What a lovely shop. There's a lot going on here. Drinks and snacks, knives, swords and art. Lots of glass paraphernalia with wood and clay options too. Well lit and lots of cases to look through. All prices ranges but the best part are the people. The 2 men I worked with were so patient and helpful. They were knowledgeable and patient with the 101 questions I had. I recommend this shop highly whether you smoke tobacco or wacky tobaccy makes no difference. read more

They got the best supplies that you need and they always get me right, they are super nice and friendly, def hit them up and visit them for the best stuff. read more

My husband loves this place cause they Have all his VAPE JUICE that he is really picky about and he's grateful that they are able to get the flavor study he likes and they have the best customer service read more

Compared to the few vape smoke shops I have visited, this place definitely is considered on the pricier end. However, I just came here to purchase an atomizer and the front desk people were definitely very helpful. They know a lot and are enthusiastic to help. The atomizers were around 8 dollars ea, but they dont seem to stock them regularly as individual units. read more

Whelans Premium Cigars & Gifts - Atomizer - Tobacco Shops Near Me - Berkeley, California

How does a place like this stay in business? Guy working there is on the phone and disinterested in any customers. To the point of being extremely rude and arrogant. I wouldn't go back and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. This sort of behavior never makes sense to me. read more

Whelans Premium Cigars & Gifts - Outside - Tobacco Shops Near Me - Berkeley, California

I'll admit, this is foreign territory but I was enticed by an awesome 50% off Yelp check-in deal and decided to pick out a gift. Zack was very helpful and patient while I browsed the shop and even threw in a cute case for the same deal. Thanks for making it quick and easy (that's what she said?). You guys are boss. read more

Whelans Premium Cigars & Gifts - Pretty in Pink - Tobacco Shops Near Me - Berkeley, California

Seriously this place is crap. Everything is overpriced, debit is always down or costing money to use which is just sad and pathetic, and every single bowl (glass on glass) that I've bought has literally fallen apart. Not broken, just comes apart. They sell these bowls that are basically glued together in the middle, so one day when you go to pull the bowl out of your bong it just comes in half. Don't waste your money here, go to Puff Puff Pass in SF. They have actual good, cheap stuff. Getting anything here is like, well, you might as well use Wish.com read more

If you're in search of a good cigar ...this is "Not" the place to go. ... it may be ok for a pack of cigarettes, a bong or head shop paraphernalia....but the cigar selection is weak & overpriced. Prices aren't marked and the tall long haired kid with attitude seems to pull prices out of his behind..lol Then you go to the counter and of course, their card scanner doesn't work...they ask for cash or you can use their convenient ATM + fees. Ha read more

Yelp said they open at 9:00 AM. WRONG!!! Why do places spend so much time posting pictures of their products but then list inaccurate business hours. THIS MAKES NO SENSE!! read more

Wow! This place has the largest tobacco, cigar, vape juice and CBD selection I've seen on the shelf. Also some really nice glass. Love their instagram read more

Whelan's has apparently been around for more than 100 years and it remains a familiar site to a Telegraph Avenue area that has changed significantly over time. I remember coming in here for a Sunday NY Times, to browse through their magazine selection, and maybe pick up an empty cigar box for storage. I don't smoke, but I love the smell of tobacco in the morning. Whelan's has changed quite a bit since my day, as the periodicals have given way to a huge water pipe selection, and a more modern musical beat in the background. Only the tobacco section behind the counter has withstood the sands of time. I still like stopping in and looking around, even though time waits for no one. read more

12 bucks for a 10 to 10 millimeter adapter smaller than my pinky finger. Might as well have cut my dick off. What a Rip off. These people get off on overcharging college students. NOT WORTH RIP OFF PRICES. read more

Been looking for a Hookah and knew Whelan's had the largest selection. Thanks to angela l. and Angela S. for the great Yelps, I had confidence in the store. Mike really gave me the Hookah hookup with tobacco, coal, and tongs at reasonable price using the Yelp 50% Clearance deal! Also they have a great selection of homemade tobaccos. read more

Was a long time weekly+ customer, they kept trying to charge me more than I always would pay. Then they said their card reader was down, which was a lie, because they wanted cash only, making me use their ATM to buy my usual which charges extra. Then it turned out their card reader DID work, they just didn't want to use it. Then all of a sudden they randomly decided they will charge a dollar to use it (not for a small purchase either!). Apparently they want cash only but want to keep it on the down low. It's clear something shady is going on and the owner is trying to get away from paying taxes. Then again they tried to increase the price for me despite spending money here 3-4 times a week for a couple years. They lied again that the distributor increased the price they pay. These guys are liars. They don't appreciate return customers and are shady. So, they've lost my business. There are 4-5 shops in the same area that are so much better. read more

