative' and used heat to bend a few stems on some of my pipes. I remember being too hasty with one rather thick square stem that broke in half like a piece of fudge. I eventually reheated them all and returned them to their formal shape.