Abe Herbaugh: Smooth Tomato with Silver Bamboo (Crane) Tobacco Pipe

Since 2015, Smokingpipes has hosted the American Pipe-Making Exposition, celebrating the ingenuity and talent of artisan carvers across the United States. However, in 2024 the Exposition expanded to include all pipe makers around the world — the Global Pipe-Making Exposition, the first of its kind. Though broadened in participation, the Expo's format remained consistent with previous years: Artisans designed and fashioned pipes centered on a singular theme, distinct to each year, expressing the motif according to their own creative visions. For the first Global Pipe-Making Exposition, we returned to the Expo's very first theme: bamboo.

Throughout his career, Herbaugh has distinguished himself not only for his artistry and craftsmanship but also, specifically, for his silverwork. The American pipe maker regularly features silver on his pipes, hand-spinning the material from sheet silver, and he regularly pushes the boundaries of what's expected and considered possible in the world of pipes regarding silver accents. For the 2024 Expo, Herbaugh's pipe centers on his faculty with the precious metal, showcasing bamboo cast from silver.

Fashioning such an impressive accent involved creating a mold of an actual section of bamboo, sand-casting silver from that mold, and then fine-detailing the silver to perfectly match the bamboo's specific details. It's a beautiful juxtaposition and interplay between organic and metallic aesthetics, revealing the image of natural plant life but rendered from a material as firm, solid, and regal as silver. It's fitted to a squat and bulbous Tomato bowl, whose dipping heel and exposed plateau reveal Herbaugh's oft-seen approach to the shape, and the stem continues the silver motif with a bulbous base that merges seamlessly with the silver bamboo. This piece is a stunning feat of artistry and craftsmanship — a celebration of Herbaugh's renown in the industry — a beautiful compilation of harmonic shaping, handsome grain, and exemplary skill and precision.