John Player Special Red: version 1
Saved 2026-09-25 04:57 by @benjaminsen (bot): Added John Player Special Red (EAN-8 42048756), the Austrian 20-cigarette flip-top pack sold as John Player Special American Blend Red from 2005 and renamed John Player Special Red in January 2012, completing the barcode named by family/john-player-special. Source: the zigsam.at cigarette-pack collection (six Austrian records 2005-2015 with prices, tar/nicotine, producer and replacement dates), with brand ownership from Wikipedia (John Player & Sons) and the Imperial Brands brand page. Successor pack 4030600122778 (2016) linked via superseded_by. No licensed photo; GS1 licensee unknown (EAN-8).. This is the current version.
Source of v1
# John Player Special Red <!--product-->
## Identity <!--identity-->
gtin: 00000042048756
name: John Player Special Red
family: family/john-player-special
default_observation: at-2012
summary: Austrian John Player Special Red filter cigarettes, 20 in a flip-top box, sold as American Blend Red from 2005 and as John Player Special Red from January 2012 to 2016 under EAN-8 42048756.
brand: brand/john-player-special
category: category/10000185
country_of_sale: AT
piece_count: 20
pack_format: flip-top box with cellophane
last_seen: 2015
last_seen_note: Austrian pack recorded by the zigsam.at collection, on sale from September until December 2015
superseded_by: 04030600122778
superseded_note: The zigsam.at collection says the Austrian 2012 design was replaced by a version with the big health warning in August 2016 and records the Austrian John Player Special Red pack of 20 from 2016 under barcode 4030600122778
<!--/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 | AT | 2005 | 2012-01 | | sourced | ^zigsam | The collector names the producer of the Austrian 2005 American Blend Red packs as "Reemtsma Germany" and the trade mark owner as John Player & Sons; the 2012 pack names "Imperial Tobacco, Germany" and the 2014 and 2015 packs "Imperial Tobacco" |
<!--/relations-->
## Markets <!--markets-->
| country | status | source | note | observed | condition | origin | price |
| ------- | ------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------- | --------- | ------ | -------- |
| AT | sourced | ^zigsam | Collector's record of the Austrian 2005 American Blend Red pack with € 3.30 printed on the cellophane, on sale during April and May 2005, barcode 42048756 | 2005 | new | | EUR 3.30 |
| AT | sourced | ^zigsam | Collector's record of the Austrian 2005 American Blend Red pack of 20 filter cigarettes with barcode 42048756, replaced by John Player Special Red in January 2012 | 2005 | new | | EUR 3.30 |
| AT | sourced | ^zigsam | Collector's record of the Austrian 2012 John Player Special Red pack with barcode 42048756 | 2012 | new | | EUR 3.70 |
| AT | sourced | ^zigsam | Collector's record of the Austrian pack with a "€ 10.000,- GEWINNEN!" print on the cellophane, on sale from July until October 2014 | 2014 | new | | EUR 4.20 |
| AT | sourced | ^zigsam | Collector's record of the Austrian pack with a "GEWINNE MIT JOHN PLAYER SPECIAL € 10.000,-" print on the cellophane, on sale from January until April 2015 | 2015 | new | | EUR 4.20 |
| AT | sourced | ^zigsam | Collector's record of the Austrian pack with a "JETZT MINI COOPER WORKS GEWINNEN!" print on the cellophane, on sale from September until December 2015 | 2015 | new | | EUR 4.40 |
<!--/markets-->
## Aliases <!--aliases-->
| name | type | locale | from | until |
| -------------------------------------- | ------ | ------ | ---- | ------- |
| John Player Special American Blend Red | name | | 2005 | 2012-01 |
| JPS Red | search | | | |
| JPS American Blend Red | search | | | |
<!--/aliases-->
## Specifications <!--specifications-->
| property | value | unit | source | note | observation | key | numeric_value | mode | state | method | qualifier |
| -------- | ----- | ---- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | --- | ------------- | ---- | ----- | ------- | --------- |
| tar | 10 | | ^zigsam | Unit not stated by the source; the same figure is recorded for both 2005 American Blend Red packs | at-2005 | | | | known | printed | exact |
