Which wood for a bottle stopper?

[Jeltz]

My main concern was passing the cork between a decanter full of port and then onto Scotch - wouldn't want a sticky purple cork going into a freshly decanted Scotch...

Surely that would be just as much of a problem with wood as well, hence the common use of glass or metal stoppers. So the solution is several stoppers one for each type of liquid.

 

[henkverhaar]

Olive, cocobolo, padauk (will slowly turn from bright orange into a deep maroon), briar. You preferably want a wood that finished real smooth, with no pores or other surface 'relief'...

Or snakewood, lignum vitae, or bocote. Plum is also nice and not too expensive. Or Verawood. Or, last recommendation, European box (or Maracaibo if you can't find European box).

I think the first thing to ask yourself is whether it needs to be light-coloured, dark, or something in between...