Nil is a German 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
Gallaher Group, a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...
of
Japan Tobacco
The (JT) is a Japanese diversified tobacco company and parent company to Japan Tobacco International, one of the three largest international Big Tobacco product manufacturers in the world. It was established in 1985 as a that inherited the ri ...
. Nil is German for
Nile
The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...
.
History
Nil cigarettes were launched in 1901 as so-called
oriental cigarettes and have been very popular among artists like
Otto Dix. Originally, it was a product of the Austrian Kaiserlich Konigliche Tabac-Regie, now known as ''"Austria Tabak"''. In Germany, it is one of the oldest brands that are still on the market. Until the end of the 1920s, Nil contained, like most oriental-type-cigarettes, cannabis (8%). In addition to the classic, filter-less Nil, with the characteristic oval cross-section came in 1957 a filtered version of the cigarette on the market, which was available until 1976.
In addition to the classical, non-filter Nil with a characteristic oval form, in 1957 a version of this cigarette with filter was introduced, which was available until 1976. Since 1998, the brand has been positioned in a new way by Austria Tabak, and strongly promoted again. In addition to the reintroduced filter-cigarette, a light-brand and rolling-tobacco were introduced. The recovered filter cigarette was soon followed by a light brand and a fine-cut tobacco. The production of the classic, unfiltered Nil from pure oriental tobacco was discontinued at the turn of the year 2003/2004 due to the introduction of new restrictions on tar and nicotine values in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
. At the beginning of 2011, the expiry of the NIL brand was announced in Austria.
In Germany, Nil is still available.
The logo of the NIL cigarettes consists of a blue rectangle, in which the lettering NIL in white capital letters is set, surmounted by a white eagle, with the word REGIE between them, referring to the former tobacco company.
Limited edition packs
For its 100th anniversary in 2001, a special edition of the brand with black and white photos of Austrian and German artists appeared on the backs of the box. These included
Otto Sander, Fiona Bennett, Ugo Dossi,
Steffen Wink, siblings Pfister and
Peter Patzak.
In the summer of 2007, there was the so-called NIL home edition. Based on the cigarette name Nile, five major rivers were selected and replaced by the distinctive Nil logo. The following rivers were selected:
Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
,
Elbe
The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...
,
Isar
The Isar () is a river in Austria and in Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel mountain range of the Alps. The Isar river enters Germany near Mittenwald and flows through Krün, Wallgau, Bad Tölz, Munich, and Landshut before reaching ...
,
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
and
Spree.
In 2016, JTI put out a
special edition version of their Nil brand, mocking the problems that the
Berlin Brandenburg Airport had after it was announced that the opening of the new airport would be delayed until 2020, which consist of a series of delays and cost overruns due to poor construction planning, execution, management, and corruption. The words ''"BER"'' and ''"Under Construction"'' were written on it. The logo of the brand also contains the coordinates of the airport.
See also
*
Tobacco smoking
References
External links
{{Commons category, Nil (cigarettes)
Gallaher Group brands
Japan Tobacco brands
Products introduced in 1901
German brands