I recently got sent for re-stemming an uncommon pipe that Dunhill made off and on for years that's known as the "Don" for some reason (shape #483). It's a dainty, less-than-an-ounce sitter with no shank and a quill stem. In the truly old days such pipes actually used a bird's wing bone for the stem---thus the "quill" reference---but after a while someone at Dunhill decided to improve the durability of their quill-sitter's stem by making it from vulcanite.
I'm reasonably certain that the reason the pipes are uncommon is that, 1) When Alfred realized what he'd gotten himself into, he didn't make many of them; and 2) when owners lost or damaged the stem, getting a replacement meant shipping their bowl to England, paying a lot, and waiting a long time because their neighborhood tobacconist's repair guy---being intelligent---said, "No fucking way... get that thing away from me!"
I've only made a handful of these over the years, and always swear that each will be my last, but this time the guy who wanted it was one of YOU bastards, so I couldn't say no without looking like I talked a better game than I walked.
So here it is.
By coincidence, I happened to have a #483 from the same year in my own collection that had a subtly different stem from the one sent (no two are exactly alike), so I decided that combining the strengths of each specimen would still be 100% authentic. (Mine had a more graceful fishtail flare and elegant dot size, while his had a more graceful bend and dot position)
For the curious, it's a military (tapered) fit, not a conventional, parallel-sided mortise & tenon; and the reason for the metal lining is because the stem is so thin it needs reinforcement to keep from collapsing.
EDIT: I added a pic of the stem when it was partially done since a lathe wasn't used, and the technique might be useful for anyone who thinks lathes are a must in this biz. Also, the unidentifiable coin in the crappy pic is a US quarter (shown for scale).
