Jonno said:
Ah, he was referring to 'fags'. I was really struggling with that one...

Ah, yeah, I didn't get it either until now. The word "cigars" threw me off. I was thinking along the lines of phallic imagery, not their use of the word "fag" which is far more etymologically accurate than the American homophobic insult.

I have one more bit of advice to add. Stay out of the red phone booths! Scary stuff goes on in those things!

(Been a few years since I have been to the greatest city on earth, do they still have the phone booths? In the states pay phones have become extremely rare thanks to cell phones. Wouldn't be surprised if other cell phone heavy countries in the world also did away with them, but the red phone booths are such an iconic part of London, it'd be really a shame to see them disappear.)

Several years back, I stayed in a brilliant little bed and breakfast right around the corner from Paddington Station. It was pretty reasonable priced too, and they had an espresso machine. There were several B&Bs all clumped together there in a row. If you find a situation like that (several right next to each other) you can just ask at each one and find out who is the least expensive.