New Neighbors Shocked to Discover What Tobacco Shop Sells

Ann Arbor — For decades, walking through the storied Nickels Arcade meant you might smell some pipe or cigar smoke seeping out from resident tobacco shop Maison Edwards—until earlier this year.

Since May, smoking at the shop is done forever. There’s one less place to enjoy a great cigar in the city when the weather gets cold. But maybe more important is what it says about the city of Ann Arbor more broadly.

What we know is that some other businesses nearby complained. The older man working the store told me as much. Just like that, a smoke shop that’s been around for 60 years was told to halt a crucial part of its business.

Whining about tobacco smoke is pretty ironic, given this is a city where at least half of residents under age 22 reek of weed.

The soft-spoken man behind the counter didn’t want to talk about it. He said it wouldn’t help him at all. I understand that. He’s not trying to make any trouble with others in the same building or the property managers.

I’m happy to, though. I don’t have any skin in the game.

There are historic shops in Nickels Arcade, decades of history that seamlessly blend into the architecture and feel of the place: Maison Edwards, Arcade Barbers, Van Boven Clothing, Arcadian Antiques.

And then there are others that are new and slick: Bon Bon Bon, Comet Coffee, One DNA. There’s a modern edge to these establishments in their design and layout. You’ve seen them before anywhere and everywhere because they lack character.

Maison Edwards has it in spades. There is a wall of shaving products that would elevate the morning ritual of any man filled with aftershaves, razor blades, hair products, and more.

Then they have their pipe tobacco to the left (they make their own blends), and in the back of the store is the smallest walk-in humidor I’ve ever seen. It holds a great selection, but you go in one at a time.

There are decades of history in this place, with its decorations and dark wood accents frozen in time. There’s still a lingering smoke smell. The layout is not sleek. It’s real. And it’s primarily for men.

There aren’t many places like this these days. And I can tell you from experience that cigar lounges foster friendship between strangers, because you sit and talk for an hour or two. That’s enough time to make real connections.

But much of that camaraderie is now gone.

I keep asking myself: What business would sign a lease near an iconic tobacco shop that’s been there for 60 years only to complain about the smell of the smoke?

Some of the slick stores in Nickels Arcade have a pride flag on the window to show they are inclusive and welcoming to all genders.

There’s an unspoken code of progressive values seemingly incompatible with the history of this place.

At the center of it is the idea that our preferences determine reality, and we can control those around us by forcing them to comply with those preferences. It’s tyranny, just at a small scale.

Maison Edwards and its patrons pay the most in this case, but we all lose.