Clove cigarettes appeared on the market in the late 1980s. Many smokers reached for this alternative believing it was a tobacco substitute.
In reality, black clove cigarettes are not as harmless as sellers would like you to believe. They can even contain more nicotine than conventional cigarettes.
For that reason, clove cigarettes have been banned in Germany since 2016. In the USA, clove cigarettes have not been commercially available since 2009.
Luckily, there is an alternative for everyone who does not want to give up the wonderful taste of spicy cloves: clove-style cigarettes in the form of herbal cigarettes.
Real Leaf clove cigarettes are made from natural herbs and contain no tobacco or nicotine. You still do not have to miss out on the taste and aroma of cloves.
Read on to learn how clove-style herbal cigarettes can fit into a tobacco-free switch.
What are clove cigarettes?
Traditional clove cigarettes originally come from Indonesia. There they are also known as kreteks.
Although cloves have many interesting qualities, the well-known clove cigarettes are wrapped with 60 to 80% tobacco, which contains nicotine.
In fact, clove cigarettes contain only 20 to 40% ground cloves, not exactly much.
That means most people who smoke clove cigarettes are actually still consuming regular tobacco. Naturally, the nicotine dependence remains.
There is a big difference between herbal products and conventional tobacco. Tobacco is a plant too, but tobacco products contain many chemicals and pollutants such as nicotine.
Herbal tobacco, on the other hand, is usually made from botanical herbs and is a mixture of dried leaves and flowers from plants such as damiana herb, raspberry leaves, and more.
Herbal cigarettes with cloves add the clove flavor afterward. So you are smoking a natural product without tobacco.
If you do not smoke tobacco with nicotine, you do not have to worry about nicotine dependence.
Our Real Leaf clove cigarettes are guaranteed non-addictive.
Clove cigarettes: a closer look
People smoke clove cigarettes because they have a sweet taste and leave a pleasantly cool feeling in the mouth.
That very sweetness can make the risks of smoking and nicotine feel less obvious.
For this reason, flavored cigarettes are now banned in many countries.
In Germany, clove cigarettes have been banned since 2016. Other flavored cigarettes, such as menthol cigarettes, were also banned in 2020.
The argument is that aromatic cigarettes can make it easier for young people to start smoking.
The sweet taste downplays the danger of smoking and nicotine.
But clove cigarettes have other features beyond their flavor:
Cloves contain a mild anesthetic (eugenol), which means they can have a slightly numbing effect. For example, people sometimes chew a clove for toothache or a sore throat because it can slightly numb the mouth and throat area.
The original creators of kreteks also advertised clove cigarettes with claims about bronchitis and asthma.
Those claims may relate to cloves on their own, but adding nicotine completely overshadows the numbing effect.
Kreteks can contain even more nicotine than other tobacco cigarettes. The result can be unexpected nicotine dependence, because many users are not aware of these facts.
Our tip: switch to clove cigarettes in the form of herbal cigarettes.
Buying clove cigarettes: what should you know?
If you are disappointed to learn that clove cigarettes contain so much nicotine and are not as benign as they seem, there is good news.
Real Leaf herbal cigarettes with cloves taste aromatic and contain no nicotine or tobacco.
That is especially useful for anyone who wants to move away from smoking in the long term. The regular cigarette can simply be replaced step by step with herbal cigarettes, for example in a clove-style version.
Many people do not realize that the psychological side, the act of smoking itself, plays a major role in the habit.
Nicotine itself is broken down in the body after around 72 hours. But the urge for a cigarette remains.
Many people also associate smoking with relaxation. You can preserve that ritual with herbal cigarettes, while avoiding tobacco and nicotine.
Decide for yourself when and how much you want to smoke.
Want to make clove cigarettes yourself? Then you can simply take our herbal tobacco and mix in cloves yourself.
Pay attention to good clove quality and a mixing ratio of 1:3 or 2:3, depending on how strong you want the clove flavor to be.
You should also make sure you use the small flower-bud ball at the end of the dried clove.
The ball can stay whole, but it is not a problem if it breaks apart. It creates the characteristic crackle when smoked.
You can grind the rest of the clove flower with a mortar. Unlike the flower bud, you should grind this part especially finely.
Finally, mix the cloves into your herbal tobacco. It becomes even more aromatic if you let the herbal tobacco and clove mixture steep in a liquid.
A fragrant orange water or tea works well here, for example. You can let the whole mixture steep for about 3 hours.
Spread the mixture out and let it air-dry well. Now you can roll yourself a herbal cigarette.
Why smoke clove cigarettes at all?
As you have seen, traditional clove cigarettes, also known as kreteks, are not recommended.
In countries where there is no ban yet, they remain popular.
That is partly down to clever marketing, and partly because many people simply love the smell and taste of cloves.
If you love the taste and scent of cloves too, you are not alone. With our herbal cigarettes, you do not have to give up those aromas.
By the way: the scent of clove cigarettes is not the only pleasant thing. Cloves are also said to support oral hygiene thanks to their antibacterial properties.
Best of all: clove-style herbal cigarettes can accompany your tobacco-free switch!
Conclusion
Now you know everything you need to know about clove cigarettes. You know the difference between regular clove cigarettes and herbal clove-style versions.
One is full of nicotine; the other is natural and tobacco-free. Pretty clear which version you should choose, right?
Clove cigarettes from Real Leaf give you the aromatic side of wonderful cloves without tobacco or nicotine.
They can be a flavorful part of your tobacco-free ritual.
