Kretek - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kretek are cigarette

Cigarette

A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...

s made with a blend of tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, cloves and other flavors. The word "kretek" itself is an onomatopoetic term for the crackling sound of burning cloves. Haji Jamahri, a resident of Kudus

Kudus

Kudus is a regency in Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is Kudus. It is located east of Semarang, capital of Central Java.-History:...

, Java, created kreteks in the early 1880s as a means to deliver the eugenol

Eugenol

Eugenol is a phenylpropene, an allyl chain-substituted guaiacol. Eugenol is a member of the phenylpropanoids class of chemical compounds. It is a clear to pale yellow oily liquid extracted from certain essential oils especially from clove oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil and bay leaf. It is slightly...

of cloves to the lungs, as it was thought to help asthma

Asthma

Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...

. Jamahri believed the eugenol cured his chest pains and he started to market his invention to the village, but he died before he could mass market it. M. Nitisemito took his place and began to commercialize the new cigarettes. Today, kretek manufacturers directly employ over 180,000 people in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

and an additional 10 million indirectly.

Partly due to favorable taxation compared to "white" cigarettes, kreteks are by far the most widely-smoked form of cigarettes in Indonesia

Indonesia

, where about 90% of smokers usually smoke kreteks.
In Indonesia

Indonesia

, there are hundreds of kretek manufacturers, including small local makers and major brands. Most of the widely-known international brands, including Bentoel, Djarum

Djarum

Djarum is an Indonesian kretek manufacturer and currently the third largest after Gudang Garam and HM Sampoerna. It was founded in 1951 by Oei Wie Gwan and has 2 headquarters in Indonesia and Malaysia.-History:...

, Gudang Garam, Jakarta, Sampoerna, and Wismilak, originate from Indonesia

Indonesia

. Nat Sherman

Nat Sherman

Nat Sherman is the brand name for a line of handmade cigars and "luxury cigarettes." The company, which began as a retail tobacconist, continues to operate a flagship retail shop now located on 42nd Street, off of Fifth Avenue, in New York City...

of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

produces cigarettes branded as "A Touch of Clove" but they are not true kreteks since they contain clove flavoring in the filter rather than actual clove spice mixed with the tobacco.

History

The origin of kretek cigarettes can be traced to the late 19th century. The creator of kretek was Haji Jamahri, a native of the town of Kudus in Indonesia's Central Java

Central Java

Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...

region. Suffering from chest pains, Jamahri attempted to reduce the pain by rubbing clove oil on his chest. Jamahri sought a means of achieving a deeper relief and smoked his hand-rolled cigarettes after adding dried clove buds and rubber tree sap. According to the story, his asthma and chest pains vanished immediately. Word of Jamahri’s product spread was rapidly among his neighbors, and clove cigarettes soon became available in pharmacies under the name of rokok cengkeh – clove cigarettes. Although first marketed as a medicinal product, kreteks became widely popular outside this capacity.

In those years, the locals used to hand-roll kreteks to sell on order without any specific brand, packing or limits on ingredients used in production. A resident of Kudus named Nitisemito had the idea of starting serial production and selling kreteks under a proprietary brand name. Unlike other manufacturers, Nitisemito - who first created the Bal Tiga brand in 1906—(Nitisemito)enjoyed great success by implementing unprecedented marketing techniques, such as using threats—by embossed packs or offering free-of-charge promotional materials. Commercial manufacture did not start in earnest until the 1930s.
Furthermore, he also developed a production system which was called the abon system and which offered opportunities for other entrepreneurs without enough capital. In this system, a person called as "abon" assumes the job of delivering finished products to the company which pays the price of piecework done whereas the company is liable to supply the necessary production materials to the "abons". However, most manufacturers have since opted to have their workers working under the roof of their own factories, to maintain quality standards. Nowadays, only a few kretek manufacturers make use of the abon system.

During the period from 1960 until 1970, kreteks became a national symbol against "white cigarettes". In mid 1980’s, the number of machine-produced cigarettes exceeded that of hand-rolled ones. One of the largest income sources of Indonesia, the kretek industry comprises 500 large and small manufacturers employing a total of around 10 million people.

Since 2009, kreteks are not legal for sale in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Lyer<---. However a variation of the kretek is being sold: "cigars" that are similar in size and shape to the original kreteks, also with a filter and the original tobacco/clove blend, but in a tobacco-based paper.

Structure and ingredients

The quality and variety of tobacco play an important role in kretek production. One kretek brand can contain more than 30 types of tobacco. Minced dried clove buds weighing about 1/3 of the tobacco blend are added. Sometimes, the last process which machine-made or hand-rolled kreteks go through is the spraying of sweetener at the butt end of the cigarette.

Health effects

Djarum Black

Djarum Black is a kretek . It is sold in a stretched pack, two cigarettes wide and ten cigarettes long. The cigarette itself is rolled with black, flavored paper. The cigarette features a clove flavor both in scent and taste, and the paper has a sweet taste...

cigarettes sold in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n countries have 10–12 mg tar

Tar (tobacco residue)

Tar is the common name for the resinous partially combusted and healed particulate matter produced by the burning of tobacco and other plant material in the act of smoking. Tar is purportedly the most destructive component in habitual tobacco smoking, accumulating in the smoker's lungs over time...

and 1 mg nicotine

Nicotine

Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots and accumulation occurring in the leaves...

