Going to give it a go...

Is there some reason why you won't get the same response in pmf?

I'm glad you do.

Ask away. You won't get into a skunk pissing contest here.

I have the lathe, bandsaw, and grinder for sanding. Just waiting a couple weeks til my birthday for a good chuck, tower jaws, chisels, bits, buffing system, and assortment of other odds an ends to gets started. I have a bunch of well seasoned cherry wood that I'm going to start with, before I tackle any briar.

I like integral tenons (machined as part of the rod), which you can do quite well on a wood lathe with a skew chisel and a live-center. That's the way that I did it for the two years I was using a wood lathe.

You will need a dial caliper, though, but you're going to need one of those, anway.

When I do them, I stop a few thousands of an inch before I hit my target diameter and proceed super cautiously with 320 grit, until I'm in the ballpark.

Then I switch to 600 grit and proceed even more cautiously a bit further.

And definitely rub some carnauba wax on the tenon before each test-fit, because you don't want any stickiness to make you think you need to take off more material when you don't.

One of the many advantages to integral tenons is when you use clearish acrylic, you don't see a black delrin tenon a half-inch up into your stem.

Other advantages include that you have complete flexibility to fit any diameter mortise you can imagine; no glue to fail; and so on.

Of course, a lot of guys like Delrin tenons, and there are a lot of advantages to that, as well. 

Delrin is a self-lubricating plastic, so that works out really well in a mortise-and-tenon scenario.

And you don't have to agonize over fitting. Just find a drill bit that gives you the perfect mortise, and you're good to go.

And the ability to replace a broken tenon fairly easily is a huge plus.

Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, but my own preference is integral tenons.

As far as rod stock is concerned, 3/4-inch (20 mm) diameter will cover you for most standard pipe shapes.

Later on, when you start getting into more artistic pipes, you might want some 1-inch (25 mm) diameter rod stock.

I agree with Robert. I also prefer integral tenons, for all the above reasons plus 2 more. 1. Delrin is very slick and difficult to glue solidly. 2. If one chooses a particular size, you always have to use the same drill bit to drill the mortises. A difference of half a thousandth will screw up the fit. BTW, for mortises, it's good to use an end mill to finish the mortise so it has a flat bottom. I don't like forstner bits because they are not as accurate or rigid as a short end mill. One 5/16 end mill will last forever drilling briar. If you're going to make stems, start with vulcanite, acyrlic is a bitch to turn on a wood lathe with scrapers. It chips out very easily, especially the swirl color types. Also, re drilling airways and mortises, start the holes with screw machine bits. They're  the short ones, not jobber bits. Use the jobber bits only after drilling as deep as you can with the short bits. 

A forstner is ok to true up the shank end. Or, just use the lathe chisel. BTW, true the end before you final shape the shank.

And here's me thinking you just drill one big hole for the tobacco and a smaller hole for the stem and you're done.

How wrong was I?!!

Yes, absolutely for the next-to-final furnishing. However, I always use a sacrificial short stem first to get it very close, then plug in the actual stem to  final finish .  Having Said that,  I do initial shank shaping on the lathe with the scrapers and a live tailstock center in the mortice  to prevent slippage in the chuck, which can render the shank OD and the mortise not concentric. So the shank shaping is a 3 step process.  

I was gonna practice with some short lengths of stem material first - as that sacrificial stem like you use. It'll help me work on mortise and tenons too, before I go ahead and screw up a good length of stem (that stuff's expensive!). I've seen a couple guys on YouTube do that, you confirmed it.

I can't tell you how happy I am that you guys will answer my questions. Appreciate your help greatly, slowroll and Robert Perkins.

Sure thing. Always happy to help.

   I’ve yet to come across a member of the BriarPatch with a poor attitude, like I’ve dealt with prior! A bunch of knowledgeable and helpful members amongst us 👍👍

No matter what you pay for them, many are not square. You have to square them up. I do it on a table saw. If you think ebauchons are out of square, wait till you try a plateau.

Looking forward to you moving ahead on the path, if you can arrange some shop time with other carvers, I think that it can help reduce the bumps on the road...I have heard as much from other carvers....the pipe shows offer a great opportunity to network.

Pretty cool of Robert to give some great advice.