Sobranie

Sobranie (Russian: Собрание, "Gathering", "Collection", "Assembly") is a brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Gallaher Group, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco.[1]

For other uses, see Sobranie (disambiguation).
Sobranie
An old Russian pack of Sobranie Cocktail cigarettes, with an English text warning at the bottom of the pack
Product typeCigarette
Produced byGallaher Group, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco
CountryRussia
Introduced1879 (1879)
MarketsTurkey, England, Germany,

History

Sobranie of London was established in 1879 by the Redstone family, when cigarettes had just become fashionable in Europe. It is one of the oldest cigarette brands in the world.[2] Several generations of the Redstone family blended this tobacco from a secret formula. The original cigarettes were handmade in the Russian tradition. Sobranie was the supplier of the Imperial Court of Russia, and of the royal courts of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Spain, Romania, and Greece. In the early 1980s, the trademarks for Sobranie were sold to Gallaher Group, which continued production with a modified formula, at various places in Europe. Gallaher was subsequently purchased by Japan Tobacco in 2007. House of Sobranie offers a range of cigarettes marketed with luxury premium branding. Throughout its existence, Sobranie was marketed as the definition of luxury in the tobacco industry, being adopted as the official provider of many European royal houses and elites around the world.[3]

Varieties marketed as premium include the evening-out styles Sobranie Cocktail and Sobranie Black Russian, which are produced in Ukraine, these being of multicoloured and black paper, respectively, with a gold foil filter end. Sobranie Cocktail, Black Russian and White Russian variants are emblazoned with the Russian imperial eagle.

Sponsorships

Formula 1
Narain Karthikeyan qualifying at the 2005 US Grand Prix. Notice the Sobranie sponsorship on the rear wing.

Sobranie was a sponsor of the Jordan Grand Prix team in 2004 and 2005. The logos were displayed on the front, side and rear wing of the cars.[4][5][6] In countries where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the logos were removed or replaced. Sobranie was primarily a replacement for Jordan's primary tobacco sponsor, Benson & Hedges (a Gallaher-owned brand in the United Kingdom), in United States Grands Prix, to circumvent the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, as Philip Morris USA (who holds the Benson & Hedges trademark in the United States) was exclusively (as required by the MSA) sponsoring Team Penske in American open-wheel racing with their Marlboro brand.[7]

Markets

Sobranie cigarettes were mainly sold in the United Kingdom until the introduction of plain packaging, but also were or still are sold in India, Germany, Bulgaria, France, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Greece, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malaysia, China, Taiwan and Japan as well as many duty free shops in airports.[8][9][10]

Products
Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes
  • Sobranie Classic
  • Sobranie Refined Black
  • Sobranie Refined Chrome
  • Sobranie Refined White
  • Sobranie Classic Lights
  • Sobranie Black Russians
  • Sobranie White Russians
  • Sobranie Cocktail
  • Sobranie Blues (long and kingsize)
  • Sobranie Mints
  • Sobranie Pinks
  • Sobranie Whites
  • Sobranie Yellow (citrus menthol) – sold in China with English and Chinese text on packet, displaying a health warning on the lower region of the packet.
  • Sobranie Gold

Below are all the current brands of Sobranie cigarettes, with the levels of tar and nicotine included.

PackTarNicotine
Sobranie Classic14 mg1.0 mg
Sobranie Classic Lights10 mg0.1 mg
Sobranie Black Russians7 mg0,7 mg
Sobranie White Russians8 mg0,1 mg
Sobranie Cocktail5 mg0,5 mg
Sobranie Blues5 mg0.1 mg
Sobranie Mints5 mg0,5 mg
Sobranie Pinks5 mg0,1 mg
Sobranie Whites1 mg0,1 mg
Sobranie Yellow5 mg0.5 mg
Sobranie Gold3 mg0,3 mg

See also

References
  1. "Our brands". JTI. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  2. Maria, Ana (18 January 2013). "Sobranie". prezi.com. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  3. "ART COLLECTION, un eveniment special by Sobranie - Wide Magazine". www.widemagazine.ro.
  4. "Livery Histories #2: Jordan". 15 December 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  5. Davies, Jonathan. "Sobranie - ChicaneF1.com". Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  6. "Jordan krijgt Russisch karakter". 23 Feb 2005.
  7. Vadja, Gabor. "Ferrari, Jordan Sponsor Bumped by Penske at USGP, Firm Policies Itself". Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  8. "BrandSobranie - Cigarettespedia". www.cigarettespedia.com. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  9. "Sobranie". www.zigsam.at. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  10. Gubchik, Igor; Zakrevsky, Ignat. "Brands". www.cigarety.by. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
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