In Indonesia the cigar (or the cigarette) is called a kretek. Kreteks are cigarettes made of a complex blend of tobacco, cloves and a flavoring 'sauce'. Today, kretek manufacturers directly employ over 180,000 people in Indonesia and an additional 10 million indirectly.

A few weeks ago the clove cigarettes were banned in the U.S. on the grounds that their fragrance attracts children to smoking. As it is known, flavored cigs are very popular in Indonesia. That’s why Importer Kretek International wants its product declared a cigar to get around a ban in the U.S.

The clove cigarettes ban was the FDA's first act under a law which gives it the power to control tobacco. But as soon the clove-cigarette ordinance putted out, a California kretek importer started to produce clove cigars not cigarettes. For example, Djarum, a popular brand of kreteks (clove) cigarettes which have filters. Their wrappers contain tobacco but could pass for brown paper.

The FDA announced an investigation to find out whether the flavored cigars are no different than flavored cigarettes. Immediately, Kretek International Inc. explained: "If a product is a cigar, it is not a cigarette and vice versa. We fight that Djarum cigars are cigars." The company insists that it can prove that its cigar is a cigar: The wrapper is homogenized leaf, the tobacco air-cured, and the finished product comes in boxes of 12, not 20. While a judge puts the subject through analysis, America's clove fans will be holding their breath.

Now, clove smokers are being forced to decide whether to switch to the new clove cigars, or quit. Cloves are dried buds from trees in the Molucccas, once called the Spice Islands, in eastern Indonesia. Columbus was after cloves when he came into America and was given some tobacco by people he met there. Nobody blended the two until a Javanese man rolled a clove cigarette in the 1880s, hoping it would relief his asthma.

It didn't, but the mixture was a success anyway. A century later, Indonesia had millions of kretek smokers. And about 30 years ago, the tobacco industry began to export clove cigarettes.

In the U.S., kreteks became popular thanks to adolescents. Then their sales raised very sharply, $100 million. For high-scientists, kreteks are one of those "short-term fads that have not caught on with mainstream American youth," according to a 2006 University of Minnesota survey.

!!! Annonce !!! Forum Marlboro.