It really is a snap.
I have made about a dozen pipes now, I guess. I was happy with my first results because they had things like air holes at the bottom of the chamber.
The next pipes I started trying to pay attention to shape and size, and get more pleasing proportions, and things like tapering shanks. But it's still real easy to do everything technically "right" and end up with a pipe that isn't really all that nice in some important way.
The last 4 pipes I did much more "with respect to the block" and got an outstanding straight pot, a good little apple (started as a monster stack but a bad pit forced a quick re-think) and a rhodesian that has great grain (and I will post a picture for a tear-down as soon as I can get a decent digital shot) and is for sure my best looking pipe so far. Had a nice big calabsh kind of thing but busted it on the lathe cuz I'm a dolt. Free pipe for a buddy, I guess.
Anyhow, my respect for the guys who do this as a daily thing and make money at it has really gone up. It's very easy to make a pipe that Joe on the street might accept, but it sure takes a lot to go beyond that.