diff --git a/backend/danswer/natural_language_processing/utils.py b/backend/danswer/natural_language_processing/utils.py
index 5c80177689d..5c4bb7d5836 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/natural_language_processing/utils.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/natural_language_processing/utils.py
@@ -89,41 +89,53 @@ def _check_tokenizer_cache(
     model_provider: EmbeddingProvider | None, model_name: str | None
 ) -> BaseTokenizer:
     global _TOKENIZER_CACHE
-
     id_tuple = (model_provider, model_name)
 
     if id_tuple not in _TOKENIZER_CACHE:
-        # If no provider specified, try to create HuggingFaceTokenizer with model_name
-        if model_name is not None:
-            if model_provider is None:
-                try:
-                    _TOKENIZER_CACHE[id_tuple] = HuggingFaceTokenizer(model_name)
-                    logger.info(f"Initialized HuggingFaceTokenizer for: {model_name}")
-                    return _TOKENIZER_CACHE[id_tuple]
-                except Exception as hf_error:
-                    logger.warning(
-                        f"Error initializing HuggingFaceTokenizer for {model_name}: {hf_error}"
-                    )
-
-            # Try using TiktokenTokenizer if it supports the model_name
-            try:
-                _TOKENIZER_CACHE[id_tuple] = TiktokenTokenizer(model_name)
-                logger.info(f"Initialized TiktokenTokenizer for: {model_name}")
-                return _TOKENIZER_CACHE[id_tuple]
-            except Exception as tiktoken_error:
-                logger.debug(
-                    f"TiktokenTokenizer not available for model {model_name}: {tiktoken_error}"
-                )
-
-        # Fallback to default DOCUMENT_ENCODER_MODEL
-        logger.info(
-            f"Falling back to default embedding model for model {model_name}: {DOCUMENT_ENCODER_MODEL}"
-        )
-        _TOKENIZER_CACHE[id_tuple] = HuggingFaceTokenizer(DOCUMENT_ENCODER_MODEL)
+        tokenizer = None
+
+        if model_name:
+            tokenizer = _try_initialize_tokenizer(model_name, model_provider)
+
+        if not tokenizer:
+            logger.info(
+                f"Falling back to default embedding model: {DOCUMENT_ENCODER_MODEL}"
+            )
+            tokenizer = HuggingFaceTokenizer(DOCUMENT_ENCODER_MODEL)
+
+        _TOKENIZER_CACHE[id_tuple] = tokenizer
 
     return _TOKENIZER_CACHE[id_tuple]
 
 
+def _try_initialize_tokenizer(
+    model_name: str, model_provider: EmbeddingProvider | None
+) -> BaseTokenizer | None:
+    if model_provider is not None:
+        # Try using TiktokenTokenizer first if model_provider exists
+        try:
+            tokenizer = TiktokenTokenizer(model_name)
+            logger.info(f"Initialized TiktokenTokenizer for: {model_name}")
+            return tokenizer
+        except Exception as tiktoken_error:
+            logger.debug(
+                f"TiktokenTokenizer not available for model {model_name}: {tiktoken_error}"
+            )
+    else:
+        # If no provider specified, try HuggingFaceTokenizer
+        try:
+            tokenizer = HuggingFaceTokenizer(model_name)
+            logger.info(f"Initialized HuggingFaceTokenizer for: {model_name}")
+            return tokenizer
+        except Exception as hf_error:
+            logger.warning(
+                f"Error initializing HuggingFaceTokenizer for {model_name}: {hf_error}"
+            )
+
+    # If both initializations fail, return None
+    return None
+
+
 _DEFAULT_TOKENIZER: BaseTokenizer = HuggingFaceTokenizer(DOCUMENT_ENCODER_MODEL)