Djarum cigarettes sold in Europe and South American countries have 10–12 mg tar and 1 mg nicotine, as indicated on the pack. This level of tar and nicotine is comparable to regular or "full-flavor" cigarettes.
The venous plasma nicotine and carbon monoxide levels from 10 smokers were tested after smoking kreteks and were found to be similar to non-clove brands of cigarettes, such as Marlboro.
Rats were given equal inhalation doses of conventional tobacco cigarettes and kreteks over a short period. Those that had inhaled kreteks did not appear to show worse health effects compared to those that had inhaled conventional cigarettes.The study was repeated with a 14-day exposure and kreteks again did not produce worse health effects than conventional cigarettes.
The eugenol in clove smoke causes a numbing of the throat which can diminish the gag reflex in users, leading researchers to recommend caution for individuals with respiratory infections. There have also been a few cases of aspiration pneumonitis in individuals with normal respiratory tracts possibly because of the diminished gag reflex. Researchers recommend that people who have an allergy to cloves should avoid kreteks.
There is no support for the common myth that clove cigarettes will make an individual's lungs bleed any more than a normal cigarette, and claims that kreteks contain fiberglass are an urban legend. A heavy user may cough up a larger amount of blood because of diminished gag reflexes, thus making it appear that cloves caused increased bleeding.
Legal status
In the United States, kreteks have been the subject of legal restrictions and political debate, including a proposed 2004 US Senate billthat would have prohibited cigarettes from having a "characterising flavor" of certain ingredients other than tobacco and menthol. The bill was motivated by concerns that flavored cigarettes, such as kreteks, were cutting into the market share of traditional cigarettes sold by large tobacco firms which had effective lobbyists. A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found kreteks account for a relatively small percentage of underage smoking, and their use was declining among high school students. Critics of the bill argued that support of the bill by the large U.S. tobacco maker Philip Morris, which makes only conventional and menthol cigarettes, indicated that the bill was an attempt to protect the company from competition
