I smoked pipes for a couple of years, made 5 inspired by Indian style I saw in a book, all had ash stems, bowls were blackthorn, cherryplum, apple - all good, ash - average, aspen - rough! All were finished with tung oil. Also bought a meerschum lined and a corncob, made an applewood tamper as well.
(Maybe blackthorn + cherryplum have different names in the US?)