Others similar to Djarum Coklat?

[texasthomas]

In all my times smoking cloves, I'd say Djarum Coklats are my all time favorite, but I haven't tried them all yet. Does anyone know of other smokes similar in taste to this one? I've heard good thing about Djarum 76s, but I haven't tried them yet.

Comments

[clovelizard]

My personal favorite are the unfiltered Djarum 76s.

I've been smoking cloves since the 90s back when they still came in metal tins and of all the types and brands of cloves I've sampled over the years, those are the best.

For when I run out or customs is making my life miserable, the Djarum Special 'cigars' in the red pack are acceptable - a little heavy and not as sweet but better than a regular cigarette - I get mine at Sam's Club where a carton of ten 12-packs runs around $35 in Florida.

One thing I do to stretch my cloves is 'recycle' the butts.

Since they are unfiltered you have about 20-30% of the cigarette left over when you're done smoking so I'll store them in an airtight container - Rubbermaid, Tupperware or Ziplock bag is fine - and then when I find my supply running low I 'rip and roll' as I call it.

Get a small plastic, airtight container, like you'd use to store leftovers in and put a handful of butts into it.

Take the butts and squeeze off the burnt tobacco at the end into a trashcan or something then simply split what's left of the butt with your fingers and drop the tobacco into your container - rinse and repeat till you've run out of butts or get tired. Avoid the temptation to try to fill the container as the tobacco will now dry out very quickly - don't rip more than two or three dozen butts at a time.

Now that you have a bunch of tobacco use your fingers to break it up as it will still be compact. You'll occasionally find hard splinters - just throw them away.

How you've got loose tobacco you can roll with.

I could never get the hang of rolling machines and just roll mine by hand - yeah, they look like joints but they smoke just fine. It took me a bit to get the hang of rolling so don't be discouraged when your first couple of dozen attempts fail miserably.

Rolling paper is key - I've found that the cheap but thick and heavy rolling papers work best - the local head shop carries a brand that's 25 sheets for a dollar and that's my preference - your mileage will vary.

You can also use "blunt" papers to roll with but I've found that I don't get the same satisfaction from clove 'blunts' but again, if that's your thing then go for it.

I use an Altoids tin to keep my handrolls in - can usually fit a dozen the way I roll them.

If your hand rolls end up looking like joints then you may wish to only smoke them in locations where you needn't worry about getting in trouble with the police - I've only been hassled once and was lucky enough to convince the cop to have a K9 unit come and confirm that I was actually smoking tobacco and not something illegal.

[texasthomas]

Thanks for the tips. I've always wanted to the try the 76s, just haven't had a chance yet. I'll have to get a carton of those next time.

[kretek4me]

I’ve tried almost all of the big names (there are hundreds of smaller, independent brands that are not as readily available if you don’t live within Indonesia) and I’ll just throw my two cents in here. Coklat and 76 are kind of in a class of their own in terms of fragrance and flavor - 76 being stronger in both categories, but the differences are plenty among the two. The 76s are my preferred between those two, but I still keep Coklats around. However, I’ll say that those are not the most flavorful - I find myself preferring the Gudang Garam unfiltereds more often - still a very intense flavor, but they’re not as heavy. If you want a real treat then I’d recommend the Gudang Garam Special Deluxe - very hard to find, but Ciggies World carries them.

Also, don’t forget, there are variations of the Coklat that are also worth trying that are also unfiltered: Coklat Extra & Coklat Retro. Pass on the filtered Coklats - they have the same fragrance as the unfiltered, but the taste is muted and it doesn’t have as great of a taste. These are easier to find - most distributors carry these.

[kretek4me]

I almost forgot about Apache - underdogs of Kretek that really have most of the other brands beat

[ext_5077336]

I smoked Jakarta’s for years before they went out of business. They were very sweet and fruity. Also very thin hand rolled, but were the best I’ve ever had. Any idea if 76’s are similar? Or any others perhaps close to Jakarta?

[coklataddict]

I think you would be better off with the unfiltered Coklat if trying to replicate a Jakarta flavor. The Coklat is much richer flavor, but you get the deep clove hit that Jakartas always offered. The 76 (unfiltered) blend is very mild and imo, less related to the Jakarta.