diff --git a/tracing/src/main/java/com/palantir/tracing/Tracer.java b/tracing/src/main/java/com/palantir/tracing/Tracer.java
index d425b801c..a031493de 100644
--- a/tracing/src/main/java/com/palantir/tracing/Tracer.java
+++ b/tracing/src/main/java/com/palantir/tracing/Tracer.java
@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ private static Trace createTrace(
     }
 
     private static boolean shouldObserve(Observability observability) {
+        if (Tracer.isTraceObservable()) {
+            return true;
+        }
         // Simplified implementation of 'switch(observability) {' for fast inlining (30 bytes)
         return observability == Observability.SAMPLE || (observability == Observability.UNDECIDED && sampler.sample());
     }