Jin Ling is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

brand of

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

s, currently owned and manufactured by the

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

-based manufacturer Baltic Tobacco Company (russian: link=yes, Балтийская табачная фабрика, BTC). Other places where this brand is manufactured include

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

History

The name is derived from Jinling, the older name of

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, 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: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

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, the Caspian Sea, Caspian region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It is thought to be the ancestor of all modern domestic sheep breeds. Taxonomy ''Ovis gmelini'' ...

. 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 Jan ...

'' 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). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

s, wood,

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

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 (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, 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