Ash’s Smoke Shop

NOT A VAPE SHOP AT ALL!!! 99% tobacco have a very small actual juice selection.

These guys are crooks, bought an expensive vaporizer. 2 days later it stopped working, tried to exchange. they were less than helpful. even when I purchased it, they refused to give me a receipt. don’t waste your time or money.

The prices are decent, but the service is not. I have a lot of patience for retail. When customer volume is low, simple requests aren’t too tough.
It’s an ok place.

Been sitting waiting for them to open at 11 am per their website — it’s now 11:39 am — do they even care?

I wish I could leave a review without a star because that is how much this business has offended me. I have come into this business numerous times and a middle eastern man behind the counter has been on the phone SCREAMING at someone using terms like «faggot» «nigger» and «mother fucker» in the middle of the day. I live in the area and have walked by this business numerous times and heard the same screaming and terrible language. I have also dealt with other employees in there before the first screaming incident and they have been uniformed and extremely rude.
I will MOST DEFINITELY never shop there, ever and will happily go out of my way to a smoke shop in a different neighborhood to avoid supporting this business. I have never wanted a store to go out of business as badly as I do this one.

It’s like visiting a neighbor. Their hours are perfect, and they don’t act as it’s a privilege just to be in their store. Other places started out the same, but today they let you know who they prefer as customers. Another cigar shop, not far away, will ring you up in a hurry, and say, «Okay, see you later.», after you have bought a sale priced cigar. This other shop allows you to stay and smoke, but it’s obvious they prefer the high priced cigar customers to hang around.
Ash’s is the place to go for quality merchandise, staff who dispenses dignity and respect, and where they are always glad you came in.
Joe

Though this establishment had good low prices and adequate
service. Two times that i have used my credit card for purchases, within a week there have been fraudulent activity on my account. CC user’s beware.

This place carries a lot of products that I was having to go all the way to Boystown to get… and they have great prices. They have just about a ton of glass pipes and some great metal pipes, too. A great addition to the store would be to carry Lava Lamps. Great local smoke shop.

this smoke shop (by clark & foster) is cheaper than the one in wicker park.
i love me some hookah. and i pretty much refuse to smoke anything besides fantasia or starbuzz (bad experiences, gross flavors, headaches with other brands).
a small pack of the fantasia will run me about $ 4 here, but they asked me for $ 6 in wicker park. although. wicker park has a MUCH larger selection of flavors (including red velvet.yuuuum.).
also, i have one of the small colorful hookahs.
$ 25 here. $ 40 in WP. say whaaaat?
anyways.decent shop. they lack in variety, but always have something that i’m atleast interested in trying.
the guy at the counter will ALWAYS ask you to pay with cash. every single time. THAT is annoying.
but it’s conveniently located, and my cheapest route. so i’ll deal with having to tell him no every time.

Most stores try to gain customer trust and loyalty. This is not one of those stores. Every time I’ve purchased hardware from this store I’ve had to correct the clerk about the price tag. Sometimes they argue with me by telling me that they mislabeled it. Sometimes I’ll negotiate until I get the real price and sometimes I’m too tired to argue about it. I come here about once a week, too.
Most small purchases here are just a little overpriced which is valid, because there’s no competition nearby. They’ll have what you need. Don’t buy pieces here, though. They’re cheap-​looking, poor-​quality pieces that don’t deserve your lips. Also, go next door for cigars. They don’t know how to preserve them here.
This place is just another example of a lazy store that needs a dose of old fashioned capitalist competition to inspire itself to become a neighborhood favorite. But until then, they get 2 stars for convenience.

I’m a big cigar lover, too big to buy locally (can’t smoke 30%+ tobacco tax!). But there are times when I end up without a stogie.
I was glad to find a place, in walking distance, to purchase a few cigars when the need struck. But there is very little selection here and frankly, the humidor is so humid that all the cigars are overly moist, soft & spongy. Some ppl like their cigars like that — I’m not one of them.
I don’t like the fact that I have to let the cigars dryout before I can smoke them. There is a proper humidity to age cigars and another for smoking ‘em. cigar shops have to walk the fine line between the two.
Now, the best place to buy cigars in Chicago (IMHO) is Binney’s (cigars ready to smoke — re: properly cared for — at a good price) or better, Cigar King (ok, it’s in Evanston, but just a quick trip over the border)… they have the best prices and good selections. Blue Havana and Rwies have good selections also, but at a premium price.
As a cigar fan, I’m not a fan of Ashes… too limited a selection, too high in price, too poorly cared for cigars.

«Do you smoke??»
Always an awkward question.
But I do know someone who does smoke. And she rolls her own. And she’s European.
Buying a pack of Camel Light 100’s at Walgreen’s doesn’t cut it for her. We needed a place that could provide filters, papers, and a tobacco that she considered quality.
Ash’s is really quite near my flat. And despite the fact that there is a war on, she decided to splurge and use up her rations. She was very pleased with this shop, and I brought her here dozens of times.
The shop clerk was very friendly, and rather handsome. There was some loud music playing, which surprised me… given the fact that he was on his mobile part of the time.
Cigarettes are expensive. Period. Somehow rolling your own just makes it seem cheaper. Maybe it actually is.
I do know that seeing my Euro friend roll a cigarette, or eine zigarette, as she called it, in front of an outdoor café is super hot.
Should you need smokey supplies, I suggest visiting Ash’s. He sells other things too… water pipes, regular pipes, cigars, and kittens.
Just kidding. They don’t sell kittens. You can’t smoke them in a hookah.

