UK

Filtrona Filter Products has launched a new clove-flavored filter for the Indonesian market called Kretek Aroma. Part of Filtrona’s Advantage range, Kretek Aroma enables cigarette manufacturers to reduce the overall production cost of kreteks by making it possible to reduce the amount of actual clove used, without compromising on the flavor or smoking experience, therefore enabling the preservation of this important part of Indonesian culture and heritage.

In recent years the price of clove has risen by 300%, placing considerable pressure on cigarette manufacturers to control costs whilst still offering not only the flavor, but also the unique sparking and crackling noise associated with kreteks: a result of the ground clove burning. Kretek Aroma supplements the flavor of clove by using the innovative flavor direct spray application method to incorporate a flavored additive in the filter. This effectively allows cigarette manufacturers to reduce the actual clove content of kreteks, without altering the user’s smoking experience, therefore providing production cost savings. For example, a 20% reduction in actual clove is estimated to offer a 7.5% cost saving, whilst a 50% reduction is estimated to offer an increased cost saving of 19%, depending on specification and test conditions. (Filtrona Filter Products recommends that customers order samples for their own verification).
Another benefit of Kretek Aroma is that it provides cigarette manufacturers with the opportunity to precisely control the level of clove flavor in their cigarettes, ensuring balanced cigarette design, consistency of taste and the opportunity to develop a truly unique flavor signature, as well as maintain existing ones.
Filtrona’s regional development center, based in Indonesia, played an integral role in the development of Kretek Aroma and Ahmad Fashihul Lisan, regional development center manager, was keen to highlight the benefits of the new filter:
“Kretek Aroma offers easy and effective flavor addition to cigarettes,” Lisan said. “We can work closely with customers to create samples that match the flavor signature of their current products enabling them to continue offering consumers the taste they love, while at the same time reducing overall production costs. Not only that, but Kreteks are a part of Indonesian heritage, and a part that has been threatened recently by the substantial increase in the cost of raw cloves. With Kretek Aroma, it is now possible to preserve this important tradition. Kretek Aroma also comes with the added benefit of being easily compatible with established manufacturing methods and modern high speed equipment.”