Clove cigarette or kretek is known for its aromatic and exotic flavor. In contrast with regular cigarettes, kretek delivers a spicier, sweeter, and bolder taste that makes most cigarette fans love smoking it.
Unfortunately, not every country sells or allows this exotic cigarette, one of them is the United States. But, you can still find and buy clove cigarettes in other countries all over the world. You can check the list of countries that sell clove cigarettes below!
What is a Clove Cigarette
A clove cigarette is an Indonesian cigarette that has a mixture of clove and tobacco. There is approximately around 20-40 percent clove and 60-80 percent tobacco inside a single clove cigarette.
Besides clove, other spices, such as cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon can be mixed into the blend to increase the kretek’s taste and scent. There are three types of clove cigarettes you can find:
1. Klobot Clove Cigarette
Klobot, or corn husks in the Javanese language, were used as a clove cigarette wrapper in the early times. The mixture of clove and tobacco will be put inside a dry corn husk before being hand-rolled manually.
This type of kretek cigarette is hard to find since you can only come across it in the remote area of East Java where the older generation still occasionally consumes the klobot clove cigarettes.
2. Hand-rolled Clove Cigarette
Unlike machine-rolled cigarettes, hand-rolled cigarettes are produced manually by skillful laborers. Surprisingly, hand-rolled cigarettes are still manufactured and sold to the public.
3. Machine-rolled Clove Cigarette
The most common type of kretek is a machine-rolled clove cigarette. This type of cigarette is produced by machine and can provide the demand of clove cigarettes faster than hand-rolled kretek since it’s done by machine instead of manually.
Unfortunately, cigarette fans in the United States are unable to try or buy clove cigarettes since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned clove cigarettes in 2009.
Why Clove Cigarettes are Illegal in the United States?
Before delving into the list of countries that allow you to buy clove cigarettes, most of you will wonder why clove cigarettes are illegal in the U.S. Truth to be told, until now the decision to deem kretek illegal is still controversial.
Some people believe that the decision was made due to political reasons since most people prefer menthol-flavored cigarettes over clove cigarettes.
It is rumored that the clove cigarette ban was made to make sure that Philip Morris can still dominate the cigarette business world.
Aside from the unproven speculation, FDA did state that clove cigarettes are deemed illegal since they can be a gateway for young people below 18 years old to consume cigarette since it has a sweeter flavor and more aromatic scent.
Moreover, it’s found that clove cigarette has a higher tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide level than conventional cigarettes.
Besides clove cigarettes, flavored cigarettes are also considered illegal. The only tobacco products that aren’t deemed illegal are cigars, menthol-flavored cigarettes, and flavored tobacco pipes.
What Are The Countries That Allows You to Buy Clove Cigarettes?
Fortunately, there are still other countries where you can purchase clove cigarettes legally. In addition, there are some clove cigarettes products that you can only purchase in a certain country. Here are some countries or continents that allows you to buy clove cigarettes:
1. Indonesia
As the birthplace of kretek, it’s very obvious that you can buy clove cigarettes in Indonesia. In fact, you can find various clove cigarette brands in the tropical country, such as Djarum, Sampoerna, and Gudang Garam.
Besides local clove cigarettes, you can also find international clove cigarettes, like the clove-flavored Marlboro cigarette.
2. Europe
Unlike the United States, you can have a variety of clove cigarettes in the Europe region, from flavored-clove cigarettes to regular clove cigarettes. You can also find Djarum’s iconic product, Djarum Black, in Europe.
3. Asia
It’s no secret that Indonesia is from the Asia region, but did you know that you can also find various clove cigarettes throughout the Asia region. There are unique flavors that you can discover, such as Djarum Black Tea and Djarum Black Mint Tea.
4. Middle East
Despite not having as much variety as in Europe, you can still buy clove cigarettes in the Middle East region, such as Djarum Menthol, Djarum Black, Djarum Cherry, and Djarum Supersmooth series.
5. Africa
Despite not having many clove cigarette varieties, you can still buy a clove cigarette in Africa. There are many types of clove cigarettes you can purchase from the continent, like Djarum Cherry, Djarum Vanilla, and Djarum Special.
Are There No Clove Cigarette Products in the United States?
The FDA has deemed any importation, production, and selling of clove cigarettes in the United States as illegal.
Fortunately, you can still experience the exotic flavor of clove from Djarum Black filtered and unfiltered cigar since it has a mixture of dark leaf tobacco and clove. The sauce inside the cigar uses clove, cardamom, and cinnamon.
It has a bigger size with 1.8 miligrams of nicotine and 32 miligrams of tar. Instead of using the black-colored wrapper, Djarum Black cigar uses a homogenized tobacco leaf. There are 16 cigars in a pack of this classy cigar.
There are various flavors you can try from Djarum Black cigar, like Djarum Black Cigar Sapphire and Djarum Black Cigar Ruby. You can get 16 Djarum Black cigars in a pack.
Djarum black cigar can surely satisfy your needs for a puff of clove cigarette with its smooth, rich, sweet, and aromatic taste.
Is It Possible to Buy Clove Cigarettes Online?
If you are living in the United States, buying clove cigarettes from another country will be a great deal for you. Fortunately, you can purchase this exotic Indonesian clove cigarette online!
If you are looking for an online store that sells local and international clove cigarettes product, you can visit Clove Cigarettes Online! The online shop will offer you a variety of clove cigarettes, from Djarum to HM Sampoerna products.