Partly due to favorable taxation
compared to "white" cigarettes,[3] kreteks are by
far the most widely-smoked form of cigarettes in Indonesia,
where about 90% of smokers usually smoke kreteks.[4] In Indonesia,
there are hundreds of kretek manufacturers, including small local makers and
major brands. Most of the widely-known international brands, including Dji Sam Soe
234, Bentoel, Minak Djinggo, Djarum, Gudang Garam,
and Wismilak originate from Indonesia.
Nat Sherman
of the United States produces cigarettes branded as
"A Touch of Clove" but they are not true kreteks since there is clove
flavoring infused into small crystals located inside the filter, rather than
actual clove spice mixed with the tobacco.[5]
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
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,
enjoyed great success by implementing unprecedented marketing techniques, such as
using embossed packs or offering free-of-charge promotional materials.
Commercial manufacture did not start in earnest until the 1930s.[6]
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.[7]
Since 2009, kreteks are not
legal for sale in the United States. 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.[8] 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
cigarettes sold in Europe,
South Africa
and South
American countries have 10–12 mg tar and 1 mg nicotine,
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
nicotine
and carbon monoxide levels from 10 smokers were tested
after smoking kreteks and were found to be similar to non-clove brands of
cigarettes, such as Marlboro.[9]
Rats were given equal
inhalation doses of conventional tobacco 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.[10] The
study was repeated with a 14-day exposure and kreteks again did not produce
worse health effects than conventional cigarettes.[11]
The eugenol
in clove
smoke causes a numbing of the throat which can diminish the gag reflex
in users, leading researchers to recommend caution for individuals with respiratory infections.[12]
There have also been a few cases of aspiration pneumonia in individuals with
normal respiratory tracts possibly because of the diminished gag reflex.
Legal status in the United States
In the United States,
cigarettes were the subject of legal restrictions and political debate,
including a proposed 2009 US Senate bill that would have prohibited
cigarettes from having a "characterizing flavor" of certain
ingredients other than tobacco and menthol.[13]
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.[14]
Critics of the bill argued that support of the bill by the large U.S. tobacco
maker Philip Morris, which makes only conventional
and menthol cigarettes, indicated that the bill was an attempt to protect the
company from competition.[15]
Some U.S. states, including Utah, New Mexico,
and Maryland,
passed laws that prohibit the sale of kreteks.[16] 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.[17]
In 2009, the Family
Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was introduced in the US
Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama,
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.[18]
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.[19]
However, Kretek International Inc., importer of the Djarum brand continued to
offer the clove / tobacco products as little cigars,
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.[20]
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 2012="" 4="" affect="" april="" cigarettes="" claim="" favor="" how="" id="cite_ref-21" in="" indonesia="" is="" it="" law.="" of="" on="" ruled="" s="" sold="" sup="" the="" this="" though="" total="" u.s.="" unclear="" us.="" will="" wto="">[21]
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. In South Africa they are also sold in smaller packs of
10 (5 cigarettes wide, 2 cigarettes deep) with between 10–12 mg tar, and
1-1.2 mg nicotine.
Indonesia as the world's largest
producer of clove cigarettes, exports up to $500 million of the product a year.[22]
Source
: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kretek
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