Abe Herbaugh: Sandblasted Tomato with Horn Tobacco Pipe

Over the past year or so, we've seen Vermont-based carver Abe Herbaugh playing and experimenting with bulbous design cues interplayed with streamlined forms. In past renditions, Herbaugh has presented rounded bowl shapes and paired them with horn accents that, instead of flaring at the end as is common among classic Danish piece, are more rotund to echo the curvaceous lines of the bowls.

Earlier this year, though, Abe rendered and displayed the same aesthetic but in a compact, chubby Tomato — the whole form defined by curving muscularity rather than contrasting bulging horn accents and bowls with sleek shanks. Our own Shane Ireland purchased that piece directly from the American artisan and loved it so much he encouraged Abe to continue playing with those proportions.

Here, Herbaugh presents a near twin to that first piece. A nosewarmer of a Tomato, the broad, high-waisted bowl tapers into a subtle heel spur, reminiscent of an Acorn, while the abbreviated shank maintains the bowl's muscularity as it leads into a horn mount. The plump shaping of the accent echoes the bowl's design, balancing the profile, and the motif once again repeated at the stem base — almost identical in form to the horn. Unlike the first piece, though, Abe kept this rendition natural of stain, commended by a stunning sandblast, the creamy hues of the horn combining with the tanblast for a natural palette that calls to mind vanilla wafers.