Sam Adebayo: Smooth Acorn with Bakelite Tobacco Pipe
Product Number: 002-750-0061
Sam Adebayo is an American artisan who first picked up a pipe as a teenager, hoping to emulate the look of Jazz greats such as Charles Mingus or Eric Dolphy. As he gathered experience with his pipes, however, this passing interest intensified and his smoking became serious, his shape tastes turning to the Anglo-French classics. Finding that he couldn't afford the pipes he desired, he began carving as many great artisans do, by making those pipes that were otherwise unattainable and smoking them himself. The first hundred pipes he made were for himself and his friends, and as he began selling his pipes, Adebayo has enjoyed a reputation for high-quality shaping, finishing, and engineering. His shaping style draws from a number of sources, such as Todd Johnson, Bruce Weaver, and Hiroyuki Tokutomi, though Sam's style shines clearly through each one of his works.
This Acorn is a hearty pipe, one with ample substance both stylistically and in the hand, its stocky build contributing to a substantial heft. In addition, the silhouette of this piece is quite different compared to most other Acorns, maintaining the form's iconic heel spur and softly domed bowl shaping, but trading the standard spur for one defined by a firm, curling ridgeline. This ridge provides the illusion of a pointed sharpness from the flanks, and while the line work is sharp and reliably draws the eye to the fore, it continues through the flanks of the shank in an extremely understated fashion. The line can be felt through the entire length of the shank, flanking its subtly asymmetrical, ovoid flare out of the transition and continuing into the stem, though visually it dissipates just beyond the transition. The bowl this ridge supports takes on an expressive flare out toward its plump rim, this rim crowned by a wreath of plateau which has been sanded a bit to reveal the birdseye concealed beneath. It's showcased by a warm, rich stain that additionally unveils flame grain through the bowl's flanks, its hues matched nicely by the stem's coffee-hued Bakelite.
-John McElheny







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SoldMeasurements & Other Details
- Length: 5.63 in./143.00 mm.
- Weight: 2.28 oz./64.78 g.
- Bowl Height: 1.92 in./48.77 mm.
- Chamber Depth: 1.35 in./34.29 mm.
- Chamber Diameter: 0.75 in./19.05 mm.
- Outside Diameter: 1.89 in./48.01 mm.
- Stem Material: Bakelite
- Filter: None
- Shape: Acorn/Pear
- Finish: Smooth
- Material: Briar
- Country: United States