Jin Ling is a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

brand of

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

s, currently owned and manufactured by the

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

-based manufacturer Baltic Tobacco Company (, BTC). Other places where this brand is manufactured include

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

History

The name is derived from Jinling, the older name of

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, where the brand was originally developed by the Chinese state-owned Nanjing Tobacco Factory. After the brand died out, the Baltic Tobacco Company re-introduced it in 1997. The packet design resembles the American brand

Camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

in colour, typeface and layout, but instead of a camel, it features a

mouflon The mouflon (''Ovis gmelini'') is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, and the Caspian region, including eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Iran. It is also found in parts of Europe. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domest ...

. Jin Ling cigarettes are only sold illegally and the brand is the first to be designed explicitly for smuggling. It has been reported by customs officials as the "most seized" brand in Europe; in 2007, 258 million Jin Ling cigarettes were seized by authorities in EU countries. 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. 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.

Controversies

In May 2010, the German tabloid ''

Berliner Kurier The ''Berliner Kurier'' is a regional, daily tabloid published by the ''Berliner Verlag GmbH'' for the Berlin metropolitan area in Germany. The paper was owned by M. DuMont Schauberg. and got sold in September 2019 to Holger Friedrichs. In Ja ...

'' reported that fake Jin Ling were being made, which were no longer distinguishable from the genuine, and which could include feathers,

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...

s, wood,

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

s, mold spores, rat droppings and other pollutants, because they were manufactured under very poor production conditions. 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 Lincolnshire County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the latter additionally includes North Lincolnshire and No ...

, 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."

References

{{reflist Russian cigarette brands Products introduced in 1997 Russian brands

History

Controversies

See also

References