History of Kretek Clove

Cigarettes
Kretek, the clove-infused cigarette of Indonesia, was created in the town of
Kudus, Central Java, in the late nineteenth century. What was once a small-scale
cottage industry has grown over the course of more than 100 years becomes one
of the largest contributors to the Indonesian economy, second only to oil and gas.


The Story of Tobacco

The first stories on tobacco originate from Christophorus Columbus in 1492, who
reported that the native people of the American continent smoked tobacco to
chase away tiredness. Tobacco leaves were also used for ritual ceremonies and
for medicine amongst the Indian tribe.

The suppressors and conquerors from Europe then started smoking tobacco
leaves, and this habit soon spread all over the world. In 1559, Jean Nicot, the
French Ambassador in Lisabon, conducted research on tobacco. He even sent a
mixture of tobacco powder to Queen Chatarine de Medici as a remedy for her
headaches.

Nicot's research, titled Historia Plantarum, is further published in the book, Dela in
1586. In his article he gave the tobacco plant the name of Nicotiana, which later
on became known as the tobacco genus, a botanical member of the Solanaceae
family.


Tobacco in Indonesia

In Indonesia, tobacco has been known for a long time. In the 17th century Sir
Thomas Stanford Raffles in his legendary book, The History of Java, wrote about
tobacco. Sources of Javanese literature, such as Badad Ing Sangkala, mentioned
that tobacco was introduced on the island of Java around the time that
Panembahan Senopati Ing Ngalaga, the founder of Mataram Dynasty, passed
away in around 1602.

Raffles was of the opinion that tobacco seeds were first brought in by the Dutch.
But, other sources point to the Portuguese. The reasons for this being that the
Javanese may be closer to the word tembako (Indonesian for tobacco), or
tumbaco (in Portuguese), as compared to the word tabak (in Dutch).


Rumphius reported that in around 1650 many tobacco plantations could be found
in Indonesia. During the VOC days large scale tobacco plantations were found in
the Kedu, Bagelen, Malang and Priangan areas.

The Inventor of Kretek

Tobacco was first introduced to Indonesia at the beginning of the 17th century.
Cigarettes of that time were homemade, hand-rolled and wrapped in cornhusk. It
was not until the late 19th century that cloves were added to the tobacco.

It is believed that the first person to add cloves to his cigarette was a man called H.
Jamhari, a resident of the town of Kudus, the birthplace of kretek. During the 1880s
he suffered from mild asthma, and found that rubbing clove oil on his chest could
offer some relief. He then thought a way to bring the healing properties of the
cloves closer to his lungs - if he sprinkled some cloves into his cigarette and the
smoked it, would this not be even better?

Miraculously, H. Jamhari was cured. He began to produce and market his
invention, extolling its medicinal properties - the first kretek were sold through
pharmacies. As the popularity of kretek grew, so cottage industries began to spring
up, all producing hand-rolled clove cigarettes.