John Player Special Red: version 1
Saved 2026-09-25 03:05 by @benjaminsen (bot): Added John Player Special Red, German 23-cigarette flip-top box (EAN-8 40305738), named by family/john-player-special. Identity, 2016 price, tar/nicotine and producer from the zigsam.at pack collection (B_JohnPlayerSpecial.htm); brand ownership from Wikipedia (John Player & Sons) and the Imperial Brands brand page; German operator Reemtsma from the jps.de imprint. Gaps: no GS1 licensee for the EAN-8, no licensed photo, only one dated record of this barcode.. This is the current version.
Source of v1
# John Player Special Red <!--product-->
## Identity <!--identity-->
gtin: 00000040305738
name: John Player Special Red
family: family/john-player-special
default_observation: de-2016
summary: German John Player Special Red filter cigarettes, 23 in a flip-top box, recorded in 2016 with EAN-8 40305738, a Route 66 design printed on the cellophane and a price of €6.
brand: brand/john-player-special
category: category/10000185
country_of_sale: DE
pack_format: flip-top box with cellophane
last_seen: 2016
last_seen_note: German pack recorded by the zigsam.at collection in 2016
<!--/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 | | | | derived | ^zigsam2 | The collector names the producer of this German 2016 pack as "Imperial Tobacco Germany"; Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH of Hamburg is the Imperial company that names itself in the imprint of the German JPS site jps.de |
<!--/relations-->
## Markets <!--markets-->
| country | status | source | note | observed | condition | origin | price |
| ------- | ------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | --------- | ------ | -------- |
| DE | sourced | ^zigsam2 | Collector's record of a German 2016 John Player Special Red pack of 23 filter cigarettes with barcode 40305738 and a Route 66 design printed on the cellophane, price 6 € | 2016 | | | EUR 6.00 |
<!--/markets-->
## Aliases <!--aliases-->
| name | type | locale | from | until |
| -------------------------- | ------ | ------ | ---- | ----- |
| JPS Red | search | | | |
| John Player Special Red 23 | search | | | |
| JPS Red Route 66 | search | | | |
<!--/aliases-->
## Specifications <!--specifications-->
| property | value | unit | source | note | observation | key | numeric_value | mode | state | method | qualifier |
| -------- | ----- | ---- | -------- | ----------------------------- | ----------- | --- | ------------- | ---- | ----- | ------- | --------- |
| Tar | 10 | | ^zigsam2 | Unit not stated by the source | de-2016 | | 10 | | known | printed | exact |
| Nicotine | 0.8 | | ^zigsam2 | Unit not stated by the source | de-2016 | | 0.8 | | 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-2016 | German pack, 2016 | label | DE | | | | 2016 | supported | | | | ^zigsam2 | Collector's record: John Player Special Red, 23 filter cigarettes in a flip-top box with cellophane printed with a Route 66 design; tar 10, nicotine 0.8; producer Imperial Tobacco Germany; trade mark owner John Player & Sons | | | 23 | 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 40305738, 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-2016 | specifications | unknown | The collection gives tar and nicotine as bare numbers without units, so the rows keep no unit | ^zigsam2 |
| | markets | stale | The only record of this barcode is the German 2016 pack; the same collection records Austrian John Player Special Red packs of 20 and 23 under other barcodes | ^zigsam2 |
| | images | unknown | No freely licensed photograph of this pack was found: the zigsam.at pack photographs carry no licence | ^zigsam2 |
<!--/research_gaps-->
## Research <!--research-->
structure_version: 2
reviewed_on: 2026-09-25
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, the German operating company from the jps.de imprint.
<!--/research-->
## References <!--references-->
| ref | url | title | accessed | publisher | kind | published | record_id | locator | licence | attribution | upstream |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------- | ----------------------------------- | ------------ | ---------- | --------- | ----------------------------------------- | ------------ | ----------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| zigsam2 | http://www.zigsam.at/B_JohnPlayerSpecial.htm | John Player Special - regular packs since 2016 | 2026-09-25 | zigsam.at cigarette pack collection | other | | | John Player Special Red, Germany 2016, 23 | | | |
| wp-players | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Player_%26_Sons | John Player & Sons | 2026-09-25 | 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) | 2026-09-25 | Imperial Brands | manufacturer | 2026-09-13 | | JPS entry and brand timeline | | | https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/our-brands |
| jps-de | https://jps.de/impressum/ | Impressum, jps.de | 2026-09-25 | Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH | manufacturer | | | | | | |
<!--/references-->
## About <!--about-->
John Player Special Red is a filter cigarette sold in Germany in a flip-top box of 23 under the EAN-8 barcode 40305738.[^zigsam2] A cigarette-pack collection records the pack in 2016 with a Route 66 design printed on the cellophane, a price of 6 €, tar 10 and nicotine 0.8, and names Imperial Tobacco Germany as the producer and John Player & Sons as the trade mark owner.[^zigsam2] 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] In Germany the brand is run by Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH of Hamburg.[^jps-de]
The same collection records Austrian John Player Special Red packs of 20 cigarettes from 2016, 2020 and 2021 and of 23 cigarettes from 2021 under other barcodes.[^zigsam2]
<!--/about-->