Les Deux Canards is a UK-based company founded in 2023 by friends Sam Saunders and Jacob Donohoe. Specialising in intimate gatherings centred around fine cigars, paired drinks, and engaging conversation, the brand takes inspiration from their travels through South and Central America—where they explored tobacco farms, met skilled Torcedors (cigar rollers), and immersed themselves in local cigar culture. Their mission is simple: to share the flavour, history, and joy of cigars with both newcomers and seasoned smokers.
This post will cover the brand’s story, my initial experiences at their events, and an interview with co-founder Sam.
Discovering Les Deux Canards
I first stumbled upon Les Deux Canards (French for “The Two Ducks”) last year while scrolling Instagram in search of cigar news and events. Their bespoke cigar and whisky evenings, often hosted in private members’ clubs, instantly piqued my interest.
Since then, I have been fortunate enough in my own time to visit some wonderful private members’ clubs, including Annabel’s, The In & Out Club, the East India Club, and the Savile Club. I’d love to cover these experiences in a future blog post/s, but I’m currently figuring out what I can share 🤔, as no photos are allowed, and these places tend to be quite secretive.
What sets Les Deux Canards apart is how they combine excellent cigars and drinks with access to unique, often contemporary private members’ spaces like the Pavilion Club & Eight Club.
The story behind Les Deux Canards
Sam and Jacob founded Les Deux Canards to address what they felt was a gap in the UK cigar scene: the lack of a warm, welcoming community for novice/newbie cigar smokers. Inspired by their travels, they aim to create experiences where people can enjoy cigars while also learning about their rich traditions.
Their events range from:
Guided cigar tastings – Relaxed evenings where guests discover different leaves, origins, and tasting techniques.
Cuban cigar-rolling masterclasses – A hands-on experience with a Cuban cigar roller, where participants can roll their own cigar.
Corporate events – Tailored cigar experiences for work functions, featuring tastings, live rolling, or roaming cigar service.
For Sam and Jacob, cigars are more than just tobacco—they’re a part of their culture. Through their events, they aim to bring people together while preserving that heritage.
My first encounter
Earlier this year, I met up with Sam at The Leaf and Cane, where we enjoyed a Partagas Culebras, which consists of three intertwined cigars. It was a unique experience—somewhat silly-looking cigar—but thoroughly enjoyable. We ended up sitting outside since the indoor arches of The Leaf and Cane no longer allow cigar smoking. Listening to his story firsthand was a true pleasure.
The events experience
Soon after, I joined two of their Cigars, Sips & Sun events—one with EGM and The Dalmore whisky at the Pavilion Club Fulham, and another featuring Kiskeya Cigars and Bladnoch whisky at Eight Members Club Moorgate.
Both evenings offered cigars, whisky, food, music, and lively discussion, attracting a younger, more dynamic crowd than typical shop-hosted events. Tickets cost around £60, covering everything.
The interview
This week, I had the opportunity to interview Sam of Les Deux Canards. Here’s how it went:
Thanks for joining us, Sam! Can you share your personal cigar journey? When did you start, what drew you to cigars, and what was your first cigar?
In all honesty, my cigar journey probably starts a little earlier than the law permits. My grandfather used to work in aviation, and after a trip to South America for work, he brought back a box of Montecristos (I think No. 4s, looking at old photos!). I really vividly remember my family going to my grandparents for a BBQ. Sun blaring down, burgers sizzling away and a musky scent in the air. It was here that I first saw someone smoking a cigar. Inquisitive and annoying as all children are, I asked what it was and was abruptly told it “wasn’t for kids, but maybe I’d find out when I’m older”. Naturally, I then wanted to try. Begging, my grandfather finally conceded and let me try. As any novice would do. I inhaled. Spluttering my guts out. From here on out. Whatever this was. It wasn’t for me! After this, I gave them another try after a rugby game when I was 18 or 19; this time, I liked it. I didn’t have the money to start collecting cigars, so it became a very irregular treat, and something my grandfather used to give to me on my birthday (my mum despised this).
Jacob and I met at university, became instant best friends and were virtually inseparable. Our birthdays are pretty close together, so for our 21st, we googled what Arnold Schwarzenegger smoked and got ourselves 2 Hoyo de Monterrey cigars. Then, when the opportunity came through from my aunt to visit her whilst she worked in Bogota after we finished uni, we jumped. Intending to stay for 2 weeks, we inevitably decided that being halfway around the world, and already loving the culture, drink, food and cigars, we’d try our luck elsewhere too. Going from Bogotá to Santo Domingo, and then on to Havana. We absolutely fell in love with cigars, the culture, and the love that goes into them.
Long story short, my first cigar was a Monte No. 4 (I think?)
How did your travels through South and Central America inspire the creation of Les Deux Canards?
Starting in Bogotá, my aunt took us to visit a shop called La Tabaqueria. She treated us and my uncle to a Cohiba Siglo II. We then smoked them on their terrace with some great red wine and steak (classic!).
Going on to Santo Domingo, Jacob and I decided to embrace the world of cigars. Doing some tours at the Tabacalera de García. An absolutely incredible experience. Buying a fair few cigars to keep us going for the week we were spending there. We ended up smoking these with two older gentlemen we met at an old town bar, who told us about their lives, how integral cigars were to their lives, family, and work. Showing us a few cigars they’d actually rolled themselves. Their passion shone through and only inspired us further.
