Briar breathes, so oil based stains no Bueno.

As to stain, I haven't stained this one yet. I use a bit of water to check the grain as I work on the bowl. For my last pipe, I used a trick I got from a woodworker. I wet the bowl down well and then used a charcoal stick to work charcoal into the briar. Once I had it well coated with charcoal, I set it aside and as the pipe dried, it pulled the charcoal into the darker part of the grain. Sanded it down and then hit it with carnauba wax. Worked great.