Bois d'arc As a Pipe wood.
Pronounced BOW-dark in Texas and Bo-DOCK in other places.
Bois d'arc as a wood is extreamly durable and flexible, also strong and non porous wood, When it is still fresh (recently cut) the wood is a bright yellow. It grows wild in north and east Texas. And is also called Horse apple tree. As a work wood it will age and change to a dark golden color. I don't know if there is any treatment to help preserve bois d'arc's original color.
Pipes used to be made out of stone by native north, and central Americans, and in time they evolved to clay and later on, in to Briar pipes, from the mediterranean vecinities. This last kind of pipe is the most common one today.
In Texas and other places it was used to build docs, fence posts, and even road boards so the carts wouldent sink in the muddy winter.
A pipe must work around 700°F and under a hard puff even more. So the first chunk of bois d'arc I found was thrown in the fire place to see how it reacted to fire. The results are loud pops and flying embers every were that almost burned down my house. Not willing to take defeat I took a ember and observed that under extreme temperatures it pops, but as a charcoal it dosent burn any deeper. That and its hardness make it very good pipe wood.