diff --git a/scripts/finetune.py b/scripts/finetune.py
index da08fda0b..f3ce2aea8 100644
--- a/scripts/finetune.py
+++ b/scripts/finetune.py
@@ -178,9 +178,8 @@ def train(
     setup_wandb_env_vars(cfg)
 
     # load the tokenizer first
-    tokenizer_config = cfg.tokenizer_config or cfg.base_model_config
-    LOG.info(f"loading tokenizer... {tokenizer_config}")
-    tokenizer = load_tokenizer(tokenizer_config, cfg.tokenizer_type, cfg)
+    LOG.info(f"loading tokenizer... {cfg.tokenizer_config or cfg.base_model_config}")
+    tokenizer = load_tokenizer(cfg)
 
     if (
         check_not_in(["shard", "merge_lora"], kwargs) and not cfg.inference
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/models.py b/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
index 2f672433d..5ebb0b64c 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
@@ -32,32 +32,27 @@
     from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault  # noqa: F401
 
 
-def load_tokenizer(
-    tokenizer_config,
-    tokenizer_type,
-    cfg,
-):
+def load_tokenizer(cfg):
     tokenizer_kwargs = {}
     use_fast = True  # this is the default
+
     if cfg.tokenizer_use_fast is not None:
         use_fast = cfg.tokenizer_use_fast
     if cfg.tokenizer_legacy is not None:
         # True is the default w/ https://github.com/huggingface/transformers/pull/25224
         tokenizer_kwargs["legacy"] = cfg.tokenizer_legacy
-    if tokenizer_type:
-        tokenizer = getattr(transformers, tokenizer_type).from_pretrained(
-            tokenizer_config,
-            trust_remote_code=cfg.trust_remote_code or False,
-            use_fast=use_fast,
-            **tokenizer_kwargs,
-        )
-    else:
-        tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(
-            tokenizer_config,
-            trust_remote_code=cfg.trust_remote_code or False,
-            use_fast=use_fast,
-            **tokenizer_kwargs,
-        )
+
+    tokenizer_cls = AutoTokenizer
+    if cfg.tokenizer_type:
+        tokenizer_cls = getattr(transformers, cfg.tokenizer_type)
+
+    tokenizer_config = cfg.tokenizer_config or cfg.base_model_config
+    tokenizer = tokenizer_cls.from_pretrained(
+        tokenizer_config,
+        trust_remote_code=cfg.trust_remote_code or False,
+        use_fast=use_fast,
+        **tokenizer_kwargs,
+    )
 
     if tokenizer.__class__.__name__ in [
         "LlamaTokenizer",
diff --git a/tests/test_tokenizers.py b/tests/test_tokenizers.py
index f2521e8e7..5c8339194 100644
--- a/tests/test_tokenizers.py
+++ b/tests/test_tokenizers.py
@@ -13,17 +13,22 @@ class TestTokenizers(unittest.TestCase):
     """
 
     def test_default_use_fast(self):
-        cfg = DictDefault({})
-        tokenizer = load_tokenizer("huggyllama/llama-7b", None, cfg)
+        cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "tokenizer_config": "huggyllama/llama-7b",
+            }
+        )
+        tokenizer = load_tokenizer(cfg)
         assert "Fast" in tokenizer.__class__.__name__
 
     def test_dont_use_fast(self):
         cfg = DictDefault(
             {
+                "tokenizer_config": "huggyllama/llama-7b",
                 "tokenizer_use_fast": False,
             }
         )
-        tokenizer = load_tokenizer("huggyllama/llama-7b", None, cfg)
+        tokenizer = load_tokenizer(cfg)
         assert "Fast" not in tokenizer.__class__.__name__