How to Import Clove Cigarettes?

No wonder clove cigarettes are so popular among cigarette fans. The combination of bold, spicy, and sweet flavors of the smoke is a perfect blend for people who love aromatic and exotic cigarettes.

In Indonesia, clove cigarettes or kretek are abundant, and you can even find them in the nearest mini-market. But, in the U.S., you will find it very difficult to get or purchase a clove cigarette. Some of you will start to wonder how to import or where to buy the exotic clove cigarettes. 

A Brief History of Clove Cigarettes

Natively, clove cigarette is known as kretek. The name ‘kretek’ was taken from the ‘kretek’ sound when the clove in the cigarette burned. 

Clove cigarette was first created in the 19th century by mixing clove into tobacco cigarettes. At that time, tobacco grew widely in Indonesia ever since the Dutch brought the plant to Indonesia in the 17th century. 

The founder of clove cigarette is unclear. Some said that Haji Djamari was the one who created the clove cigarette. He mixed clove and tobacco as a cigarette after knowing that clove oil helped lessen his chest pain. At that time, corn husks were used to roll the blend.

Djamari felt that his chest pain had disappeared upon consuming the clove cigarette. The clove cigarette was then known as ‘medicine cigarette’, and its fame quickly rose.

Others said that a woman named Nasilah made the kretek by combining clove with tobacco and rolling the blend into corn husks. She sold her invention in her store for dokar riders and traveling merchants. One of her customers, Nitisemito, was a fan of the clove cigarette.

Later on, Nitisemito married Nasilah and created a business selling clove cigarettes in Kudus, Central Java. The brand of his kretek was ‘Tjap Bal Tiga’. He was known as ‘the King of Kretek’ due to his influence promoting clove cigarettes.

Soon enough, the clove cigarette gained popularity among Kudus people. Many companies began to sell clove cigarettes, such as Djarum and Djamboe Bol. It helped boost clove cigarettes’ popularity to other regions in Indonesia, and later on worldwide.

The Making of Clove Cigarettes

The process of producing clove cigarettes doesn’t only involve blending and rolling the clove and tobacco mixture. The kretek maker must select and chop the clove before calculating the right amount of chopped clove and tobacco percentage. One clove cigarette can have more than 30 different kinds of tobacco inside it. 

Afterwards, the kretek maker will add a ‘sauce’ or a blend of herb and fruit extracts into the mixture of clove and tobacco. The sauce can have more than 100 different components in it. Each brand will have a different kind of sauce that will give them their iconic and unique clove cigarette flavor.

Sometimes, a sweetener, such as saccharin, can be laced on the clove cigarette’s wrapping paper to add a sweet flavor to the kretek.

Types of Clove Cigarettes

Before knowing where to buy clove cigarettes, you have to understand the types of kretek to realize what kind of clove cigarettes you are looking for. There are three types of clove cigarettes you can try, such as:

1. Klobot Clove Cigarette

Klobot or corn husks is the first style or first generation of clove cigarette. The blend of clove and tobacco is wrapped or rolled inside a dried corn husk manually with hands.

This type of clove cigarette is hard to find and sometimes can only be seen in the rural East Java area. Klobot clove cigarette is typically consumed by the older generation. 

2. Hand-rolled Clove Cigarette

After the corn husks wrapper era, the next style of clove cigarette was the hand-rolled kretek. Instead of corn husks, the clove and tobacco mixture is rolled with paper and manufactured for the public. Usually, the hand-rolled clove cigarettes don’t have filters on them.

Skilled laborers wrap the clove cigarettes manually one by one while sitting on a chair in front of a desk. The hand-rolled clove cigarettes are sold around the world. 

3. Machine-rolled Clove Cigarette

Machine-rolled clove cigarettes are wrapped by high technology machines to make them more efficient and effective for mass production. The kretek has filters and is similar in shape to the western cigarette. 

Can I Buy or Import Clove Cigarettes in the U.S ?

After reading the brief history of clove cigarettes, the question that will pop in your mind is ‘where to buy or import clove cigarettes in the U.S.?’. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned all flavored cigarettes, including kretek or clove cigarettes. It is illegal to import, produce, distribute, and sell clove cigarettes in the U.S. 

The border officers have been instructed to seize any imported clove cigarettes to prevent them from entering the U.S. Fortunately, menthol cigarettes, flavored and filtered cigars, as well as flavored pipe tobacco are still allowed.

Although, you can still purchase clove cigarettes on the website or online shop outside of the U.S. The next question is, where can you buy clove cigarettes on the internet? 

Where to Buy Clove Cigarettes on the Internet?

There is no need to search far away; you can buy clove cigarettes from Clove Cigarettes Online! Since Clove Cigarettes Online has been a trusted clove cigarette seller, you don’t have to worry about the cigarettes’ originality since 2009.

Clove Cigarettes Online provides you with various Indonesia clove cigarettes, from flavored kretek to a simple yet high-quality clove cigarette. But, be sure to check if your state allows you to have or consume clove cigarettes before purchasing them.

What are you waiting for? Enjoy a selection of premium clove cigarettes only at Clove Cigarettes Online!