I started turning between centers, I thought I needed the support for stem. But this caused a lot of problems for me. Then I was turning two at a time and they were working ok but I had to trim the ends each time and that took extra time.
Now I just mount a block in the chuck and turn the whole thing with a 3/8 spindle gouge. I turn the bottom first and get a perfectly centered point then turn the body and finally the stem. I have a 2x2x3/4 inch waste block left over at the end, but save time and get a better balance.
No great secrets and maybe that's the way everybody else does it already, but I didn't have any instructions and had to find my way from scratch.