There is an old idea to use cane or rattan (the stuff chair seats are woven of) to wrap a fly rod grip. Like I said, one can find old rods with rattan grips and modern rod makers are bringing them back because it is so difficult to get good cork for grips. I have no personal experiance with rattan grips but I have seen them. BTW, the wine cork folks get first crack at the cork harvest and everyone else (including rod builders) is left to pick over that which is not used for wine corks.