Kretek () are unfiltered cigarettes of Indonesian origin, 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. Partly due to favorable taxation compared to filtered "white" cigarettes, kreteks are by far the most widely smoked form of cigarettes in Indonesia, where they are preferred by about 90% of smokers. In Indonesia, there are hundreds of kretek manufacturers, including small local makers and major brands. Most of the widely known international brands, including Sampoerna, Bentoel, Minak Djinggo, Djarum, Gudang Garam, and Wismilak originate from Indonesia. Nat Sherman of the United States produced cigarettes branded as "A Touch of Clove" but they were not true kreteks, since there was clove flavoring infused into small crystals located inside the filter, rather than actual clove spice mixed with the tobacco. Kreteks often serve as a base for Indonesian herbal cigarettes, by adding various herbs in addition to clove spice. History The origin of kretek cigarettes can be traced to 1880. The creator of kretek was Hajj Djamhari, a native of Kudus in Indonesia's Central Java region. Suffering from chest pains, Djamhari attempted to reduce the pain by rubbing clove oil on his chest. Djamhari sought a means of achieving a deeper relief and smoked his hand-rolled cigarettes after adding dried clove buds and rubber tree sap. According to the story, his asthma and chest pains healed immediately. Word of Djamhari's product spread rapidly among his neighbors, and the product soon became available in pharmacies as rokok cengkeh; clove cigarettes. First marketed as a medicinal product, kreteks became widely popular. In those years, the locals used to hand-roll kreteks to sell on order without any specific brand, packing, or limits on ingredients used in production. A resident of Kudus named Nitisemito had the idea of starting serial production and selling kreteks under a proprietary brand name. Unlike other manufacturers, Nitisemito, who first created the Bal Tiga brand in 1906, enjoyed great success by implementing unprecedented marketing techniques, such as using embossed packs or offering free-of-charge promotional materials. Commercial manufacture did not start in earnest until the 1930s. Furthermore, he also developed a means of production called the abon system which offered opportunities for other entrepreneurs with insufficient capital. In this system, a person called an "abon" assumes the job of delivering finished products to the company which pays the