Abe Herbaugh Sandblasted Brandy w/ Silver Estate Briar Pipe, American Estates

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.

I think this is our first ever Abe Herbaugh estate pipe—the first of many, I hope—and it’s a great one to start with. Stylistically, Herbaugh is not shy about his influences, and like many of his generation he has a profound admiration for the Danish and Japanese greats of high-grade pipes. In the case of this pipe, the major point of reference in that regard would probably be Jørn Micke, a Dane who, during his own lifetime, was most successful in Japan. Micke was a master of organic forms, perhaps more so than any of his Scandinavian contemporaries, and his designs often simultaneously slightly stubby and incredibly bulbous. They also often possessed “swooping” figures that seemed to fall and rise with all of the momentum gestured at by that heft. Such qualities are reflected wonderfully in this brandy-ish scoop rendition from Herbaugh, and while there’s also a touch of the later Jess Chonowitsch to it, I’d imagine, given Herbaugh’s expressed preferences, that its “roots” are, like Micke, a little older.

On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Micke sandblasted with quite as much beautiful ferocity as this pipe, and while he did dabble with silver, I doubt he was ever as adept with it as Herbaugh is.

The condition is great. Minor darkening and finish fading on the rim.

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.43″ / 36.32mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g