as a former reenactor, historian, and a pipe smoke who has done a bit of history study of pipes. I have som doubts about a lot of the pipes I've seen in "living history" contexts. long stemmed clay pipes are very fragile, I've owned any number and broke all of them. Besides they are pretty lousy smokes usually too small and way too hot. For a sedentary usage in a "civilized" home/ tavern/urban environment where they would be cheap and easily replaceable they made sense. on a more rough and tumble setting ceramic or carved stone bowls and wooden or cane stems were a lot more practical. the wooden or can stems also give a much more pleasing "smoke".
While in Montreal for one of the Fur Trade Conferences I did pick up a couple short stemmed (6 inches or so) clay pipes from one of the vendors that were supposed to be authentic, (but not sure now to which site or era) that were quite sturdy and actually smoked fairly well, I think I still have one of them in my pipe collection.
Colonial archaeology and material studies programs make extensive use of analysis of the type and density of clay pipe fragments found at the various north american sites in much the same way ceramic pottery shards are studied in mid-eastern contexts. the published "dig-reports' from key north american sites can provide a great background for what shape/style/size of pipes were in use at various times by different ethnic and cultural groups. If memory serves me correctly the Mackinac Island Park Commission published a large volume just on the Pipes of Michillimackinac
