In the notes of Thomas Stamford Raffles, it was stated that in around 1600, cigarettes had become a necessity of life for the indigenous people of Indonesia, especially the Javanese. Although tobacco is not a native plant in Java. The Javanese manuscript, Babad Ing Sangkala (1601-1602), states that tobacco had entered Java with the death of Panembahan Senapati, the founder of the Mataram dynasty. If we examine the origin of the language, the term "cigarette" actually comes from the Dutch "roken" which means "to smoke". However, the term "tobacco" is actually closer to the Portuguese "tobaco" than the Dutch "tabak". That's why historians prefer to mention the Portuguese as the party who introduced tobacco to Indonesia, while the Dutch were the ones who started, for example, growing tobacco in Java and Sumatra.
The story of kretek starts from the city of Kudus. It is not clear indeed the accurate origin of kretek cigarettes. According to stories that live among cigarette factory workers, the history of kretek begins with the discovery of Haji Djamari in the period around the end of the 19th century. Initially, this native of Kudus felt pain in the chest. He then applied clove oil. After that, the pain subsided. Djamari then experimented with chopping cloves and mixing them with tobacco to roll them into cigarettes. (as edited by Sander L. Gilman and Zhou Xun Smoke: a global history of smoking, 2004)
During that time, rolling a cigarette has become common among men. Djamari made modifications by mixing cloves. After regularly smoking his cigarette, Djamari felt the pain was gone. He announced this discovery to his close relatives. This news is spreading quickly. The demand for "medicinal cigarettes" is also flowing. Djamari serves many demands of clove cigarettes. Because when smoked, the burning clove makes a "crackling" sound, so the cigarettes that Djamari invented are known as "kretek cigarettes". Initially, clove is wrapped in dried corn husks or leaves. Sold per bundle where each bundle consists of 10, with no packaging at all. Clove cigarettes are also increasingly known. It is said that Djamari died in 1890. His identity and origins are still unclear. Only his findings continue to grow.
Ten years later, Djamari's invention became an attractive trade in the hands of Nitisemito, a pioneer in the cigarette industry in Kudus. The cigarette business was started by Nitisemito in 1906 and in 1908 his business was officially registered under the brand name "Tjap Bal Tiga". It could be said that Nitisemito's move became a milestone in the growth of the kretek cigarette industry in Indonesia. In the social sphere, kretek also has a strong communicative dimension. In the pattern of social relations in Indonesian society, cigarettes are often a symbol of the initial greeting between two people. It is like a handshake in an introduction or meeting between two people—offering a cigarette to another is a common tradition in an encounter, and refusing it sometimes causes a person to be offended and alienated from the community. Meanwhile, for the smoker, cigarettes can give a feeling of extravaganza when someone is quiet in their solitude