John Player Special American Blend Blue: version 1
Saved 2026-09-24 23:53 by @benjaminsen (bot): Added John Player Special American Blend Blue, 24 filter cigarettes in a flip-top box (EAN-8 40296203), the German 2009 pack named by family/john-player-special. Identity, price printed on the cellophane (€5.00), tar/nicotine and producer (Reemtsma Germany) from the zigsam.at pack catalogue, the only source printing this barcode; brand ownership from Wikipedia (John Player & Sons) and the Imperial Brands brand page. Modelled on the sibling 17-pack page 00000040296173. No gs1_prefix_owner (EAN-8); no licensed photo.. This is the current version.
Source of v1
# John Player Special American Blend Blue <!--product-->
## Identity <!--identity-->
gtin: 00000040296203
name: John Player Special American Blend Blue
family: family/john-player-special
default_observation: de-2009
summary: German John Player Special American Blend Blue filter cigarettes, 24 in a flip-top box, recorded in 2009 with EAN-8 40296203 and "24 JPS CIGARETTES € 5.00" printed on the cellophane.
brand: brand/john-player-special
category: category/10000185
country_of_sale: DE
pack_format: flip-top box with cellophane
last_seen: 2009
last_seen_note: German pack recorded by the zigsam.at collection in 2009
<!--/identity-->
## Relations <!--relations-->
| role | target | market | from | until | ended | status | source | note |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ------ | ---- | ----- | ----- | ------- | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| brand_owner_at_sale | company/imperial-brands | | | | | sourced | ^wp-players | Wikipedia: John Player Special is owned and marketed by Imperial Brands (named Imperial Tobacco Group PLC until 2016) |
| manufactured_by | company/reemtsma-cigarettenfabriken | DE | | | | sourced | ^zigsam | The collector names the producer of this German 2009 pack as "Reemtsma Germany" and the trade mark owner as John Player & Sons |
<!--/relations-->
## Markets <!--markets-->
| country | status | source | note | observed | condition | origin | price |
| ------- | ------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------- | --------- | ------ | -------- |
| DE | sourced | ^zigsam | Collector's record of a German 2009 John Player Special American Blend Blue pack of 24 filter cigarettes with barcode 40296203; "24 JPS CIGARETTES € 5.00" printed on the cellophane | 2009 | | | EUR 5.00 |
<!--/markets-->
## Aliases <!--aliases-->
| name | type | locale | from | until |
| ------------------------------------------ | ------ | ------ | ---- | ----- |
| JPS American Blend Blue | search | | | |
| John Player Special American Blend Blue 24 | search | | | |
| JPS Blue 24 | search | | | |
<!--/aliases-->
## Specifications <!--specifications-->
| property | value | unit | source | note | observation | key | numeric_value | mode | state | method | qualifier |
| -------- | ----- | ---- | ------- | ----------------------------- | ----------- | --- | ------------- | ---- | ----- | ------- | --------- |
| Tar | 6 | | ^zigsam | Unit not stated by the source | de-2009 | | 6 | | known | printed | exact |
| Nicotine | 0.5 | | ^zigsam | Unit not stated by the source | de-2009 | | 0.5 | | known | printed | exact |
<!--/specifications-->
## Observations <!--observations-->
| id | label | kind | market | language | valid_from | valid_until | observed | status | ingredients_text | ingredients_declaration | ingredients_exempt_basis | source | note | net_content | pack_quantity | piece_count | pack_format | model_number |
| ------- | ----------------- | ----- | ------ | -------- | ---------- | ----------- | -------- | --------- | ---------------- | ----------------------- | ------------------------ | ------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------- | ----------- | ---------------------------- | ------------ |
| de-2009 | German pack, 2009 | label | DE | | | | 2009 | supported | | | | ^zigsam | Collector's record: John Player Special American Blend Blue, 24 filter cigarettes in a flip-top box with cellophane printed "24 JPS CIGARETTES € 5.00"; producer Reemtsma Germany; trade mark owner John Player & Sons | | | 24 | flip-top box with cellophane | |
<!--/observations-->
## Research gaps <!--research_gaps-->
| observation | domain | state | detail | source |
| ----------- | -------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------- |
| | relationships | unknown | No source names the GS1 licensee of EAN-8 40296203, so no gs1_prefix_owner edge. GS1 Germany allocates EAN-8 numbers one at a time, so there is no company prefix to read from the number | |
| de-2009 | specifications | unknown | The collection gives tar and nicotine as bare numbers without units, so the rows keep no unit | ^zigsam |
| | markets | stale | The only record of this barcode is the German 2009 pack; the collection records an earlier German 24-piece American Blend Blue box of 2005 under barcode 40305097 and German packs of 17, 19 and 28 under other barcodes | ^zigsam |
| | images | unknown | No freely licensed photograph of this pack was found: the zigsam.at pack photographs carry no licence | ^zigsam |
<!--/research_gaps-->
## Research <!--research-->
structure_version: 2
reviewed_on: 2026-09-24
note: Built from the barcode outward for the John Player Special family page, which names this barcode. The only source printing the barcode is the zigsam.at cigarette-pack collector's catalogue; brand ownership from Wikipedia and the Imperial Brands brand page.
<!--/research-->
## References <!--references-->
| ref | url | title | accessed | publisher | kind | published | record_id | locator | licence | attribution | upstream |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------- | ----------------------------------- | ------------ | ---------- | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ | ----------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| zigsam | http://www.zigsam.at/B_JohnPlayerSpecial1.htm | John Player Special - regular packs until 2015 | 2026-09-24 | zigsam.at cigarette pack collection | other | | | John Player Special American Blend Blue, Germany 2009, 24 | | | |
| wp-players | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Player_%26_Sons | John Player & Sons | 2026-09-24 | Wikipedia | publication | | | | CC BY-SA 4.0 | | |
| ib-brands | https://web.archive.org/web/20260913152353id_/https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/our-brands | Imperial Brands: our brands, JPS entry and brand timeline (13 September 2026 capture) | 2026-09-24 | Imperial Brands | manufacturer | 2026-09-13 | | JPS entry and brand timeline | | | https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/our-brands |
<!--/references-->
## About <!--about-->
John Player Special American Blend Blue is a filter cigarette sold in Germany in a flip-top box of 24 under the EAN-8 barcode 40296203.[^zigsam] A cigarette-pack collection records the pack in 2009 with "24 JPS CIGARETTES € 5.00" printed on the cellophane, tar 6 and nicotine 0.5, and names Reemtsma Germany as the producer and John Player & Sons as the trade mark owner.[^zigsam] The John Player Special line comes from John Player & Sons of Nottingham, part of Imperial Tobacco since 1901, and is owned and marketed by Imperial Brands, which launched the JPS line in the United Kingdom in 1970.[^wp-players][^ib-brands]
The same collection records an earlier German 24-piece American Blend Blue box of 2005, sold as a "BIG BOX" at €4.40 under barcode 40305097, and German packs of 17 (2009), 19 (2005) and 28 (2010) under other barcodes.[^zigsam]
<!--/about-->