diff --git a/bigtable/google/cloud/bigtable/client.py b/bigtable/google/cloud/bigtable/client.py
index 908430eb906d..dedcdddd8ed4 100644
--- a/bigtable/google/cloud/bigtable/client.py
+++ b/bigtable/google/cloud/bigtable/client.py
@@ -65,7 +65,12 @@
 READ_ONLY_SCOPE = 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/bigtable.data.readonly'
 """Scope for reading table data."""
 
+# NOTE: 'grpc.max_message_length' will no longer be recognized in
+# grpcio 1.1 and later.
 _MAX_MSG_LENGTH_100MB = 100 * 1024 * 1024
+_GRPC_MAX_LENGTH_OPTIONS = (('grpc.max_message_length', _MAX_MSG_LENGTH_100MB),
+                            ('grpc.max_receive_message_length',
+                             _MAX_MSG_LENGTH_100MB))
 
 
 def _make_data_stub(client):
@@ -78,14 +83,9 @@ def _make_data_stub(client):
     :returns: A gRPC stub object.
     """
     if client.emulator_host is None:
-        # NOTE: 'grpc.max_message_length' will no longer be recognized in
-        # grpcio 1.1 and later.
-        max_msg_length = (('grpc.max_message_length', _MAX_MSG_LENGTH_100MB),
-                          ('grpc.max_receive_message_length',
-                           _MAX_MSG_LENGTH_100MB))
         return make_secure_stub(client.credentials, client.user_agent,
                                 bigtable_pb2.BigtableStub, DATA_API_HOST,
-                                extra_options=max_msg_length)
+                                extra_options=_GRPC_MAX_LENGTH_OPTIONS)
     else:
         return make_insecure_stub(bigtable_pb2.BigtableStub,
                                   client.emulator_host)