diff --git a/src/ceph-volume/ceph_volume/api/lvm.py b/src/ceph-volume/ceph_volume/api/lvm.py
index 96809c9a2b0..2fb5138cfce 100644
--- a/src/ceph-volume/ceph_volume/api/lvm.py
+++ b/src/ceph-volume/ceph_volume/api/lvm.py
@@ -210,25 +210,26 @@ def create_vg(name, *devices):
     return vg
 
 
-def create_lv(name, group, size=None, **tags):
+def create_lv(name, group, size=None, tags=None):
     """
     Create a Logical Volume in a Volume Group. Command looks like::
 
         lvcreate -L 50G -n gfslv vg0
 
     ``name``, ``group``, are required. If ``size`` is provided it must follow
-    lvm's size notation (like 1G, or 20M). Tags are optional and are
-    "translated" to include the prefixes for the Ceph LVM tag API.
+    lvm's size notation (like 1G, or 20M). Tags are an optional dictionary and is expected to
+    conform to the convention of prefixing them with "ceph." like::
 
+        {"ceph.block_device": "/dev/ceph/osd-1"}
     """
     # XXX add CEPH_VOLUME_LVM_DEBUG to enable -vvvv on lv operations
     type_path_tag = {
         'journal': 'ceph.journal_device',
         'data': 'ceph.data_device',
-        'block': 'ceph.block',
-        'wal': 'ceph.wal',
-        'db': 'ceph.db',
-        'lockbox': 'ceph.lockbox_device',
+        'block': 'ceph.block_device',
+        'wal': 'ceph.wal_device',
+        'db': 'ceph.db_device',
+        'lockbox': 'ceph.lockbox_device',  # XXX might not ever need this lockbox sorcery
     }
     if size:
         process.run([
@@ -252,17 +253,15 @@ def create_lv(name, group, size=None, **tags):
         ])
 
     lv = get_lv(lv_name=name, vg_name=group)
-    ceph_tags = {}
-    for k, v in tags.items():
-        ceph_tags['ceph.%s' % k] = v
-    lv.set_tags(ceph_tags)
+    lv.set_tags(tags)
 
     # when creating a distinct type, the caller doesn't know what the path will
     # be so this function will set it after creation using the mapping
-    path_tag = type_path_tag[tags['type']]
-    lv.set_tags(
-        {path_tag: lv.lv_path}
-    )
+    path_tag = type_path_tag.get(tags.get('ceph.type'))
+    if path_tag:
+        lv.set_tags(
+            {path_tag: lv.lv_path}
+        )
     return lv