Brick and Mortar: Uhle’s Tobacco Company
Years ago, around the time when I first started smoking pipes, my wife and I visited the Bristol Renaissance Faire and I was immediately drawn to Danny Boy Pipes’ booth as soon as I laid eyes on it. I didn’t have the money for one of their pipes at the time, but I smelled samples of the tobacco they offered and ended up purchasing a few blends. One of the blends I picked out, Golden Shag, turned out to be, and still is, my favorite blend of tobacco. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was a blend made by Uhle’s Tobacco Company.
From my first interaction with Uhle’s, they were very warm and receptive to meeting me and showing me their operations. I was excited to see where my favorite blend came from and meet the folks who ran the place.
Uhle’s is a wonderful gem located on the edge of the Milwaukee River and catches the eyes of passersby amidst the beautiful Renaissance and Victorian architecture that adorns the skyline of Milwaukee. Passing the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower, City Hall, and viewing the Mitchell Building sitting just across from Uhle’s were just a few perks of my visit. The sign reading “UHLE’S TOBACCO COMPANY – FINEST CIGARS AND TOBACCO” floats over the smooth, green brick façade and expansive open windows displaying all sorts of tobacco antiques and memorabilia, pulling patrons toward the entrance as the faint waft of tobacco smoke gets stronger and stronger the closer one gets.
As soon as I stepped through the threshold, I knew that I was not in your average tobacco shop. Uhle’s is not just a tobacco shop – it is a tobacco lounge, which are very few and far between these days. The smell of cigar and pipe smoke permeated the shop as I was enthusiastically greeted by Scott, who was working the register, and Jeff, who was sitting at one of the lounge counters with a half-smoked Maduro in his hand. Jeff was eager to show me around the shop and discuss our shared love of tobacco.
Jeff Steinbock, owner and President of Uhle’s Tobacco Company, is a gentleman’s gentleman. Originally from Des Plaines, IL, Jeff moved to Wisconsin in 1974 and started working for Jack Uhle. He became store manager in 1979 and, along with his brother, bought the store from Jack in 1982. Jeff has been in the business a long time, which he makes very apparent with his articulate knowledge of not only his products and how they’re manufactured, but also of the business and how it has changed over the years.
“I don’t have a walk-in humidor,” Jeff told me. “I used to buy wine and I’d go into a cellar and see all these different wines, and it was overwhelming. So I just stuck with what I knew. You never step out of your comfort zone. But with a display like this,” he said, gesturing toward the numerous humidified cases that sprawled across the front of the shop, “you get to talk to people. Make suggestions. Sometimes they might find something better than what they’ve always liked.”
It became quite apparent very quickly that the goal of Jeff’s business is to keep its customers engaged, which is perpetuated by his employees. Uhle’s isn’t just about pushing as much tobacco as it can, it’s about giving its customers an experience.
Jeff showed me his wall of fame, with signed headshots of Jerry Seinfeld, Lionel Ritchie, Jim Babjak, Bill Cosby, and many others. The authenticity of his business was fortified as he showed me his warehouse, which included a well-used workbench for hand-blending tobacco.
“It’s all hand-blended right here. We buy tobacco in bulks, whether it’s Burley, a Virginia, something like that. The recipes are all according to weight. We weigh it out and blend it. The oldest one is Blend 255 which goes back to 1937. It even predates Uhle’s. That’s when Jack took over and went to the 300, and back then it was pretty much all Burley.”
Coming out of the warehouse, up the staircase into the shop, we broke off into another lounge that included Jeff’s guitar collection – some of which he hand-made himself. He let me play one guitar in particular that was made out of old tobacco display cases.
“And we got this one. Pat Simmons from the Doobie Brothers signed it. Jim Babjak signed it. That was pretty cool – Pat Simmons doing riffs on my homemade guitar.”
When I asked Jeff about his plans for the future of Uhle’s, he said that he really enjoys running the business and plans to be there as long as he can, but his son Dave is next up to take over the business. Dave currently works for Uhle’s and is a pipe aficionado.
“We’ve got a really good staff here – and not a lot of turnover. Like last year when we had to shut down, we were able to keep Scott and Dave here during that time. And the others came back.”
