Seeking relief for chest pains, Haji Jamhari tapped into the famous healing powers of cloves and combined the spice with tobacco. What resulted was groundbreaking—a delicious and aromatic smoking experience.

Haji Jamhari’s discovery spread like wildfire. When asked what to call it, he said “kretek” to describe the unique crackling noise when smoked. An industry was born.

Visionary entrepreneur Oei Wie Gwan sought to rebuild the kretek industry and with it the economy of his homeland.

Searching for the right expression of the one-of-a-kind crackle of a kretek, his creativity was sparked as he listened to records on his gramophone. The sound of the needle on vinyl…perfect! In that moment he named his company and its products “Djarum” after the Indonesian word for a gramophone needle.

A massive warehouse fire in 1970 threatened to destroy everything. But the spirit of Djarum could not be so easily extinguished. Djarum came back from the brink of extinction, stronger and more resilient than ever.

For the next dozen years, Djarum rebuilt and perfected its operation. Creative inspiration gave birth to new and elegant package designs while pioneering manufacturing processes resulted in an improved, more sophisticated product.

At the dawn of the 21st century, facing ever more challenging restrictions, Djarum sees the opportunity to pioneer a whole new smoking experience of unsurpassed quality—the Djarum filtered cigar.