My name is Makis Minetos and I live in Patras Greece. A city of 300.000 people located at the South West of Greece.

I am 38 years old and I am a third generation Briar Wood cutter.

My grand father learned the art before WWII from Italian artisans and was working for various factories that their primary purpose was to supply Europe and United States  with raw material for pipe making.

He taught his son, my father and his brother ,the art  of cutting briar and all worked in a factory part owned by an Austrian trader named Otto Brown.

When the owners of this company decided  each to fallow his own way in 1972 my grandfather  my father and his brother along with few other cutters decided to start a sawmill of their own.

Thus ACHAIKI was born!

Achaiki-Amadeus S.A., as the current name is, is now one of the biggest, if not the biggest supplier of Briar Wood Blocks in the world with clients like STANWELL, VAUEN, DB,TSUGE,  BJARNE(unfortunately he left us early..), DAN PIPE  and P.E. HERMANN in Denmark as well as smaller artists like Ian Walker of NORTHEN BRIAR and some other pipe makers in Greece and around the world.