In Havana, we did the classic Partagas factory tour, which was awe-inspiring. In addition, we took a day trip from Havana, where we visited the Finca Quemado de Rubi farm and factory. We walked around, smoked great cigars, and saw how the tobacco is grown and processed. We felt incredibly fortunate to experience this. And only served to push us further into the world of cigars. We ended the last night popping into the Internacional, picking a Partagas from their shop and smoking it on the terrace. Beautiful.
Why the name Les Deux Canards? What’s the story behind it?
It’s actually one of the reasons Jacob and I became friends in the first place. My grandpa had a pond in his garden with a few ducks in regular attendance (Nelly and Carol are the only names I can remember). Jacob’s grandpa kept pet ducks. We tried out the name “The two ducks”, but it honestly made us sound like we were duck impersonators. Speaking a bit of French, we decided to try it out in another language, and it felt right!
What gap did you notice in UK cigar culture, and how does Les Deux Canards address it?
When we came back to the UK, we went to a few cigar tasting events and, as we were virtually complete novices at the time, we didn’t feel as accepted or as interested in us. We felt there was information missing, and we needed a better introduction to the world of cigars that had taken us so strongly. Traditionally, when you think of a person who smokes cigars, you might not think of people our age, and we wanted to change that. We had friends who were on the precipice of interest. They enjoyed wine and whisky, etc, and were teetering on the edge, but felt nervous. We ended up teaching them from our own experiences and personal education before realising that there must be more of the younger generation who want to learn, come to significant events and experience some of the passion and culture we had in South America. Having now been so involved in UK cigar culture, it’s one of the most beautiful and accepting communities in the world; however, at the time, we felt there could’ve been more!
What is the core mission of Les Deux Canards?
To inspire, educate and make cigars more accessible to everyone.
How does Les Deux Canards cater to both novices and aficionados, ensuring everyone benefits from the experience?
There’s no such thing as a stupid question at an LDC event. Regardless of whether you’re a novice or an aficionado, we love answering questions about our passion. As well as this, all our events are educational from the very ground up, meaning nobody is left behind from cigar anatomy and growing regions to how to cut, light and taste properly. For our community events, we’re constantly walking around answering questions and demonstrating. This is something we love, and we love teaching and inspiring. We wanted to reduce alienation when we started, so we’ve fostered that at all our events.
What types of events does Les Deux Canards host? And what’s in it for the guests, cigar and drinks makers, and venues?
There are three sides to the business. The first side is where we work with members’ clubs, hotels, bars and restaurants throughout the UK—hosting cigar tasting masterclasses for their guests. In addition, we partner with a Cuban cigar roller to bring fantastic rolling events along too.
The second side of the business is our private events, including cigar tray service, bars, and masterclasses for weddings, corporate evenings, polo, golf, and private parties.
The final side is our community events. Most of our events are invite-only. We wanted to start doing things that bring together our fantastic community to meet, try great cigars and drink, listen to some live music, eat some great food, and hear first-hand from the suppliers.
The suppliers themselves get to interact with the community on a far more personal level, telling their stories and guiding people through the cigars or drink. They get to become more accessible to their market, whilst also inspiring the next generation to fall in love with their product. So far, the Cigars, sips and sun events have gone incredibly!
Any memorable ones so far?
I’m going to cheat and say two here, the first being our very first event at Sloane Club in Chelsea for 35 people. It was an instant sell-out, they actually had to book more guests. We smoked the Davidoff Churchill Belicoso Traveller (fantastic little smoke) alongside a Talisker. The evening was a huge success, and the feedback we received from the guests and staff was that they loved it.
The second most memorable was our first Cigars, sips and sun of this year. Partnering with the brilliant Giuliano of MK cigars to allow our guests to smoke EGM whilst drinking four different expressions of The Dalmore whisky. We sold out all the tickets in less than 2 days. So, it was incredibly fun getting to interact with the community we’d been talking to for the last couple of years. Loved every second of it, and the feedback was fantastic too.
What have you learned from running these events?
People are everything. The kindness and genuine responses to our events and the way in which we present them have been something incredible to witness. It’s so lovely seeing people’s nervousness or melt away as they’re accepted and guided into the beautiful world of cigars. Making friends and turning curiosity into a passion.
What’s coming up this year? What can people look forward to from Les Deux Canards?
We still have a couple of spaces left at our September community event on 11th September 2025. Alongside Charatan Cigars and The Macallan at the Pavilion club in Fulham. 2 great cigars, whisky tasting, various expressions of one of the most famous whiskies in the world. Live music, food, friends and a beautiful setting! What’s not to love?!
A few other things are cooking too, one being a course, which we are very excited about.
The best way to stay up to date is via our Instagram. Keep an eye out, though. We have lots more events and bigger things to come from us very soon, and we cannot wait!
And that’s a wrap, thanks, Sam! Thanks so much for chatting with me.
Before we finish here is some video footage from the recent Kiskeya event… filmed by Cigars & Cork 🙌
Want to know more?
More information about Les Deux Canards is available at their website lesdeuxcanards.com and Instagram @ldc_cigarevents.
🎟️ Tickets for the next Cigars, Sips & Sun event on 11th September are being sold via Eventbrite
Explore more about their cigar partners:
📸 Event photography by Sailesh Photography
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