Kretek
Ava Luxe

I really like this one despite the fact that it doesn't really smell like clove cigarettes at all to me. I used to smoke them in the punk days and this completely fails to take me back there. That being said, I do get a lovely hit of cloves paired with some sourish tobacco. It's a really nice perfume for winter and mixes well with vanillas. I like it a lot.

Apparently "kretek" is an onomatopoeic word for the popping sound made by clove cigarettes as they're smoked. I've never run across these in real life, but they sound interesting, & some of them have very pretty designs inked onto them, from what I've seen online.
This fragrance does indeed open with a burst of clove, reminding me at once of the dental surgery, but within five minutes this note calms down & floats above the rich, dry tobacco, lending it some lift & adding an edge of freshness. One hour in, it's a smoother, slightly sweeter tobacco accord, but never becomes overly sweet a la Tobacco Vanille. From here it simply fades slowly, & the amber & sandalwood base is very faint. I don't get any incense, & eight hours in it's barely detectable, making it one of the least long-lasting fragrances that I've tried from this house.
I didn't love this on the first try back in July, but on wearing it again more recently I detected a fruity note like apples spiced with cinnamon, which made it a lot more interesting. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an authentic tobacco fragrance with a little freshness, that leans to the masculine end of the spectrum.

Kretek is a powerful clove/tobacco. However, it is "soft." Some might find it medicinal, especially at first. After wearing it a while, you get used to it though, and it's almost like being in a smoke shop. Longevity and sillage are excellent (I only used one spray and people around me were telling me how strong it was). It doesn't have much else going on, so I can see how some would say that it's not a "perfume," really. Nothing animalic, floral, citrus, etc., so if you are looking for balance and dynamism, you may want to look elsewhere. I'll give it a positive rating due to it's longevity/sillage and because if this is what you seek, you will be satisfied. I will likely use it for layering mostly.

The blast of the top notes in this fragrance is incredible - a rich and spicy hit of cinnamon, incense, tobacco, and most of all, CLOVE.There is also a faint touch of something tart and fruity in the top notes, though this fragrance really isn't a gourmand aside from the spices.After the first hour or so the spices fade and a rich tobacco fragrance takes hold, the incense and tobacco maintaining a duet through the drydown.The base is ambery and faintly musky.While this is a charming fragrance, it's somewhat "top-heavy" and the base bears little resemblance to revelatory top notes. After the first two hours I already found myself missing the cloves.Intense clove fragrances are rare, but pleasant ambers are all too common. After five or six hours all of the uniqueness of Kretek is gone, though what remains is nice enough.Kretek has moderate sillage, and like all the Ava Luxe's I've tried, good longevity.

Notes are clove bud, cinnamon, cardamom, tobacco leaf, amber, sandalwood and incense.

There is something besides clove in here? It could have fooled me. From this and from several other fragrances with cloves (many of those “bay rum” fragrances), if there is a good dose of cloves in the fragrance, that's all I'm going to smell. This clove fragrance lasts for hours and hours and I honestly can't smell anything else … well, maybe some cinnamon … maybe. For me it would be cheaper and more expedient to raid my spice cabinet and rub myself down with ground cloves than to use this fragrance. But I'm sure most others will be able to smell a full palette of notes in Kretek: I just don't get anything but cloves.

Nat Sherman "Touch Of Cloves" cigarettes. We used to smoke them in the seventies when we were young and hip and slumming it in Boston. Kretek is "Touch Of Cloves" in a bottle. The memories it conjures bring tears to these older eyes.Find it, buy it and wear it out clubbing. I guarantee you that no one else in the house will smell like you or as good as you for that matter.