Abe Herbaugh Sandblasted Billiard with Musk Ox Horn (Estate)

Abe Herbaugh is, at present, one of America’s foremost artisan pipe makers, and that doesn’t look like it’ll change any time soon. By the time he left high school, Herbaugh already had something of an informal education in woodworking thanks to his father, though his mastery of wood, metals, and a variety of other materials can also be traced to the career that he originally pursued as an adult. One of his first jobs was as a guitar repairman in his home state of West Virginia, and as anyone who’s ever cared for a six-string in their life will tell you, that’s not something you leave to an amateur. Having excelled at guitar repair, Herbaugh subsequently graduated to becoming a fully-fledged luthier. Now he was not only repairing instruments, but also building them, from the shaping of the body, to the milling and slotting of the fretboard, to the wiring of pickups and other electronic systems.

Unsurprisingly, Herbaugh also turned out to be a natural at pipe making when he turned his attention to it in the 2000s. In that regard, his education was a mixture of studying and replicating estate pipes from his local tobacconist, and spending time with a few of the seasoned pipe makers in the contemporary American scene, such as Premal Chheda and Steve Norse. At the end of the 2000s, he began attending shows, and not long after, his work was attracting so much attention and acclaim that he was able to step away from his work as a luthier and become a full-time pipe maker. Many aspiring artisans have come and gone in the time since; Herbaugh, on the other hand, hasn’t gone anywhere but up.

Here we have an example of one of Herbaugh’s excellent renditions of a Scandi-American billiard, featuring a material that is especially prominent in his output: musk ox horn. Horn is, of course, quite common in pipe making, and has been for centuries, though the musk ox variety is quite notable for its pearly sheen. In the context of this pipe, it’s especially nice, as each component—the bowl, the mouthpiece, and the musk ox accent—possesses its own palette of contrasting hues, serving as both mirrors and foils to each other.

The condition is very good. Minor darkening and finish fading on the rim. This pipe comes with its original sleeve.

Details:

Length: 5″ / 127mm

Bowl Width: 0.74 / 18.79mm

Bowl Depth: 1.53″ / 38.86mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g