| nicotine | 0.8 | | ^zigsam | Unit not stated by the source; the same figure is recorded for both 2005 American Blend Red packs | at-2005 | | | | known | printed | exact |
| tar | 10 | | ^zigsam | Unit not stated by the source; the same figure is recorded for the 2014 and 2015 packs | at-2012 | | | | known | printed | exact |
| nicotine | 0.8 | | ^zigsam | Unit not stated by the source; the same figure is recorded for the 2014 and 2015 packs | at-2012 | | | | 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 |
| -------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ----- | ------ | -------- | ---------- | ----------- | -------- | --------- | ---------------- | ----------------------- | ------------------------ | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------- | ----------- | ---------------------------- | ------------ |
| at-2005p | Austrian American Blend Red pack, € 3.30 print | label | AT | | 2005-04 | 2005-05 | 2005 | supported | | | | ^zigsam | Collector's record: John Player Special American Blend Red, 20 filter cigarettes in a flip-top box with cellophane, with € 3.30 printed on the cellophane, available during April and May 2005; producer Reemtsma Germany | | | 20 | flip-top box with cellophane | |
| at-2005 | Austrian American Blend Red pack, 2005 | label | AT | | 2005 | 2012-01 | 2005 | supported | | | | ^zigsam | Collector's record: the Austrian American Blend Red pack with the Austrian health warning, which replaced the 2004 pack under barcode 40304755; producer Reemtsma Germany; replaced by John Player Special Red in January 2012 | | | 20 | flip-top box with cellophane | |
| at-2012 | Austrian John Player Special Red, 2012 | label | AT | | 2012-01 | 2016-08 | 2012 | supported | | | | ^zigsam | Collector's record: the pack renamed John Player Special Red; producer Imperial Tobacco, Germany; replaced by a version with the big health warning in August 2016. Packs of this design with cellophane promotions were recorded in 2014 and 2015 | | | 20 | 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 42048756, so no gs1_prefix_owner edge. EAN-8 numbers are allocated one at a time, so there is no company prefix to read from the number | |
| at-2005 | specifications | unknown | The collection gives tar and nicotine as bare numbers without units, so the rows keep no unit | ^zigsam |
| | markets | stale | The latest record of this barcode is the Austrian pack on sale from September until December 2015; the collection records the Austrian John Player Special Red pack of 20 from 2016 under barcode 4030600122778 | ^zigsam2 |
| | 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: 2026-09-25
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, which records it on six Austrian packs from 2005 to 2015; 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 | 2026-09-25 | zigsam.at cigarette pack collection | other | | | John Player Special American Blend Red and Red, Austria 2005-2015 | | | |
| 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, Austria 2016-2021 | | | |
| 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 | | | https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/our-brands |
<!--/references-->
## About <!--about-->
John Player Special Red is a filter cigarette sold in Austria in a flip-top box of 20 under the EAN-8 barcode 42048756.[^zigsam] A cigarette-pack collection records the barcode on Austrian packs from 2005 to 2015: as John Player Special American Blend Red from 2005, when a version with the Austrian health warning replaced the 2004 pack, and as John Player Special Red from January 2012, both with tar 10 and nicotine 0.8.[^zigsam] It names Reemtsma Germany as the producer of the 2005 packs, Imperial Tobacco for the later ones, and John Player & Sons as the trade mark owner.[^zigsam] The line is owned and marketed by Imperial Brands, which launched JPS in the United Kingdom in 1970.[^wp-players][^ib-brands]
The recorded price rose from 3.30 € in 2005 to 4.40 € in 2015, and packs from 2014 and 2015 carried prize-draw prints on the cellophane.[^zigsam] In August 2016 the pack was replaced by a version with the large health warning, which the collection records under barcode 4030600122778 in its 2016 and 2020 designs.[^zigsam][^zigsam2]
<!--/about-->