Terrible photo as I still can’t find the battery charger for my camera, so I’m relying on the iPhone instead. I intended to pick up one of each of the five types these fine folks sell, but I forgot one (Djarum Super) by mistake — so here we have from left to right (and also in the order I tried them) Djarum Black, Djarum Special, Djarum Cherry, and Djarum Vanilla, and a pack of my usual for comparison, to demonstrate what a crazy size and shape the boxes are.

My first thought was, “Man, these are some crazy packets.” They come in a wide, flat box containing two individual compartments of ten cigarettes a piece (arranged in two rows of five). They’re a little narrower than regular smokes, but don’t let that fool you, these things aren’t weak — compared to Marlboro (10mg tar, 0.8mg nicotine) and Marlboro Lights (6mg tar, 0.4mg nicotine), these babies are all loaded with a full 10mg tar, and a massive 1.0mg nicotine a piece.

Djarum Black: My first experience with kreteks, and a rather pleasant one at that. They’re black as the name would imply (well, the paper is), and have a pleasantly spicy scent which reminds me of Christmas. They’re also probably the mildest things I’ve ever smoked, which is surprising considering their content (and I was really feeling the nicotine kick after only one). The smoke barely tastes of anything, to the point where I could take some pretty deep drags without my lungs complaining at all, though too much at a time can have a tingly, vaguely numbing feeling on the tongue. Strong effect but extremely mild-tasting, with fairly light, pleasant-smelling smoke. I’d almost suggest these to a first-time smoker, as they’re so easy on the lungs, but given the amount of nicotine packed in there, I don’t think that’d be very wise.

Djarum Special: The Specials have a similar scent to the Blacks, but the similarities end there. Wrapped in a chocolate-brown paper, these rather decadent-looking things feel more like what you’d expect from something packing so much punch. They taste stronger and have more of the familiar tobacco edge, and the smoke itself has a more distinct odour, more spicy and aromatic like the smell of the unlit cigarette. While not as ‘easy’ to smoke as the Blacks, they still feel pretty light compared to my usual, and the extra flavour certainly makes it all worthwhile.

Djarum Cherry: Much like the colour of the packet would imply, these are a familiar white, with a maroon-coloured base. And, yes, they do indeed smell of cherry, at least while unlit. So how are they to smoke? Well, I’m sorry to say these are probably my least favourite of the lot — while there’s a familiar cherry taste from the paper, the smoke itself seems almost entirely tasteless, and while there’s an ever-so-slight lingering something in the air, I certainly wouldn’t be able to identify it unless I knew what I was smoking. Moreover, the smoke in the air seems especially harsh from these ones, and made my eyes feel distinctly uncomfortable, something I haven’t experienced since I first started smoking. I wouldn’t recommend these.

Djarum Vanilla: I admit, I’m biased. I’m rather fond of vanilla, so these white and pale brown smokes with decadent gold print appeal to me on principle, especially given the distinct and very pleasant vanilla scent. Fortunately, they don’t disappoint when lit: The vanilla flavour mingles beautifully with the surprisingly subtle tobacco, and is quite noticable both in taste and from the smoke in the air. There’s simply very little I could complain about from these; the smoke is almost as light as that of the Blacks, the flavour and scent are frankly divine, and the nicotine kick is just as strong as in the other varieties. While I found the Blacks and Specials to be very pleasant, the Vanilla variety simply wins hands-down in my extremely biased opinion.

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