Buy cigars in Reading
Cuban and New World cigars posted to every RG address in and around Reading — usually the next working day, kept at 68% humidity until the moment they are packed.
- Next working day
- RG postcodes
- Free delivery, £230 minimum
The short version
Can you get cigars delivered in Reading?
Southern Smoke Cigars delivers to Reading and the surrounding RG postcode area. We are an online tobacconist with no shop counter in Reading, so orders are placed on the website and sent by Royal Mail. Order before 2pm on a working day and your cigars are dispatched the same day and normally arrive in Reading the next working day. Delivery is free on every order, and our minimum order is £230 before delivery.
The main points
- Dispatched same day if you order before 2pm, Monday to Friday
- Royal Mail Tracked 24, usually next working day
- Covers RG and all surrounding postcodes
- Someone over 18 must sign for it at the door
We ship to Reading, we do not have a shop there
Worth being straight about, because a lot of searches for cigars in Reading are looking for somewhere to walk into. We are not that: stock sits in our own walk-in humidors at 65-69% relative humidity until an order comes in, then goes out sealed, with a free Boveda 69% pack, in plain unbranded packaging. What Reading gets for that is a box nobody has left drying under shop lighting, usually the next working day.
Keeping cigars in Reading
Reading sits at the confluence of the Thames and the Kennet, low-lying and prone to winter fog, in one of the drier parts of southern England. Mild by national standards, with a short heating season.
None of which changes the target inside the box — 16-18°C and 65-70% humidity — only how hard your house works against it. The guide to storing cigars in the British climate covers the rest.
Delivery to Reading in detail
Reading is on the Thames Valley run, one of the densest and most reliable next-day corridors on the whole network.
- Royal Mail Tracked 24 — free on every order. Order before 2pm on a working day and it leaves the same day, normally arriving in Reading the next working day.
- Royal Mail Special Delivery — £9.95. Guaranteed by 1pm the next working day, fully tracked and insured.
- Postcodes covered. RG and everything around Reading, including Wokingham, Bracknell, Henley-on-Thames, Newbury.
One thing worth knowing about Reading
The RG postcodes cover a great deal more than the town, running into Oxfordshire and Hampshire — Henley is RG9 and Basingstoke RG21. All of it is inside the same next-day corridor, so the spread costs nothing in time.
Age checks on the doorstep in Reading
Cigars are age-restricted, so whoever answers the door in Reading has to be 18 or over and the courier will ask them to prove it. Nobody in, and Royal Mail cards it for a redelivery or a collection with ID. Where you light it afterwards is a separate question with a different answer either side of the border: smoking in enclosed public places has been illegal in England since 1 July 2007, which makes a cigar in Reading an outdoor or a private-room proposition.
What Reading customers order most
Much the same as the rest of the UK: Cuban boxes with the green English Market Selection stamp for people who know what they want, Romeo y Julieta Belicosos Box of 25 being a regular, and Nicaraguan and Honduran robustos for people working out what they like. Reading and the Berkshire around it come to roughly 175,000 people, which is a wide enough spread of orders for the pattern to be fairly clear. If you are starting from scratch, the beginner's guide is a better place to start than a product page.
Ordering and paying
Bank transfer or cryptocurrency; no card payments. Your order is reserved the moment it is placed and nothing leaves the humidor until payment clears. Bank details go over live chat rather than email — open the chat, quote your order number. Full terms are on the delivery page, or email us at info@southernsmokecigars.com.
Delivery to Reading
Questions we get asked
Delivery, storage, age checks and Cuban stock in Reading.
Do you have a cigar shop in Reading?
No. Southern Smoke Cigars is an online tobacconist with no counter in Reading or anywhere else — stock is held in our own humidors at a steady 68% humidity and posted out rather than sat on an open shelf. For a RG address that means ordering before 2pm and having it the next working day, which is quicker than most people manage to get to a shop. Our minimum order is £230, and delivery is free.
How long does cigar delivery to Reading take?
Order before 2pm Monday to Friday and it is dispatched the same day on Royal Mail Tracked 24, which normally reaches Reading the next working day. Reading is on the Thames Valley run, one of the densest and most reliable next-day corridors on the whole network. Royal Mail Special Delivery is £9.95 and is guaranteed by 1pm the next working day.
Which Reading postcodes do you deliver to?
All of them. We cover the RG postcode area and everywhere else in the UK, including Wokingham, Bracknell, Henley-on-Thames. Delivery is free to all of them; the only condition is our £230 minimum order. The RG postcodes cover a great deal more than the town, running into Oxfordshire and Hampshire — Henley is RG9 and Basingstoke RG21. All of it is inside the same next-day corridor, so the spread costs nothing in time.
How should I store cigars in Reading?
Reading sits at the confluence of the Thames and the Kennet, low-lying and prone to winter fog, in one of the drier parts of southern England. Mild by national standards, with a short heating season. Whatever the weather outside, the target inside the box is the same: 16-18°C and 65-70% relative humidity. Every order leaves here with a free Boveda 69% pack, which holds that on its own for a couple of months.
Do I have to be in to sign for cigars in Reading?
Someone over 18 does, yes. Cigars are age-restricted under the Children and Families Act 2014, so the courier asks for proof of age at the door. If nobody is in, Royal Mail cards it and holds it at the delivery office covering your RG postcode, which you can collect from with ID. A safe-place instruction will not work for this — an age-restricted parcel cannot be left in a porch.
Where can I smoke a cigar in Reading?
Outdoors, or somewhere private. Smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces has been illegal in England since 1 July 2007, so Reading has no indoor cigar lounges in the sense that Havana or Madrid does — the law is the same across England and there is no exemption a bar can buy its way into. Covered outdoor terraces are the legal version, provided they are not substantially enclosed.
Can I buy genuine Cuban cigars in Reading?
Yes, and the same stock reaches Reading as anywhere else in the UK. Every Cuban box carries the green English Market Selection stamp and comes through Hunters and Frankau, the only company permitted to import Habanos S.A. cigars into the UK. Excise duty and VAT are paid before it reaches Berkshire, and both are already in the price on the page.