Set Up:
Xenia Onatopp smokes Romeo y Julieta Shakespeares in Goldeneye, and Roger Moore was a regular client here. I spoke to a gentleman called Edward Sahakian about Davidoff of London when I visited their store on Jermyn Street and the firm’s connection to the James Bond series.
ME: Has thee ever been any of the James Bond cast come into the shop here on Jermyn Street?
EDWARD: Yes, those two frightening characters of James Bond films, Jaws and Odd Job. My son Eddie, who also not only works here, but now I work for him; the first time we saw a James Bond film, he was frightened. It was because of those two characters, especially Jaws. Some years it was Christmas Eve. We’re closing the shop early and those two (Richard Kiel and Harold Sakata) walked in together. I said Eddie look over there! Oh, I couldn’t believe it was so lovely. I mean, they were lovely in real life.
ME: Do you remember meeting Roger in the store?
EDWARD: Yes. On several occasions. I also bumped into him in the South of France. There’s a very nice restaurant called La Colombe d’Or in Saint-Paul de Vence France. And one evening a few of us went there for dinner. And I noticed Roger was sitting at the next table with his wife. It so happened. I had his favorite cigars in my pocket, the Davidoff Number two.
I also love them as well. Discreetly I called the waiter over. I gave the waiter the cigar, told him to put it on a plate and give it to the gentleman there (pointing to Roger). When he received it he waved to me.
ME: Do you get many Bond fans in Davidoff?
Yes, especially when we had the DuPont lighters. We had a set of a lighter and a pen. And then the pen was quite interesting because it had a feature. It had a special bullet hiding inside that you could fire. It didn’t fire of course. They all sold out in days. It was released at the same time as the Spectre film, there was a tracker in it as well. Yeah, a tracker in one of the cutters in case you lost it.
View this post on Instagram
Credits:
Davidoff of London is on Instagram. Extra information sourced via Gary Giblin’s James Bond’s London.
Closest Bond Location: Dukes Hotel.
Closest Pint: The Golden Lion, 25 King St, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6QY
