Many people are not aware of this but clove cigarettes are known as “Kreteks”. Clove cigarettes or kreteks contain about 60-70% of tobacco and about 30-40% of shredded cloves combined with a flavoring sauce. Clove cigarettes are named ‘Kretek’ because of the cracking sound that the burning cloves make.
Origin of Clove Cigarettes
Kretek was invented in Java in the 1880’s for treating the lungs or more precisely to cure asthma. As it found to cure chest pains the inventor transported the discovery down to his village. Unfortunately the clove cigarettes could not be marketed out for the mass. Later kreteks were commercialized and sold as a new form of cigarettes. Indonesia seems to employ about 1, 80,000 people directly and about 10 million people indirectly for manufacturing clove cigarettes.
Health Effects of Clove Cigarettes
Clove cigarettes as it is more popularly known are considered to be more dangerous than regular cigarettes. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirm that clove cigarettes contain double the amount of tar, carbon dioxide and nicotine gases as regular American cigarettes.
Some dangerous effects of clove cigarettes are listed here below:
- An active ingredient of cloves is eugenol which is used as topical anesthetic for dentistry. Smoking eugenol through clove cigarettes can numb the throat and damage the gag reflex.
- The anesthetic effect can cause food or liquids to enter the wrong pipe
- Lung infections as clove cigarettes are inhaled and exhaled after a long period
- Allergic reactions
- Respiratory illnesses
Adverse Symptoms of Smoking Clove Cigarettes
Some dangerous symptoms of smoking clove cigarettes include the following:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Bronchitis
- Pneumonia
- Allergies
- Secreting blood through coughs
Clove cigarettes is a kind of alternative smoking. Some other common forms of alternative smoking include bidi smoking, herbal or vegetable smoking. Studies show that clove cigarettes are more often consumed by people aged below 30 years. They often smoke alternative cigarettes because they think it is cool, safe and different from regular cigarettes.
It is definite that clove cigarettes are different than regular cigarettes but to the extent that they can be more harmful than regular cigarettes.
2 Comments
I have been reading all of the comments & statements being made about clove cigaretts and I feel its all a bunch of corprate & governmental crap !!! I am 46 years old, I have been a smoker for 31 years !!! The last ten years I have smoked DJARUM BLACKS ONLY and the stuff I am reading just sounds like a load of BULL**** to me!! First of all I read that clove ciggs are starter cigaretts for kids?? That they target kids because of the sweet filter, there very unique taste & incense like smell? Well yes we all like things that taste sweet no matter how old we are and if you smoke it should be an enjoyable experience,and even people who don`t smoke like the way they smell!! Regular ciggs smell like someone is burning ovon cleaner!! They try to say cloves cause nausea,vomiting & bleeding lungs?? Well i have not experienced any of these symtoms or do I feel like cloves are any worse on you than any of the others!!! Smoking is bad for you no mater what kind of tobacco it is. Myself I feel better & breath better smoking the cloves over regular ciggs!! Not to mention it is my choice and should still be my right if they had not taken it from me after letting the free citizens of the united states buy them since the sixties ,, what a croc o ****!!! People worried about carbon monoxide from cigaretts and cars,, How much of it comes from one jetliner when it takes off???? probably alot!! strain a gnat swallow a camel (HA-HA) I would love to complain more but I have to go for now.. [GIVE US BACK OUR KRETEK`S
I used to smoke them for YEARS talking from age of 18 to age of 27. I can say if your stupid and smoke a pack a day then ya it can cause you to get really dizzy headach ect happend every time i smoked one to close to time i smoked another. they do have larger output of carbon. Lets face it tho there a lot thicker smoke. They have an amount of clove oil you can see it seeping thu the paper. Oil burns it produces a lot of smoke everyone that’s ever burned any fry ed food knows this. That means more tar for sure. Don’t take my word for it smoke one take apart the filter see for your self. I used to smoke specials before they added or increased (don’t know witch just cant smoke them anymore due to it) the content of tobacco to witch i am allergic to in large amounts.
I had breathing problems before i stared smokeing them one reson i smoked them so long was because they did seem to ease that. Trick is that can be a false reaction i should say they ease the chest pain and due to thick smoke and sucking you got to do cuss of them being so moist tends to build lung muscles (Something you can do with breathing exercises).
Can i say post is right NO cant say that just cuss something is appealing that it targets kids EVERYONE likes things that taste sweet to some degree. If something smells good well hell they going want a taste. Same can be said for a well rolled cigar i am allergic to tobacco and even i have to remind myself of that smelling one lol. Takeing away the good flavor is a passive way of makeing sure less people do it plain and simple witch is relly sad cuss a LOT of goverment taxes are gained from that you figure they would want to preserve that.
Trick is that you cant relly say if cloves are bad or not due to lack of resarch and the fact that there nearly always just oil coverd tobacco. Even if not tobacco the material the oil is placed on is not going to be to much better due to chemicals used on smokeing products anyway. Most people can agree that even tobacco is lot less dangerous without preservatives ect.
If you like smokeing them tho i make a decent suggestion take a pack of herbal smokes like dreams herbal blend ect or if you like tobacco black N mild will work. Go to GNC ect and get clove oil stand it on end cupple of drops on top let it sit for a day. If your a roll your own type even better just add some of oil to the material mix let stand over night. It even keeps it moist longer.