The staff is super knowledgeable of all the products and helped me pick out my new favorite piece! I would highly recommend stopping by if you want to add some unique and great quality items to your collection. read more

Great customer service, got a great deal for a bundle! Zack was very helpful, very large selection, and the store was very clean. Staff were wearing masks. read more

Whelans Premium Cigars & Gifts - Tobacco Shops Near Me - Berkeley, California

Today was my first time coming to this place & I don't think I would purchase my hookah sets from anywhere else ever again! I was referred by someone who said this place could give me a good deal. I drove from Daly City, and even though parking was a bit tough since it's right across from UC Berkeley, it was worth it. Immediately as I walked in I was greeted by Mike, and I think his mood put me into a better mood than I initially was coming in. He brought down about 6-8 hookah sets for me to look at -no complaints about me being so picky either! He seemed to be happy with his job or at least just happy helping people out. I chose a beautiful set finally, and he was able to give me an AMAZING deal. I paid $180 for my last hookah set (ONLY), but today I paid about $160, which included the set, cleaning supplies, a plastic hose, shisha, and coals! I am incredibly happy with the experience at this smoke shop, and it was definitely worth the drive to Berkeley! Sidenote: try their homemade shisha!! they all smell pretty good & the selection is awesome. THANKS AGAIN MIKE! :) read more

Logged into yelp for the first time in years just to write this. These guys are scammers. I left furious. Avoid altogether.

Great service!! Pretty safe covid protocols happy with my purchase. They have a good amount of selections and talked about all the differences on personal bubblers. Chose this little guy in the end. read more

Whelans Premium Cigars & Gifts - Tobacco Shops Near Me - Berkeley, California

Lot of choices, i like this place. Friendly guy helped me out to choose my pipe i thinkbhis name is Zack! Always have deals check them out! read more

Whelans Premium Cigars & Gifts - Tobacco Shops Near Me - Berkeley, California

Went in to buy a volcano and had a few questions. After initially going to big als where the guy knew nothing and told me to google my questions I went to Whelans. The guy was super helpful, answered all my questions and I wound up buying it from Whelans rather than big als. Really appreciate the knowledgeable staff especially when thinking about purchasing something worth $500-700. Not pushy and very nice. You customer service sold me. I will definitely be back. read more

I got the stick m17 by smok outta state and have tried every shop around and couldn't find the coils for them. Gave them a call said they had it got there and they searched high and low and then someone just got into work and knew right where it was and got me a fresh 5 pack they've won my business for sure read more

Whelans Premium Cigars & Gifts - Tobacco Shops Near Me - Berkeley, California

Good quality shiet! The quality of the shiet in this store is such good quality the glass is impeccably impeccable and oh my god their selection is top tier read more

Stay away from this place belive me Came in and spent $200 on the bong and then bought an extra downstem and it didn't fit tried to come back the next day and return it and exchange it for a different one and then the price of the new one changed from the day before. When i asked for a refund the gentleman with a bald spot on his head said that he couldn't return it and to leave. We got into an argument and he was super unprofessional when I asked him his name to tell the owner about his behavior he would not give it to me. Watch out for this individual he's an older man in his 40s and he is a snake do not buy your glass here because they will treat you like trash the next day. Also they lie about their 50% off deal when you arrived they say it's 50% off but they always change the price read more

Very friendly and quick service, they have a huge selection of products and a perfect location. Absolutely love this place!!

I'm pretty sure they are paying for reviews. Never have I seen a more overpriced shop in my life. They were open earlier than my usual spot so I thought I'd check it out. For two packs of ZYN's it was $24!!! That's insane. I waited a little and went down TWO BLOCKS and bought them for half the price. He lied to me and told me all the other shops raised their prices. I hope the karma hits hard buddy. read more

Love this place, we drive from El Cerrito passed many smoke shops to get to their homemade tobacco! Good prices, great service, knowledgeable staff! read more