, as indicated on the pack. This level of tar and nicotine is comparable to the majority of other regular or "full-flavor" cigarettes available. However, Djarum Black cigarettes produced for consumption in Indonesia contain a significantly higher quantity of tar and nicotine, 25 mg and 1.6 mg respectively. In Canada, Djarum Black cigarettes are listed as containing 44.2–86 mg of tar and 1.73–3.24 mg of nicotine, a significant amount more than most other cigarettes.

The venous plasma

Blood plasma

Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...

nicotine

Nicotine

and carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...

levels from 10 smokers were tested after smoking kreteks and were found to be similar to non-clove brands of cigarettes, such as Marlboro.

Rat

Rat

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...

s were given equal inhalation doses of conventional tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

cigarettes and kreteks over a short period. Those that had inhaled kreteks did not appear to show worse health effects compared to those that had inhaled conventional cigarettes. The study was repeated with a 14-day exposure and kreteks again did not produce worse health effects than conventional cigarettes.

The eugenol

Eugenol

in clove

Clove

Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...

smoke causes a numbing of the throat which can diminish the gag reflex

Gag reflex

The pharyngeal reflex or gag reflex is a reflex contraction of the back of the throat, evoked by touching the soft palate or sometimes the back of the tongue. It prevents something from entering the throat except as part of normal swallowing and helps prevent choking...

in users, leading researchers to recommend caution for individuals with respiratory infections. There have also been a few cases of aspiration pneumonia

Aspiration pneumonia

Aspiration pneumonia is bronchopneumonia that develops due to the entrance of foreign materials into the bronchial tree, usually oral or gastric contents...

in individuals with normal respiratory tracts possibly because of the diminished gag reflex.

Legal status in the United States

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, cigarettes were the subject of legal restrictions and political debate, including a proposed 2009 US Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

bill that would have prohibited cigarettes from having a "characterising flavor" of certain ingredients other than tobacco and menthol

Menthol

Menthol is an organic compound made synthetically or obtained from peppermint or other mint oils. It is a waxy, crystalline substance, clear or white in color, which is solid at room temperature and melts slightly above. The main form of menthol occurring in nature is -menthol, which is assigned...

.

A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found kreteks account for a relatively small percentage of underage smoking, and their use was declining among high school students. Critics of the bill argued that support of the bill by the large U.S. tobacco maker Philip Morris

Philip Morris USA

Philip Morris USA is the United States tobacco division of Altria Group, Inc. Philip Morris USA brands include Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Benson and Hedges, Merit, Parliament, Alpine, Basic, Cambridge, Bucks, Dave's, Chesterfield, Collector's Choice, Commander, English Ovals, Lark, L&M, Players and...

, which makes only conventional and menthol cigarettes, indicated that the bill was an attempt to protect the company from competition.

Some U.S. states, including Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

, and Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, passed laws that prohibit the sale of kreteks.
On 14 March 2005, Philip Morris International announced the purchase of Indonesian tobacco company PT HM Sampoerna after acquiring a 40% stake in Sampoerna from a number of Sampoerna’s principal shareholders.

In 2009, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is a United States federal law that gives the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate the tobacco industry...

was introduced in the US Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

, giving the FDA significantly more regulatory power over tobacco; one of the provisions in the law includes a ban on the use of flavors in tobacco, other than menthol. The ban includes kreteks. As of September 22, 2009 the clove cigarette was no longer legal to sell or distribute in the US, and cigarettes purchased overseas are subject to seizure by U.S. Customs. There is an exception to this rule when receiving cigarettes as gifts through the USPS and is only allowed if certain guidelines are followed. This rule does not allow for purchase of tobacco products overseas but allows the receipt of gifts from domestic individuals and international individuals. However, Kretek International Inc., importer of the Djarum brand continued to offer the clove / tobacco products as little cigars

Cigarillo

A cigarillo is a short, narrow cigar. Unlike cigarettes, cigarillos are wrapped not in paper but in whole-leaf tobacco. Cigarillos can be found for purchase alone or in packs, and are often made without filters...

, which have lower taxes (in some U.S. states) and looser restrictions than cigarettes.

On April 12, 2010 Indonesia filed a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization stating the ban on kreteks in America amounts to discrimination because menthol cigarettes are exempt from the new regulation. Trade Ministry Director General of International Trade Gusmardi Bustami has stated that the Indonesian government has asked the WTO panel to review US violations on trade regulations, including the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) 1994, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. The TBT Agreement is of special importance as it defines clove cigarettes and menthol cigarettes as "like products". Claims of discrimination are enhanced when noting that 99% of kreteks were imported from countries other than the United States (chiefly Indonesia), while menthol cigarettes are produced almost entirely by American tobacco manufacturers. Indonesia's case is further strengthened by comparing the number of young kretek smokers in America with the number of young menthol cigarette smokers. According to US health reports, 43% of young smokers smoke menthol cigarettes, which accounts for nearly 25% of the total cigarette consumption in the United States. Young smokers habituated to Kreteks, however, account for less than 1% of cigarette consumption in the US, and <1% of the total cigarettes sold in the US. The WTO investigative panel is expected to rule on Indonesia's claim some time in mid-2011.

International sales

Next to the United States of America kretek cigarettes are among others sold in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Australia, Brazil, Vanuatu, etc. In Europe only smaller packs and thinner cigarettes are sold to adhere to the EU established maximum amount of nicotine and tar levels.

History

Structure and ingredients

Health effects

Legal status in the United States

International sales

Further reading