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thanks to you guys and all the damn awesome pipes y'all post, I can't get it out of my head. in my area there are some wooded areas with a lot of oak, apple, and black walnut. I have seen a lot of these trees with trunk burls. people out here don't know the value of a good burl. most people just throw them in the burn piles (fear of tree disease). I now have coworkers checking for burls in their piles and plan on searching the recently fallen trees in a few specific areas. I'm hoping by the time anything I find will be dry enough to work with, I can make a decent piece from them. in the mean time, after another hobby kit or three, I'd like to make a few from apple wood. how important is it that the material comes from a burl rather than the trunk? mainly I'd like to practice my drilling and such and still end up with something usable, even if it's a hideous baby. and hopefully with some good practice and attention, I'll have something I wouldn't be ashamed to post.

Apple and Pear wood is often used in low-grade pipes. It doesn't look as cool as a burl when finished, but there's no inherent reason you can't use the trunk wood. Be watchful, of course, for cracking and checking.

thanks for the advice! I had read that some folks leave the bark on and paint the cut ends to help the wood dry more evenly and help prevent cracking. this is part of my plan.

I haven't worked with burl fruitwood for pipes. Straight trunk pieces can have the tars in the tobacco leach through the walls. Aim for thicker walls than on a comparable briar pipe.
Painting the ends helps slow down drying and helps prevent cracking. Figure on a year of drying per inch of thickness as a general rule of thumb. You can do a rough preshape to get rid of extra material to speed things up a bit.
I would stick with woods like the apple. Maple and cherry are good too. I wouldn't bother with the oak or walnut for pipes.
Rodney

solid! we don't have a lot of maple around here that I have seen. I'll probably work any burl I can get my hands on just for practice. like I said though, after a few more hobby kits and such.