I’m a spoiled dude.
I’ve been to the Humidor in Westmont and know what a GOOD shop is, and this is not one of em.
Yes they have cigars in a room (not really a humidor if the door is a porch door) but are mainly mid to low tier. Grabbed my two and left.
This is also a spot for you to go for all your one hitters and such.

Nice selection of hookas, tobacco, pipes… My friend and I stopped here and was fun to look at the assortment of tobacco and hookas! Very fun stuff :)

This place is a fucking gem for Wicker Park, that’s for sure.
I slipped in here randomly to grab some filtered tobacco tubes. $ 3 for a box of 250, which is a pretty damn awesome price. The guy in there also mentioned a 20% off sale for glass, and after a quick glance at the glass pieces they had to offer, I was already salivating. The pieces looked top-​notch, very clear, clean designs. Didn’t catch any initial prices on anything but the tubes I bought, however. I have a feeling they are quite reasonable, though.
They haven’t quite filled out their shelf space (seemingly because they are so new) but I’m looking forward to seeing how this place will grow. I was so in-​and-​out I didn’t really assess prices of tobacco or anything. I do remember them having some novelty ashtrays. Definitely must go back.

So it was crowded at Empire Liquors across the street and it felt like I was intruding on an all-​girls event with my group. Decided to step outside to get some air and saw Ash’s.
Apparently they just opened that location. Seems to be owned by the same people that own the other Ash’s. The guy who is running this store seemed really nice and I appreciated that they had Nat Sherman’s there. Although, I don’t smoke much if at all anymore I couldn’t refuse buying a pack as it was very cheap and they gave me a free lighter.
The guy also showed me his humidor and the selection wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t shabby either. If I actually wanted to kill myself earlier via smoking, I think I’d come here again.

To give them a fair shake, I’ve stopped back in a few times since my original review and admit that they’re growing. I was on a hunt for a pack of smokes (which may or not have been for me) and was able to find what I needed just a tad cheaper than another place up the street. Plus, they always throw in a free, albeit cheapo, lighter, so I count that as a bonus. They also offer the $ 1-​off discount when you purchase 2 packs. All that earns them a bump up to at least a mediocre rating.
I don’t know if they had it before or not, but they do carry loose tobacco. Makes sense to go with the hookahs, right? Frankly, I only noticed it because on one of my visits, someone else requested some of it. The selection certainly doesn’t stand out unless you’re browsing the entire store.
I’m still traumatized by the last humidor experience, though I may ease myself back that way again to revisit it and see what’s new. Look for yet another update in the future.

This is an update: I have recently given them a second chance when I went in to buy some pipe tobacco. The guy was helpful and nice, but he still needs to learn more about the products he carries. I honestly believe he doesn’t smoke. Oh well, this place is still very convenient for me. They carry a variety of products from glass pipes, dugouts, one-​hitters, and also regular briar tobacco pipes, cigars, cigarettes, and loose cigarette and pipe tobacco. So I have upped the rating from one to three stars. My original review is still here in it’s entirety (I was a little bit emotional at the time).
— — — — — — — — —
I usually buy my tobacco from Andersonville Wine and Spirits on the corner, but sometimes I buy something at Ash’s when the mood strikes. My wife and I try to shop locally, so we were excited to see a little tobacco shop pop up in our neighborhood. We mainly buy incense from this shop, but I have bought some loose tobacco and a cheap pipe from them.
When they first opened the place was bare, but lately they have added some comfy chairs with little side tables, and some art on the wall. It is a little more inviting now, but I still don’t see too many people go in there.
The reason I am giving them one star is because of an incident I had with them on Christmas Eve. I bought a necklace for my wife as a little «extra» fun gift. I know I shouldn’t expect much from a inexpensive necklace bought at a head-​uh I mean tobacco-​shop, but I didn’t expect the item to literally fall apart as I took it out of the bag when I got home.
So I decided to take it back and exchange it for something else. The guy behind the counter wouldn’t take it back. He remembered me, and I had the receipt, but he refused to work with me. He kept insisting that the necklace was fine when he put it in the bag. He did offer to sell me something else at a discount, but I didn’t want to spend more money, I just wanted to exchange the item. After more haggling, he pointed to a sign on the wall that says «All Sales Are Final.» I can understand the sale being final for a pipe or a cigar, but a necklace is a different story altogether. These guys clearly have a few things to learn about customer service.
As I walked out the door, I told the guy that he just lost two customers. We can buy cheap jewelry and incense from another shop down the street, and tobacco from Andersonville Wine and Spirits, who have exchanged defective items for me on several occasions.

I reserve the right to change the rating of this review at a later date.
This place has potential. But the first impression left a lot to be desired. A very small selection, Arab music blasting from the front counter and bare, white walls that made the store look like Hannibal Lectur’s cell.
They had a nice humidor, but the cigar stock was predictable. The guy behind the counter didn’t seem to know anything about cigars, but he was pleasant enough.
The one positive was that the man who was working the counter said that they wanted feedback from the cigar smokers in the area, so that they can decide what cigars to stock in the future. If that is the case, this could end up being a nice shop for the cigar smoker. They have only been open a month, so I will try them again sometime down the road.

This store is only a month old, and is still trying to find its niche. Is it a tobacconist or is it a head shop? Only time will tell. They’ve set up a humidor in the back of the shop, with a (still fairly small) selection of cigars. The front window is filled with hookahs. And a side case displays a variety of glass pipes and dugouts. Overall, the store is still pretty empty. I think the owner is just trying to hold on until he can build some sort of clientele. Good luck with that. I don’t smoke, but I was intrigued by the possibility of a good tobacco shop on the Clark Strip. But trying to build up a serious cigar and pipe shop while still playing to the toker crowd seems an uphill struggle. For now, I’ll withhold judgment and give the third star.