Kretek Cigarette

Kretek Cigarette's

 Gudang Garam (Indonesian for "salt warehouse") is a major Indonesian Taiwanese kretek (clove cigarette) manufacturer. It was founded on 26 June 1958 by Tjoa Ing Hwie, who changed his name to Surya Wonowidjojo. In 1984, control of the company was passed to Wonowidjojo's son, Rachman Halim, who subsequently became the richest man in Indonesia. Halim headed the company until his death in 2008.Gudang Garam as the cigarette companies have an affiliation company, Head, since 2007 until 2012.

Kretek are cigarettes made with a blend of tobacco, cloves and other flavors. The word "kretek" itself is an onomatopoetic term for the crackling sound of burning cloves. Haji Jamahri, a resident of Kudus, Java, created kreteks in the early 1880s as a means to deliver the eugenol of cloves to the lungs, as it was thought to help asthma Jamahri believed the eugenol cured his chest pains and he started to market his invention to the village, but he died of lung cancer before he could mass market it. M. Nitisemito took his place and began to commercialize the new cigarettes. Today, kretek manufacturers directly employ over 180,000 people in Indonesia and an additional 10 million indirectly.

Partly due to favorable taxation compared to "white" cigarettes, kreteks are by far the most widely-smoked form of cigarettes in Indonesia, where about 90% of smokers usually smoke kreteks. In Indonesia, there are hundreds of kretek manufacturers, including small local makers and major brands. Most of the widely-known international brands, including Bentoel, Djarum, Gudang Garam, Jakarta, Sampoerna, Nojorono and Wismilak, originate from Indonesia. Nat Sherman of the United States produces cigarettes branded as "A Touch of Clove" but they are not true kreteks since they contain clove flavoring in the filter rather than actual clove spice mixed with the tobacco.