Abe Herbaugh: Smooth Voodoo Lily Tobacco Pipe

An avid outdoorsman and long-distance hiker, Abe Herbaugh continues his penchant for organically-inspired forms here with this freehand sitter shape. With Abe's implementation of flourishing, sweeping panels, the floral disposition is readily evoked in one glance, to my eye. Even so, it was only after a more careful inspection, and viewing the piece from the right flank, that the specific resemblance to Dracunculus vulgaris became readily apparent.

From the subtle, natural undulation initiated at the shank and following through to the stem, to the droop-like forward cant of the bowl and ridge-framed, floral paneling at the fore, this briar leaves little doubt as to its inspiration. The astounding feat is more in how Abe managed to produce this dynamic effect while still maintaining an undeniably natural ease in hand, utilizing what, at its core, is a somewhat lenticular, diagonally-oriented bowl, and a gestural, curling shank. Another, slightly more subtle, but equally impressive achievement is to be found in the lightly downturned, sky blue stem Abe fashioned for this piece. Rather than utilizing his oft-used choices of antique Bakelite or vulcanite, Abe has made use of polyester, a material we've seen before from certain accomplished artisans, and one which Abe mixed and cast himself*, emulating the look of the patterns of antique Bakelite. Needless to say, it also pairs beautifully with the rich, red-orange contrast stain at play here, accentuating gorgeous whorls on practically every plane, save for a stretch of cross-grain at the aft. A seriously incredible piece from Abe.

- Daniel Bumgardner


*- The backstory on this is that Abe wanted to cast his own stems, in the colors of his own choosing. He found that lucite mixtures could provide range but not the warmth of color he desired, which led him to spending months perfecting a polyester mixture; this gave him the range and the warmth of color he was seeking, as well as allowing for unique swirl patterns to be cast into each piece.