I am a former fan of Whelans who bought two hookahs there and made it my go to spot for hookah sheesh (due to their homemade molasses blends). This place used to be loyal to their customers and even rewarded people who had purchased their hookah there with a 10% discount. Well sadly, something has gone seriously wrong at Whelans, I'm not sure if there has been a change of management or something, but this place has become an example of poor customer service and a scheming smoke shop. The last time I went in I was being up sold on a new item that they were touting which was a "cooled" hose for the hookah that is supposed to give you cleaner hits. The staff seemed irritated when I did not sound impressed by this "amazing hose" they were trying to sell me. I then tried to simply buy the tobacco I had come for and reminded them that I had bought my hookah from them and asked them for the 10% discount that they had always given in the past. Suddenly they acted like they could not do it and after a bit of discussion decided to give it to me on the much cheaper part of my purchase ($1.99 coals rather than the $10 sheesh). This episode seemed to be directly related to me not buying the hose (which is probably highly marked up) and left a bad taste in my mouth. I am done with Whelans and I would suggest taking your business elsewhere if your looking for hookah supplies. read more

A lot of smoke shop employees are like the retail versions of strippers hustling for lap dances, and with both cases, the pressure varies from place to place in whether or not they will take "Nah, just looking" for an answer. That said, the pressure at Whelan's is relatively high. Sometimes I actually DO want to just browse, and no matter how much you are going to mark it down for me, sorry, I just can't afford a $65 piece right now, k? However, of all the shops in Berkeley, this place has the best selection and fairly decent prices. I got a pipe marked down from $70 to $25. That was one of the best deals I've gotten at a smoke shop. That is why this place gets four stars, it's not a rip - off like Big Al's. read more

Seriously pissed off here. They begged for cash (rather than credit) only to find out I couldn't return 8 boxes of cigars I never opened. Now I can see if this was returned the next day, but it wasn't. I literally walked out spoke to my friend and walked back in to tell them she only wanted 2 boxes and not the whole carton. So the worst part, is not that I couldn't return the cigars, but the guy flat out lied to my face. Telling me his manager said there is a no refund policy, so when I asked to speak to the manager he disappears into a back room comes back after a few minutes to tell me the manager isn't there and was never there, but the policy does not change. So moral of the story, DO NOT PAY CASH. At least with a credit card I could have stopped the payment and left everything I bought there. Gave them over $240 worth of business to have them lie and become increasingly rude. I don't think so! read more

The store sold me an e-cigarette with a completely dead battery. When I brought it in to return it, they replaced it with another. The replacement, however, also had a completely dead battery. When I brought it back the next day, the guy working at the counter refused to replace the faulty product and accused me of lying about the dead battery. If you shop here, I highly recommend using a credit card so that if they try to scam you, you can take the dispute to the credit card company. I did that and received a refund. The person behind the counter who assisted me was unhelpful and perpetually angry, and the shop is overpriced to begin with. I highly recommend avoiding Whelans and making the trip south on telegraph to any number of better stores with lower prices. read more

We popped into this shop on a whim to grab some vape juice. I know this shop is not geared towards vaping, which most likely explains our experience. We asked the person behind the counter if they had certain flavors which he gave a lackluster "no" too, not even suggesting different flavors that might be similar. They didn't have tastings for the vape juice, which really means you are just choosing vape juice based off smell and what the bottle looks like. The cherry on top was the juice ended up costing 15 dollars for a small bottle,even though it was on the clearance shelf! The man ringing us up also didn't mention if we checked into yelp we would get 50 percent off clearance juices. This might be a great shop for other smoking items, but I would avoid it for vape juices. read more

As you can see from my avatar, I enjoy smoking. I don't smoke feck weed or any fucking bullshit. I do like smoking good weed, but this has absolutely nothing to do with a headshop experience. In relevant news, I am probably the only person in the Bay that rolls his own cigs besides two other people that I've seen in real life here. Whelan's has Stokkebye blends, which is good, but they were out of the two varieties that I actually wanted, which is really bad, and also shitty. Prices are double what I used to pay on the East coast, and you have to pay extra for papers (also not the case on the East coast). Oh, and DOYYY, of course they ran out of Rizlas. With that said, I actually have no fucking idea why I'm writing this. In essence, you're getting a story about a man who bought a bag of dried leaves that he rolled into a paper and smoked. Oh, also, because of the blends available, that rolled up wad of dried leaves ended up tasting like a burger. So in essence, I would rate the burgers at Whelan's to be about on the level of In-n-Out, and this bag of burgers (or potential burgers, after they're rolled into smoking-burger form) costs a lot less than a bag of burgers from In-n-Out. I spent $10 on the burger tobacco; I assume a full bag of burgers from In-n-Out is probably close to $20. Fucking animal style, brah. So, because I didn't end up committing suicide or losing control of my bowels, I give this place three stars. I would give it four if they actually had anything I wanted or offered anything at a reasonable price. The fact that I'm stooping to that level is really saying something for my quality of life. Good thing I'm a smoker, so that life will be considerably shorter than it has to be. Hey-oooooo. read more

