Maison Edwards Tobacconist

Maison Edwards is one of the few old school Tobacconist still existing in the Midwest. Great hand blended pipe tobaccos, good selection of cigars, shaving accessories, pipes, and cigarettes. I started first going there in 1983, when it was still owned by the Edwards. After 1985 Chuck Ghawi, the new owner, preserved the store as it was. Very little has changed in over 30 years. Great products, great service. Like stepping back in time when you cross the threshold to this unique place. Highly recommend a visit.

I like Chuck and his staff are nice, completely ignorant of pipes and tobacco, but nice kids. It’s a shadow of its former self. The «house blends» are dried out baggies of shake. The cigar selection is very limited and his prices are ridiculously high. He explains that this is because of his location… silly. Go elsewhere or online for your needs for a better deal and choice. I used to shop there regularly but haven’t gone more than 5 times in the last 20 years because of the decline. Compare the price of Frog Morton there to any decent online store, over 100% higher.

Everything you could possibly want in product, experience, and ambience. Perfection. I’m sad it’s not open 24 hours a day.

Not a very big selection as far as cigars. The place is really small, and there’s not a lot of places to sit. If you’re in the area and need a quick stick it might work for you. However, you probably won’t be able to relax in there much. The counters and merchandise take up way too much room.

One of the nicest shops in town, even if you don’t smoke. The owner, Chuck, is friendly and kind, loves to talk about politics, and has great taste for cigars at any price point. I have shopped here since 1998.

Not a smoker but I appreciate a local brick and mortar location for some wet shaving equipment. The atmosphere is pleasant and there’s usually an interesting crowd milling around. It’s good to hold some of the stuff in your hand and get a feel for the different scents available in creams/​soaps/​aftershaves. It also gives you a base to build from if you want to dive in the deep end of online traditional shaving equipment and accessories. Which for some reason very few people seem to be able to resist doing.

I was never a pack-​a-​day person but there was a time when I veered dangerously close. I also had a cigarette-​obsessed roommate for two years who had me try all sorts of brands and lectured me about all the nuances in tobacco. In one ear and out the other (though I’m sure I still have some in my lungs).
Maison Edwards is pretty awesome even for the quitter. Super old-​timey and cozy. A place to smoke a pipe and stroke your mustache. There are almost always people sitting in the two seats inside just smoking away. Whiling away the hours of the day. I wouldn’t mind having that ritual.
The lady behind the counter is also almost always smoking cigarettes. Good to know she knows her merch. And she does. They have a huge selection of loose rolling tobacco and you tell her what you’re looking for, she’ll find it. They also have a nice selection of lighters (from bics to really really nice $ 200 classy-​as-​hell fire givers).
Even though I have experience with tobacco the overall air of the place is obscured by a veil of untouchable expertise. Clerks aren’t snobby here, don’t get me wrong. But the social ambience is kind of intimidating. Partly because there is a kind of exuded l’ennui (more like the seasoned boredom kind than the woe-​is-​me kind).
Ready for the nit-​picking? For a specialty store, I kind of want to see some seriously rare imported cigarettes. Like I want to see my Mexican Ovalados (er, I’m missing a letter or two there) or some Russian harsh-​cancer-​in-​a-​stick. I know importing, especially cigarettes and alcohol, is absolutely nuts. And maybe the laws are in part to blame. But I want to be wowed.
For loose rolling tobacco this place can’t be beat. For earthy and old-​timey ambience, this place can’t be beat. Service could be a little more welcoming and selection could be more exotic.

I went back recently and I must have encountered the store owner. He was friendly, attentive and helpful. Not the surly younger clerk at the counter during my last two visits. It’s nice to have a place for decent cigars downtown Ann Arbor.

I should preface my review with the fact that I haven’t been back there since 2005. So I don’t think I have ever been to a better tobacconist in my life. I am a ryo (roll your own) smoker and this place is the mecca for great tobacco products. They also sell an incredibly large line of cigarettes from all over the world. And they sell them in loosey form too so you can try something to see if you like them.
I miss this place terribly and their incredible selection.

