Smoker’s Haven is a legend in the pipe community and it’s been owned by the Chheda family for nearly four decades now. Like so many American stories, this story begins with an American dream and becomes story of immigration and WWII.
The dream with entrepreneur Joe Zieve, who fancied himself a purveyor of all things high-end. The idea was to embody luxury, so that any product he slid across the counter was the best on the market. In the early 1940’s, he brought the concept to life.
If Joe Zieve had a good idea, the global conflict made it a great one. Deployed to England, the epicenter of the tobacco world, he formed exclusive contacts with Dunhill, GBD, Charatan, and Sobranie, and stocked his shop with top-shelf pipes and small batch tobaccos.
“He worked in exclusives,” Premal explained. “He had phenomenal old-world tobaccos blended just for him. And when he bought pipes, he picked a certain shape and finish and he’d buy the entire stock and have them branded as Smoker’s Haven pipes.”
Zeive’s mailer ads boasted full-sized color images of available pipes, which kept traffic funneling into the Haven even during the tougher times. “He was a genius when it came to staying relevant. If I had his mind for marketing, I probably would have made a whole lot more money than I have.”
In the 1970’s, Zieve’s American dream was fulfilled and he decided he wanted to sell. In the early 1980’s, he did. “He sold it to a group of business people. Lawyers, mostly, and they were pretty hands-off. There was one guy, though, who I believe was an engineer. He tried, but times were tough.”
As the pipe game waned in the second half of the century, factories closed or laid off workers, artisan skills vanished, and formerly high-end brands slipped into mediocrity. Cigars hadn’t boomed yet either, so by the late 1980’s, Smoker’s Haven was sold again.
“That’s where my dad comes in.”
Arvind Chheda was born in the late 1930’s in Matunga, Mumbai, India. After completing his post-grad in Atlanta then slipping back to India for a “not quite arranged marriage,” he became a business professor in Springfield, Ohio.
“He didn’t just want to teach business,” Premal said. “He wanted to be a real entrepreneur in the land of opportunity, and it wasn’t a love for tobacco in particular,” Premal explained. “He smoked cigars and cigarettes – which were way different back then, by the way. But the market was slumping and people wanted out, but my dad knew it would turn around if given time.”
Arvnd bought a small tobacconist in Springfield and a couple years later, he snatched up Camelot Cigars, which touted a full walk-in humidor amid Arthurian decor, from purple shag carpets to a reclaimed barn wall.
When Smoker’s Haven went up for sale, he nabbed it. He plucked up his family and replanted their lives in Columbus. “Walking into Smoker’s Haven felt different to me. There was a wall of pipes and even though I was just a kid, something about them drew me in.”
Premal helped customers, ran the register, and even swept the floors before scurrying off to the local arcade. “It was good for me,” Premal said. “I loved that shop. A year later, an old tobacco shop in the nearby convention center closed up and they left everything behind, even the displays, so my dad scooped it up and opened a second Smoker’s Haven just a few miles away.”
In the 90’s, Arvnd offloaded the Springfield shops to focus solely on the Haven. Premal enrolled at Ohio State as both the cigar craze and the non-smoking bans got fully underway. One of their locations, nestled in the historic Huntington Bank building, lost its lease as a result.
“That gave me an idea,” Premal said. “My senior year and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I hadn’t planned on going into tobacco, but we’d just closed up one shop and I saw a retail space come available just across from campus and so I ran the numbers. How much rent would cost, how much product could fit, how much space we’d have.”
Like his father, Premal had been saving nonstop. “I went to him and showed him what I found. I said to him, I don’t need much. I’ve got a little money, so I can buy some inventory from you and I’d like to clear out that storage space from the old shop and then you can stop paying a monthly fee on that too. He was ecstatic.”
But Arvnd gave his son something more valuable than inventory: contacts. “I was able to get products on term. It let me stock the store with small batch cigarettes and cigars and pipes and gifts. I ran the store myself from 9 to 9 and we were profitable within a year. Not super profitable, but still!”
The new century found Arvnd in his 60’s and Premal nearing 30. Smoking bans, online retail, and the rise of American carving converged, challenging Premal Chheda to find his footing as he was taking over the Haven. “Small batch cigarettes were gone, people didn’t buy cigars online, and tobacco retail was taking a big hit. I had to make some tough decisions, so I doubled down on pipes.”
The Danes conceptualized the freehand pipe in the 60’s, reinventing the ancient passtime in an artistic movement that was cresting in the States. Premal decided that he wasn’t just going to carry these new beauties. He was going to make them, too.
Delving into this new American craft gave him the chance to evolve, both as retailer and as artisan. It even brought him back to one of Zieve’s old tricks. Where Joe Zieve distributed flyers featuring full-size images, Premal took the pipe game online.
“It basically just meant uploading an image or two, then somebody would call and say hey, I want that one. Then I’d mail it to them. But at the time, it felt revolutionary.”
He also reestablished contacts with old-world blenders to bring back those elusive, exclusive Smoker’s Haven blends, to great result. (On the current resale market, half a pound of Premal’s specialty blends will set you back four figures.)
Premal became both a pipe maker and a teacher. He uploaded tutorials, acquired and distributed raw materials and tooling, and he’s since become a supplier for the burgeoning American DIY pipe scene. “It’s not just about the money,” he said. “I love pipes, I love the American pipe community, and I mean to elevate the quality of pipes made here in the US.”
“My focus shifted,” he said. “The retail front was eating up all my time. I couldn’t make pipes or teach new pipe makers if I was stuck behind a counter all day. Plus, I was selling more pipes on Ebay and the Smoker’s Haven website than I was in the store. It just made sense to close the doors, rent a bigger shop space, and put it all online.”
Premal launched the affordable and approachable Buckeye Pipes, as well as his specialty Chheda Pipes for collectors and purveyors of fine pieces. Carrying Smoker’s Haven into the modern world hasn’t been easy, but the Chheda family has performed the task with finesse.
The legacy of Smoker’s Haven continues on two fronts. Joe Zieve embodied old-world luxury, running an American brick and mortar chock full of England’s finest wares. Arvnd Chheda embodied hard work, lasting conversations, and customer service.
Smoker’s Haven still stands for luxury, but now it’s online, and some of the finest pipes in the world are made right here in the USA. Whether you want to collect them, smoke them, or make them yourself, Premal is itching to help.