Pushy customer service after I said I might come back: "You don't wanna pay for it now? Come on talk to me." They also lied and said that the herb grinder they were trying to sell me was stainless steel. After researching online I found out it was actually aluminum, which is far less desirable for a grinder. As I originally suspected, it's better to buy online. read more

I came in here this afternoon to buy a replacement bowl because my friends are stupid and broke mine. I've heard humors that this place can be expensive, but seeing as my piece is only about 6 inches tall, a replacement bowl was only $5. The service was friendly and I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. They got me exactly what I wanted, charged me, and I ran off to class. They were very helpful in finding me exactly what I needed and after unwrapping it when I got home, realized it was much sturdier than my last one. It's still flimsy and will still break if tapped too hard, but its a very pretty blue tinted glass that matches quite perfectly. I've considered buying a hookah as well. Perhaps I will come to Whelans and purchase that. Their other items are sort of pricey, but for helpful, quick service, it seems totally worth it. read more

Uninformed staff. Nice products. Kinda pricey. I came here specifically to buy some Ploom stuff. Whelan's is the only retailer that sells it in the East Bay. I walked in and took a look around-- they had a decent collection of cigars and accessories. The cigars I felt were a bit overpriced, but I wasn't there for that anyways. I asked about the Ploom, and was told it was $39.99, and the packs of pods for it were $14.99. I knew the $40 device price was right, but the pod price didn't seem right. I bought it anyways. When I walked out, I decided to do a quick price check online. The Ploom website sells the pods for only $5.95!! I went back in and asked if $15 was really the right price, and the guy that helped me asked someone else, and was told they were $7.99. I was refunded $8 cash out of the register. Still a bit higher price than the website, but whatever. If I happen to be in the area and want some Ploom pods, I might stop by. Otherwise, I'll stick to ordering things online. read more

My friends who live in San Carlos wanted to buy a hookah. They had inquired in many stores around south bay and were not impressed with either the hookah's being sold nor the price. They decided to try and buy a hookah in Berkeley. We researched at a couple of stores and finally decided on buying the hookah at Whelan's as the staff were very well informed. They were patient with our questions, gave us multiple sugestions and options and we ended up finding a hookah that fit our price range. It was around 80 dollars in all including the flavors, 2 of which were added complimentary by the folks at whelan.We loved the apple mint flavor. We also bought cigar and a collector's knife for a friend who was into collecting knives and must say that though the store looks tiny, it is filled with many surprising intriguing artifacts and off-course rows and rows of smoke stuff! read more

they sell all kinds of smoking accessories including the hookah. the cigar smokes are along the right wall. they have an interesting but not broad selection. it seems they like to focus on a few "names" like padron, romeo juliet, cao, sampling -patron maduro(14.99); not very impressive maduro smoke for patron, the regular is way better. needs more aging? very strong smoke though. -macanuo cigarettos maduro(10/32.99) seem kind of dry. ok smoke ashes: -parking difficult -vip card available (20 % off) -smokes seriously pricey -friendly service read more

I'm not a big smoker, but whenever I do need any smoking paraphernalia, there's only one place I ever go. Located right at the corner of Telegraph and Bancroft, everyone knows that Whelan's there, but I don't know if everyone really knows how great the guys inside are. The people who run the shop are everything you would like out of store keepers: knowledgeable in their products, friendly in their greetings, and aren't pushy in the slightest. When I went in to buy a pipe, the guy behind the counter asked me for my budget and offered me every single option that fit within my limit. This place is great for their butane torches as well, all of which come with warranties. Some places let customers light the torches to let them see it in action and so you have to buy a partially empty torch right off the bat. But at Whelan's, the guys are honest enough to fill it back up for you so that you're getting the biggest bang for your buck. Also, for hookah fans, Whelan's is definitely the place to go. In addition to packaged tobacco, they make some of their own in a rather large assortment of flavors. And because they make it themselves, the flavor is always well-balanced and very fresh. PROs: -Extremeley helpful staff -Fantastic service -Huge selection of almost everything you'd ever need -Cute girls can almost ALWAYS get a great deal (*wink wink*) CONs: -A little pricey, but the extra you're paying is for great service read more

All these guys are so helpful. Last weekend I went in looking for an actual tobacco pipe and was helped by a super friendly dude who answered all of my questions honestly and efficiently without adding more confusion. At the end of the transaction I felt like I got a good deal and was happy with the product. I'll be back to purchase more pipe tobacco and accessories as needed. I would HIGHLY recommend this establishment for any kind of smoking need you have. read more