Boing Boing reader/commenter catastrophegirl, commenting in a thread about an enraged hillbilly user of flavored chewing tobacco, points to her Flickr photoset documenting her quest to make DIY kretek (clove cigarettes). These lung-rotting treats are much beloved by goths, and by my inner 14-year-old punk girl.
Both catastrophegirl and "skoalrebel," each in their own ways, were upset about the Obama administration's recent ban on flavored tobaccos. The new FDA kibosh makes it illegal to sell stuff like clove cigs, and skoalrebel's beloved Copenhagen whiskey deeyup.
I heard about [the ban] the day it was signed. Now i am back to smoking a pipe at home and smoking homemade clove cigarettes when i drive. Besides the difficulty involved in driving and lighting a pipe, cops for some reason cannot fathom a caucasian woman smoking a briar pipe that doesn't have weed in it.
It's kind of a pain to set up and took me a while to find the right tobacco for my tastes, but aside from my little nicotine addiction, I am going to thoroughly enjoy smoking my clove cigarettes in public. The law is about sales and distribution. it does not cover making your own at home and smoking them as far as i have been able to glean from the law. If someone could point me at the full text of it, that'd be neat – even the FDA site has an abbreviated version.
I remember the taste of cloves well. In my memory, it is inextricably linked with certain songs by Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Damned, and other bands from the last great days of leather, studs, and black vinyl. I've long since become a nonsmoker, and believe that smoking and chewing are horrible habits — but on this point, I can even agree with skoalrebel: the ban is total bullsheyut. Consenting adults ought to be able to purchase and smoke/chew the stuff if they want. The ban is a reacharound for Big Tobacco.
"Making Kretek" (Flickr)