Jeff is no stranger to challenges, as the tobacco industry has weathered a slew of regulations over the years – and not just limited to cigarettes. “We’ve had a lot of challenges. Taxations and regulations. In 2015, I used to be on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Tobacco Outlets. The FDA was considering outlawing flavors in tobaccos, and I told them that by doing that, they would be eliminating the entire pipe tobacco market because most pipe tobaccos have some sort of flavoring in them. In 2008, roll-your-own and pipe tobacco were both federally taxed at $1.10/lb. We were told pipe tobacco might double, and roll-your-own might go up to $5.00-$6.00/lb. Pipe tobacco went up to $2.83/lb and roll-your-own went up to $24.78/lb. I told ‘em, ‘You put the decimal in the wrong spot!’”
As Jeff looked through a few articles on our website, he noticed my review of OHM Menthol. “You see, that OHM is actually a roll-your-own. It was a little harsh, wasn’t it?” he said, chuckling a bit. Many roll-your-own tobaccos eventually ended up switching to calling themselves pipe tobacco just to avoid the taxes and regulations imposed on them.
Jeff’s employees uphold his customer-centric approach. I talked with Scott, who has recently been building a presence on social media using the moniker Cigar Shop Scott. His content includes products sold at Uhle’s and how-to videos for cigar and pipe smoking. Scott represents Uhle’s superbly with his extensive knowledge of cigars. After offering me a Uhle’s house brand corona, Scott couldn’t help but correct me on my cigar-lighting technique.
“If you point it down, you have a chance of getting smoke in your eyes and it puts too much heat on the inside of the cigar. If you go straight across, you have a better chance of just getting that tip on fire instead of getting the inside heated up. Turn it around, blow on it, check your work.”
Scott’s impressive knowledge of cigars and tobacco comes from a life spent around tobacco products, including the five years he’s worked at Uhle’s. “My dad owned a different cigar shop. It’s now Metro Cigars Brookfield, but it used to be Jack’s Tobacco. My first job was when I was like twelve or thirteen; I was bagging pipe tobacco for my dad. Weighing it out using the triple beam scale and everything. I grew up in cigars so I knew the stuff pretty well before I smoked it.”
Part of Uhle’s secret to success is its seamless ability to connect to its customers in all facets. Scott demonstrated the staff’s devotion to its customers when I asked him what his favorite part about working for Uhle’s was: “We’re gonna try to learn your name. Like come in two or three different times, on the third time, I’m gonna be like…’David!’ When you get people to come back repeatedly and they feel like they’re a member, that’s great. One of my favorite things is helping someone with their first time smoking. Or when they’ve smoked like two cigars and they don’t know what they’re doing.”
As I sat in the lounge and smoked my Uhle’s corona while I jotted down some notes, I chatted up one of the other patrons, Steve, who was a regular to Uhle’s. He was relatively new to smoking, but loved the support that Uhle’s had to offer.
“I started smoking cigars probably like, three months ago. I only really like to smoke pipes or cigars here. I don’t really smoke when I’m at home. I mainly smoke here because I just like the people and the atmosphere. It’s just a lot better than when I’m by myself.”
Hearing that from another customer is what sealed my opinion of Uhle’s outstanding customer relationships.
I spent a fair amount of time sitting in Uhle’s lounge, looking at the glass cases full of pipes and hunks of briar sitting on the shelves, listening to the chatter of staff and patrons, appreciating the lack of news on the TV’s (which Jeff is very particular about), trying to think of how exactly I could convey the atmosphere, friendliness, and outstanding quality of this family-owned tobacco lounge in my article. It’s a tough job because there’s nothing quite like visiting a brick-and-mortar shop that is so evidently driven with passion for the product and customers.
With that, I urge the reader – if you are ever in the Milwaukee area, take the time to visit Uhle’s and say hello to the staff. It is absolutely worth the experience. And tell them Bourbon Tobacco Wine sent you!
With the structure of today’s society leaning so heavily on cold, accessible corporate merchandise, it is easy to forget that at the heart of America’s capitalism exists family-owned businesses that are unique and impassioned.
I’ve spent many visits to mediocre tobacco outlets where I am either not greeted or pestered throughout the store, so I was unsure what my visit to Uhle’s would hold for me. And I must say, my trip inspired a new recognition and appreciation for enthusiastic, devoted, brick-and-mortar, family-owned businesses.
