Can You Mail Cigars? USPS Says Yes, UPS Needs a Contract

You can legally mail cigars within the United States if you use the right carrier. The rules depend entirely on whether the carrier accepts tobacco from private individuals or limits shipments to commercial entities.

Carrier	Cigars from a private sender?	The published rule
USPS	Yes	Domestic mailing of cigars is allowed with no separate conditions listed on the postal shipping restrictions page. Cigars are excluded from the postal cigarette ban.
UPS	Only with a UPS tobacco agreement	Shipments containing tobacco products are accepted only from shippers who are licensed and authorized under applicable law and have signed an approved UPS tobacco agreement.
FedEx	Not confirmed	Not confirmed on FedEx's published pages.
DHL	Not confirmed	Not confirmed on DHL's published pages.

On its consumer shipping restrictions page, USPS states that cigars may be mailed domestically, and the agency lists no separate conditions for cigars.

UPS takes a completely different regulatory stance. Section 3.17 of the UPS 2025 Tariff/Terms and Conditions of Service says UPS accepts tobacco only from shippers who are licensed and authorized to ship it under applicable law. UPS prohibits shipping cigarettes or little cigars to consumers outright. To ship any other tobacco product, including cigars, the shipper must enter into and comply with an approved UPS agreement for transporting tobacco products. UPS also requires Adult Signature Required service for all tobacco shipments and reserves the right to refuse, dispose of, or discontinue service for non-compliant shipments. Under the UPS Tobacco Agreement Addendum A, an approved contract shipper can list cigars as an authorized product to ship to businesses or consumers with adult signature verification. UPS's terms do not directly address private senders, but a sender without a UPS tobacco agreement falls outside the shippers UPS accepts.

FedEx's and DHL's cigar policies could not be confirmed on their published pages, so do not assume either carrier accepts cigars.

Federal law and USPS rules define cigars separately from cigarettes, so the cigarette mailing ban does not cover cigars.

The federal mailing ban comes from the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act, commonly known as the PACT Act. Codified in the United States Code at 15 U.S.C. 375, the statute defines a "cigarette" to include roll-your-own tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems. The statutory definition states that a cigarette "does not include a cigar." The PACT Act also regulates smokeless tobacco, defining it as finely cut, ground, powdered, or leaf tobacco intended for the mouth or nose without combustion. Because cigars fall outside both the cigarette and smokeless tobacco definitions, the federal mailing ban established under the PACT Act does not apply to them.

The Postal Service reflects these statutory boundaries in its official operational manuals. In USPS Publication 52 section 471, the definition of a cigarette expressly excludes cigars. Publication 52 defines a cigar as any roll of tobacco wrapped in leaf tobacco or in any substance containing tobacco. It excludes rolls whose appearance, filler tobacco, or packaging and labeling make them likely to be offered to or bought by consumers as a cigarette.

Furthermore, Publication 52 defines a "covered product" for its tobacco rules exclusively as any cigarette, smokeless tobacco, or electronic nicotine delivery system. Because cigars are not a covered product under section 471, they do not trigger the broad nonmailability rules outlined in USPS Publication 52 section 472. That section declares all covered products nonmailable unless they fit an exception in 473 and meet all of its conditions. An internal bulletin published in USPS Link employee news confirmed on January 24, 2023, that tobacco cigars are not covered by the PACT Act and are mailable. Similarly, the USPS PostalPro Product Classification page calls cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems "generally non-mailable, unless authorized by an exception." That page does not mention cigars.

Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco mailed as a personal gift face these Publication 52 rules:

1. Under USPS Publication 52 section 473.4, noncommercial cigarette shipments between individual adults are permitted only under the "certain individuals" exception.
2. The sender must present government-issued photo identification showing proof of age to a postal clerk at a retail window.
3. The parcel can weigh no more than 10 ounces.
4. A sender cannot make more than ten such mailings in any 30-day period.
5. Gifts purchased from a third-party vendor for delivery to someone else do not qualify under the exception.
6. The parcel must use face-to-face retail acceptance, eliminating drop boxes and pickup services.
7. Delivery requires in-person age verification and a signature from an adult of legal age.

