Sobranie

Sobranie

An old British pack of Sobranie Cocktail cigarettes, with an English text warning at the bottom of the pack
Product type	Cigarette
Produced by	Gallaher Group, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco
Country	United Kingdom
Introduced	1879 (1879)
Markets	See Markets

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sobranie (cigarettes).

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

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 luxury 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.^[3] 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 luxury premium cigarettes. Throughout its 138 years of existence, Sobranie was the definition of luxury in the tobacco industry, being adopted as the official provider of many European royal houses and elites around the world.^[4]

Premium varieties include the evening-out styles Sobranie Cocktail and Sobranie Black Russian, which are produced in Ukraine, and as of 2005 in Russia. Sobranie also produces several styles for women, some slimmer than standard cigarettes and others brightly coloured

• Cocktails are five separate bright pastel shades with a gold foil filter, and are the same ring gauge as standard cigarettes, unlike Nat Sherman's Fantasias, which are slimmer and use deeper, primary colours.
• Black Russians are black paper with a gold foil filter end. While both Cocktail and Black Russian variants are emblazoned with the Russian imperial eagle and use blends suited to Russian tastes, this is a blend different from Cocktails.

The logotype used on the packets is identical to a lesser version of the Coat of arms of Russia dating to 1883.

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.^[5][6][7] In countries where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the logos were removed or replaced.

Markets

Sobranie cigarettes are mainly sold in the United Kingdom, but also were or still are sold in Germany, Bulgaria, France, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Greece, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Serbia, Croatia, Malaysia, China, Taiwan and Japan.^[8][9][10]

Products

Sobranie Black Russian cigarettes

• Sobranie Classic
• Sobranie Classic Lights
• Sobranie Black Russians
• Sobranie White Russians
• Sobranie Cocktail
• Sobranie Blues
• 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 (Tar - 4 mg; Nicotine - 0.01 mg; Carbon Monoxide 5 mg)

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

See also

• Fashion brands
• Smoking culture
• Coat of arms of Russia

References