This is awesome. Color me impressed. But why not just buy a stem first, then, for lack of a better description, build the pipe around that stem? You might have a better shot at getting the stem fitting better (especially if the stem was the hardest part), and you could focus more work on the finish. But what do I know?

Also, isn't juniper rather soft? I have a big block of jatoba (Brazilian cherry) I've been thinking might be cool to carve into a pipe, but procrastination rules around here.