None of those restrictions apply to tobacco cigars in domestic mail. Under postal regulations, you do not face the 10-ounce weight ceiling, the ten-shipment monthly limit, or mandatory retail identity checks when sending cigars through USPS. Section 472.4 adds that cigarette and smokeless shipments allowed under those exceptions must still follow federal, state and local law. You can review our overview on how old you have to be to buy cigars for details on age thresholds.

Shipping cigars outside the United States introduces international postal rules and foreign customs laws. While the domestic pathway through USPS is straightforward, sending cigars abroad requires extra care regarding destination rules.

The baseline postal regulation for foreign mail is found in the USPS International Mail Manual section 136.4. This section states that cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and electronic nicotine delivery systems are completely nonmailable in both outbound and inbound international mail. The domestic exceptions provided in Publication 52 do not apply to international mail. However, section 136.4 does not list cigars among these prohibited international items.

Even though section 136.4 does not ban cigars, the destination country controls what crosses its border. For instance, the USPS International Mail Manual Country Conditions for Canada lists a prohibition on vaping liquids containing 66 milligrams per gram or more of nicotine. It lists no prohibitions naming cigars or cigarettes in that section. Each destination country's own import and customs rules may restrict or tax them.

According to USPS shipping restrictions, mail addressed to Army Post Office (APO), Fleet Post Office (FPO), and Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) destinations is treated operationally as domestic mail. At the same time, the Postal Service notes that the regulations of the foreign host nation where the base or post is located still apply.

The legality of mailing cigars changes completely if the cigars were made in Cuba. While USPS accepts non-Cuban cigars in domestic mail, Cuban cigars are subject to strict trade sanctions enforced by the federal government.

Under rules administered by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), OFAC no longer authorizes importing Cuban-origin tobacco into the United States. OFAC FAQ 769 confirms that, effective September 24, 2020, regulatory authorizations for importing Cuban-origin goods no longer apply to alcohol or tobacco products. Furthermore, the general license authorizing small-gift imports valued up to $100 explicitly excludes alcohol and tobacco. This means you cannot mail Cuban cigars into the United States from abroad, even as a personal gift to a friend or family member.

This trade restriction applies regardless of where the sender bought the cigars. According to OFAC FAQ 720, persons subject to United States jurisdiction may purchase Cuban-origin cigars in a third country only for personal consumption while physically outside the United States. The regulation states clearly that those products may not be imported into the United States. Official OFAC FAQs updated September 29, 2026, maintain this strict stance, confirming that the accompanied-baggage authorization excludes imports of Cuban-origin alcohol or tobacco products.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) states plainly in its travel and border directives that Cuban cigars are prohibited. For a deeper historical breakdown of the embargo and its enforcement, explore our guide on why Cuban cigars are illegal.

USPS's shipping restrictions page and Publication 52 give no packing or humidity rules for cigars. For cigar storage and gear options, see our guides below:

• Review our overview of Boveda cigar humidity packs to learn how humidity packs function.
• For storage setups, review our tupperdor cigar storage guide.
• Review our guides on how to pack cigars for travel and the best cigar travel cases for travel storage options.

When purchasing cigars remotely rather than sending personal property, review our breakdown on whether it is legal to buy cigars online. As a private sender mailing cigars through USPS, you do not need a commercial carrier agreement.

If you are an individual wanting to send cigars to a friend, family member, or trading partner within the United States, USPS is your practical, published choice. Postal Service regulations explicitly permit the domestic mailing of cigars and exclude them from the PACT Act bans and 10-ounce weight caps that restrict cigarette shipments. In contrast, UPS's terms accept tobacco only from licensed shippers with a signed UPS tobacco agreement, which leaves out a private sender without one.

Do not mail Cuban cigars into the United States, because federal sanctions enforced by OFAC and CBP prohibit importing Cuban tobacco into the United States. Do not assume FedEx or DHL accepts cigars. Their cigar policies could not be confirmed on their published pages.

We would change this answer if USPS added cigars to its restricted items or UPS accepted tobacco from senders without a tobacco agreement. Before you print a label, read the USPS shipping restrictions page for the current cigar rule.