The only bad thing about this shop is that it’s located in Ann Arbor, MI — and I live in Lafayette, IN. :D I was in Ann Arbor on a mini-​vacation with my wife, and we stopped in to check things out. Left with very nice pipes for each of us, and a 2 ounce pouch of a very nice tobacco blend to smoke in them.
We’ll back for sure next time we’re in town. Now to find out if they can ship more of that tobacco blend for when we run out.

I’m here a few times a week… so I guess I can consider myself a regular.
The people who work here and who frequent the spot are the *best* thing about Maison Edwards. If I only have 5 minutes, 15, 30, an hour… find your favorite smoke, find a new smoke, and definitely talk to whoever’s around.
I’m still working on one day seeing the VIP room for VIP people (teehee), but I think I need to work on smoking cigars first.
Cheers!

Maison Edwards defines 5-​star service.
Going in and seeing the owner, Chuck is truly a pleasure.
I always walk out in a great mood and it’s because of the interaction
with someone who is an expert in his profession and at customer service.
I have been looking for a shaving crème called «Cremo Cream» when it dawned on me to call Maison Edwards. Of course, Chuck had it and I was thrilled to buy it locally.
Maison Edwards has a great line of shaving products, «grooming products», some great natural colognes, and of course all things tobacco.
They have badger shaving brushes, beautifully crafted scissors, etc.

I found myself in this Nickel’s Arcade shop not for tobacco but because they also sell classic shaving supplies. I was hoping to making a purchase on a classic razor and I was not disappointed. I spoke to young man (Steve, Jim, or Tim) I think and he hooked me up with the right shaving tool and plenty of advice.
He could’ve up-​sold me but he had enough courtesy to cater my needs. I was really pleased (with the selection, the service, and my next shave!)
It’s a place for a gentlemen’s gentleman, but there were ladies in the shop who received the same courtesy I did.
Like I alluded to before, I’m not a smoker, but I’ll definitely be back.

For the sake of inclusion in my Hark!-itecture list, I should also mention that this storefront is located in the charming, historic Nichols arcade. The atmosphere of the store itself is so fitting for that old-​timey shopping center — the smell of the cigars, the antique posters, the tile floor, the glass cases full of fancy brushes and shaving kits. It will make you long for that era when anyone could smoke anywhere and no one worried about it.

For someone who doesn’t actually smoke, I loved the smell and feel of this shop. It smells sweetly of scented pipe tobacco, and it feels like you’ve walked into an Old Gentleman’s Club from around 1900. They sell old shaving kits and other luxury goods in addition to cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, pipes, pipe tobacco and rolling papers.
The staff seem nice and knowledgeable. On a recent visit, they were talking with some patrons when I arrived, making suggestions about some imported cigarettes and how they were packaged.
As a previous reviewer mentioned, they have a rack of cigarettes that can be bought singly. They included a lot of more obscure European brands and some cloves, and they’re priced at 75 cents each.

I used to frequent this place once a day when I was a smoker. My routine included getting an espresso drink from Café Ambrosia, setting my bag down at an outdoor table, then running into Nickel’s Arcade so I could buy a loosey over at Maison Edwards.
That’s right folks: you can buy single cigarettes here. And it’s quite beautiful because you can choose between different brands so you can vary it up, unlike buying a pack where you’re stuck with the whole pack. My favorites were the Nat Sherman Classics. An excellent one to try if you like your cigarettes harsh but good is the Mild Seven Internationals with the charcoal filter. Those are quality!
The atmosphere is great. You’ll probably walk into some hearty conversation between some husky dudes smoking pipes. It has really nice gift items also — old school brushes and combs, shaving kits, lighters. If you roll your own tobacco, like I sometimes did, they have a variety of papers, rolling tobacco, and filters. It’s the one stop smoker’s dream.

Yes, the «walk-​in humidor» is the size of a closet, but it’s well-​stocked. And there may be other smoke shops here and there, but how many of them can you walk into and find a bunch of guys relaxing in easy chairs and puffing on their stogies? Across the street from the campus?
These guys know what they’re doing, because they’ve been here doing it since the 1960s. If you don’t know what you want to smoke they’ll help you find a starter cigar, and if you do know what you like they can point out some new brands that are right up your alley. They can also set you up with pipe tobacco, pipes and other smoking supplies.
Don’t look for a web page – they still have a rotary dial phone.