Jin Ling is a Russian brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the Kaliningrad-based manufacturer Baltic Tobacco Company (, BTC). Other places where this brand is manufactured include Ukraine, Moldova, Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates.[4]
History
The name is derived from Jinling, the older name of Nanjing, where the brand was originally developed by the Chinese state-owned Nanjing Tobacco Factory.[5] After the brand died out, the Baltic Tobacco Company re-introduced it in 1997.[5][6]
The packet design resembles the American brand Camel in colour, typeface and layout,[7] but instead of a camel, it features a mouflon. Jin Ling cigarettes are only sold illegally and the brand is the first to be designed explicitly for smuggling.[8] It has been reported by customs officials as the "most seized" brand in Europe;[5] in 2007, 258 million Jin Ling cigarettes were seized by authorities in EU countries.[9] In 2017, during a bust by the North East Lincolnshire Council Trading Standards officers, a red variant of Jin Ling cigarettes was discovered. Previous Jin Ling cigarettes only had a yellow colour.[10]
There are 19 factories in Russia where Jin Ling is produced, but there are also factories in Ukraine and Moldova. Some of these factories may be acting as a franchise, but the Jin Ling brand is also licensed to other manufacturers.[11]
Controversies
In May 2010, the German tabloid Berliner Kurier reported that fake Jin Ling were being made, which were no longer distinguishable from the genuine, and which could include feathers, mites, wood, pesticides, mold spores, rat droppings and other pollutants, because they were manufactured under very poor production conditions.[12]
In April 2014 the cigarette was linked to a house fire in Spalding in which a 71-year-old woman, June Buffham, had died. Emma Milligan, a Trading Standards Officer at Lincolnshire County Council, said: "Jin Ling cigarettes are so dangerous because they don't go out when not actively being smoked, potentially causing a horrendous house fire, like the case here."[13]
See also
- Smoking in Russia
- Tobacco smoking
- Drina (cigarette)
- Elita (cigarette)
- Filter 57 (cigarette)
- Jadran (cigarette)
- Laika (cigarette)
- Lovćen (cigarette)
- Morava (cigarette)
- Partner (cigarette)
- Smart (cigarette)
- Time (cigarette)
- Sobranie
- LD (cigarette)
- Walter Wolf (cigarette)
References
- BrandJin Ling - Cigarettes Pedia www.cigarettespedia.com^
- Jin Ling www.zigsam.at^
- Brands www.cigarety.by, retrieved 30 March 2018^
- Peggy E. Chaudhry. Handbook of Research on Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade Edward Elgar Publishing, 28 July 2017^
- Roman Shleynov, Stefan Candea, Duncan Campbell, Vlad Lavrov. Made To Be Smuggled: Russian Contraband Cigarettes 'Flooding' EU Center for Public Integrity, 19 October 2008, retrieved 8 October 2010^
- Andrew W. Jones. The Marlboro Men of Chernivtsi - The Morning News themorningnews.org, 10 February 2015^
- Jo Steele. Children smoke asbestos ciggies Metro, 7 December 2009, retrieved 8 October 2010^
- Terry Gross. Tobacco Fuels Addiction, And Terrorism NPR, 21 July 2009, retrieved 8 October 2010^
- Duncan Campbell, Stefan Candea. Waves of smuggled Russian cigarettes flood Europe The Guardian, 20 October 2008, retrieved 8 October 2010^
- Warning over these illegal Russian cigarettes being sold in Grimsby Grimsbytelegraph, 28 June 2017^
- Hana Ross, Nicole Vellios, Katherine Clegg Smith, Jacqueline Ferguson, Joanna E. Cohen. A closer look at 'Cheap White' cigarettes Tobacco Control, 2016^
- SHI. So erfolgreich, dass sie sogar gefälscht wird Rattenkot, Federn, Plaste - keiner weiß, was noch in den Schmuggel-Kippen drin ist: Schmuggelzigarette Jin Ling berliner-kurier.de, 2010-05-18^
- Family's plea over illegal cigarette death - BBC News Bbc.co.uk, 30 April 2014, retrieved 10 August 2015^