Abe Herbaugh: Sandblasted Tomato Tobacco Pipe

Within artisan pipe making, carvers often draw inspiration from carvers they respect and will either incorporate similar design cues into their own work or fashion their own renditions of those respected artisan's shapes. For Abe Herbaugh, Cornelius Mänz is one such admired pipe maker. We've seen the American artisan riff off of the German master's aesthetic a few times in the past (compare this Herbaugh bent Egg to this Mänz piece), and this Tomato from Abe possesses a similar origin of inspiration.

I've seen similar designs by Cornelius before, and Abe's rendition here is a beautiful homage, touching on the German carver's oft-seen shaping conventions. Squat and plump, the bowl is supported by a consistently sweeping undercurve that informs the abbreviated shank's upward-flicking orientation. At the shank, Herbaugh has initiated the piece's defining asymmetry: From an aerial vantage point, the shank face flares outward and tilts down toward the left, and when viewed from the smoker's perspective the bowl's heel curves higher at the right flank to balance out the shank face's cant. Such subtle touches testify to the American carver's artistic eye and deft craftsmanship, making this piece one to be analyzed over and over again — the smooth, walnut-stained rim and shank face combining for a classy contrast against the stummel's dark sandblast.