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 of a way to bring the healing properties of the clove closer to his lungs - if he sprinkled some cloves into his cigarette and then 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.
Unfortunately. H. Jamhari died before he could make his fortune out of kretek. This task was taken up by another Kudus resident by the name of Nitisemito. He transformed a cottage industry into a mass-production industry in two ways: firstly. by creating his own brand (Bal Tiga) and image. Nitisemito introduced marketing campaigns the likes of which Indonesia had not seen before. Beautiful labels were printed in Japan and free gifts were offered to loyal smokers in return for empty packs. Secondly, he began to subcontract work. A middleman handled the labor. while Nitisemito provided the tobacco. cloves and sauce.
This practice was quickly adopted by other kretek companies and continued up until mid-90th century when companies began to hire their own employees as a way of ensuring quality and loyalty. The Bal Tiga company did not recover after the second world war and was declared bankrupt in 1955.
Unfortunately. H. Jamhari died before he could make his fortune out of kretek. This task was taken up by another Kudus resident by the name of Nitisemito. He transformed a cottage industry into a mass-production industry in two ways: firstly. by creating his own brand (Bal Tiga) and image. Nitisemito introduced marketing campaigns the likes of which Indonesia had not seen before. Beautiful labels were printed in Japan and free gifts were offered to loyal smokers in return for empty packs. Secondly, he began to subcontract work. A middleman handled the labor. while Nitisemito provided the tobacco. cloves and sauce.
This practice was quickly adopted by other kretek companies and continued up until mid-90th century when companies began to hire their own employees as a way of ensuring quality and loyalty. The Bal Tiga company did not recover after the second world war and was declared bankrupt in 1955.
 |
| Wismilak Kretek Cigarettes |