diff --git a/semantic_router/index/pinecone.py b/semantic_router/index/pinecone.py
index 7241328e0899a308aa85de67f50bbcca4e3eba04..663b9814eb554aa0d2d01c6730981ab153f239ad 100644
--- a/semantic_router/index/pinecone.py
+++ b/semantic_router/index/pinecone.py
@@ -153,7 +153,11 @@ class PineconeIndex(BaseIndex):
 
         if base_url is not None or os.getenv("PINECONE_API_BASE_URL"):
             logger.info("Using pinecone remote API.")
-            self.base_url = base_url or os.getenv("PINECONE_API_BASE_URL")
+            if os.getenv("PINECONE_API_BASE_URL"):
+                self.base_url = os.getenv("PINECONE_API_BASE_URL")
+            else:
+                self.base_url = base_url
+
 
         if self.base_url and "api.pinecone.io" in self.base_url:
             self.headers["X-Pinecone-API-Version"] = "2024-07"