One of the artisan carvers at the BriarWorks factory, Sam Adebayo first began making pipes as a hobby, completing around 100 of them for friends and acquaintances before he seriously considered "going public," as it were. Previous to that, he was no stranger to pipes, having picked up his first while still a teenager, though he didn't really get serious about them until his early twenties. As he puts it, his first briar was acquired simply because he thought it would make him "a cool jazz cat like Mingus or Dolphy." As his pipe-related intentions matured, his tastes turned towards classic English smoking instruments, and the inspiration to make pipes himself grew from a desire we've heard before in the backgrounds of a few greats: he desired pipes he couldn't afford to purchase. So, he would try making those pipes he desired instead.
As a pipemaker Sam's influences are numerous: Todd Johnson, Rad Davis, Tyler Beard, Bruce Weaver, and Adam Remington are artisans he got to know personally from attending the Chicago show, while he also expresses admiration for the work of Tokutomi, Adam Davidson, Abe Herbaugh, and Chris Asteriou. When Sam isn't busy making his own pipes, he's busy seeing to the making of other pipes — he also happens to be the Production Supervisor for BriarWorks International. This has afforded him the chance to work right beside Todd Johnson, Pete Prevost, Micah Redmond, and Bill Shalosky. Plus, it's also there at the BriarWorks fully kitted-out workshop that they all often stay late, after the regular workday is done, to create pipes of their own.