North Korea''s Patriotic Producers of Cigarettes

Source from:  NK News 12/09/2015

Before the Arduous March of 1996-99, North Koreans smoked only locally produced cigarettes, but since the late 1990s foreign cigarettes have been smoked in North Korea. Recently, there have been reports that Kim Jong Un ordered his officials not to smoke foreign-produced tobacco and to show one's patriotic loyalty by using locally produced tobacco only. North Korean officials usually take such instructions seriously, at least for the first couple of months after the instructions are issued. However, the smuggling of foreign cigarettes across the Chinese border has been big business in North Korea, and it is not going to die off overnight.

There are 14 factories producing cigarettes in North Korea. The most prestigious brand of officially produced cigarettes is known as the "7.27" brand. Every North Korean knows what this stands for: July 27, 1953, the date of the signing of the armistice that halted the Korean War, officially known as Victory Day in the North. This is a day of celebration, because North Koreans believe that the Americans invaded their country, but they repelled this invasion and emerged triumphant from the Korean War.

The 7.27 cigarettes are the choice of the Supreme Leader himself. People say they are no different from Mokran cigarettes, which his father Kim Jong Il used to enjoy. Allegedly, producers just changed the name and packaging, while the tobacco and technology used to produce them remain the same. Still, this is a really good tobacco product.

High-level cadres usually smoke such high quality cigarettes as Kohyang or Mindele, while junior officials and rich people from the markets smoke Pyongyang, Kumgangsan, Ryomyong and other kinds of tobacco.

North Koreans clearly distinguish between filter cigarettes and those without. They know that the filter makes cigarettes less dangerous and in the past only officials who were issued them as part of their rations. The common people were usually forced to smoke cigarettes without a filter, which were usually much cheaper.

Officials are no longer issued cigarettes as part of their rations, with the exception of soldiers and military officers. Most people now are forced to buy cigarettes at the market and pay market price. Since the North Korean won goes up and down, people usually express prices in Chinese yuan. For example, the more expensive filter cigarettes like Ryomyong, popular among officials and rich merchants, would cost 8 yuan a pack at the market, while cheaper types of cigarettes like Tongyang would cost 3.5 yuan a pack.

Like in many other parts of the world, North Korean cigarettes come in packs of 20. There is one curious exception, though: a pack of Chollima contains a mere 16 cigarettes.

Other locally produced varieties that are unusual are Pyongyang and P'ungsan. Unlike other cigarettes, their packaging includes specifics about tar and nicotine levels. Pyongyang, for example, is claimed to contain 14 mg of nicotine and 1.2 mg of tar. These indications might be useful because in recent years, North Koreans have frequently been reminded of the health risks associated with smoking.

NORTHERN FLAVOR

Generally speaking, North Korean men think that a strong man should smoke strong cigarettes

North Korean cigarettes tend to be very strong. When, in the late 1990s, South Korean workers were employed at the construction sites of light water reactors as part of the KEDO agreement, they occasionally exchanged cigarettes with North Koreans. The North Koreans thought South Korean tobacco to be very mild, while the South Koreans found North Korean cigarettes strong to a point that it brought tears to their eyes. Generally speaking, North Korean men think that a strong man should smoke strong cigarettes.

However, the majority of North Koreans who do not smoke factory-produced cigarettes smoke roll-ups. There are also private workshops producing cigarettes, and such counterfeit cigarettes are usually packaged as if they had been produced in large factories. These small workshops are mainly run by people who have experience working in government factories and who know something about tobacco production.

For example, there is a large tobacco factory in the city of Hoeryong, where all tobacco for the North Korean army is produced. In the neighborhood around this factory, there are dozens of small workshops where cigarettes are produced. Usually teenage girls hired by workshop owners make the cigarettes. They use very simple equipment that can be easily bought at the city market. Tobacco leaves are often stolen from the factory, but sometimes, workshop owners buy tobacco leaves from local farmers or use tobacco illegally diverted and sold by managers of state-run farms. Cigarette paper is either stolen from the factory or bought from Chinese traders. The latter are well-informed about this bustling trade and frequently bring massive loads of paper to the city. When not in ready supply, Rason's wholesale markets are another option.

Once cigarettes are produced, they are packaged and sold as if they had been made in a North Korean or Chinese factory. However, both the vendor and consumer are aware that the cigarettes they sell and smoke are locally produced. When the work is done well, though, they see no reason to be unhappy.

When people make roll-ups, they usually buy tobacco leaves at market. Farmers sometimes sell leaves they have grown themselves, but sometimes workers steal from the tobacco factories and sell the product directly or via traders.

Paper is also required for roll-ups, and it can be hard to come by in the North, where no special paper for roll-ups is sold. Thus, one has to make use of newspapers. The Rodong Sinmun is the people's choice because the paper quality is good, but one has to be careful, as it is illegal to damage the portraits of the Kims.

In North Korea, it is quite common to share cigarettes and tobacco. When North Korean men meet and talk they nearly always smoke. This is why one cannot completely believe official assertions that claim that less than half of the population smokes. Nonetheless, smoking is clearly disappearing, albeit slowly, and in this regard things are not so different from the South. Enditem