Amen! I've never regretted spending "extra" $$$ on SS insulated chimney pipe at camp. Best part, the cabin is still there.
Second best part, 32 years later it still looks like new, but for the rain cap on top.
We used the old fashioned insulated/metal faced "stove boards" on the wall, with a good inch and a half space between the back of the boards and the wall surface. There's another matching "stove board" under the wood stove.
The wall boards stop about two inches below the ceiling, but that wasn't necessary. Zero heat ever makes it past the boards. When temps are in the teens and twenties, the stove can be going full blast and the wall behind those boards is ice cold.
So, another vote for SS insulated pipes as money well-spent.