Do you remember that scene in the movie 48 Hours where Eddie Murphy’s character, ex-con Reggie Hammond, walks into that all-Caucasian cowboy bar? Through bravado and bluster, he somehow manages to take control of the situation, at last declaring, “There’s a new sheriff in town!”
That’s a little bit of the attitude I adopt when stepping into the clove cigarette factory in eastern Java, Indonesia.
For context, I’m not a smoker. Never have been, never will be. Before visiting the Sampoerna factory near Surabaya, I had never even heard of kretek (or clove) cigarettes. Apparently a kretek contains 60% to 80% tobacco, 20% to 40% ground clove buds and clove oil. Sometimes other spices are added as well, such as cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg. More spice, less tobacco – that’s got to be a good thing, right?
Not so fast. Clove cigarettes contain more nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar than regular cigarettes. Even worse, they also contain eugenol, a mild anesthetic that naturally occurs in cloves. Eugenol’s numbing effect allows the smoker to inhale longer and more deeply than traditional cigarettes. Longer and deeper inhalations increase the risk of lung infection, respiratory illness, and allergic reactions.
Although a spicy cigarette with less tobacco sounds healthier than its American counterpart—scientifically speaking, it’s clearly not.
Not that I’m aware of any of this back in my 20s, when traveling in Indonesia. At the time, all I know is there’s an exotic factory in town and I want to see it. A fellow traveler piques my interest further by stating, “They’ll give you a free tour and a souvenir if you show them a business card and pretend to be a big shot.” How can I spurn such a challenge?
Luckily, I still have some of my business cards from my days as an English teach in Japan. Striding confidently into the reception area of the factory, channeling my inner Eddie Murphy, I thrust my card out and declare, “I’m an English teacher. I’d like to see your factory.” To my amazement, it works! Minutes later, I’m escorted around the facility on a private tour, where I observe hundreds of women in identical uniforms, quietly and efficiently rolling cigarettes – by hand. It’s an awesome, disquieting display.
Afterword, my tour guide shakes my hand and says, “Thank you for coming! Would you like a box of cigarettes, or a Sampoerna Factory t-shirt?” Needless to say, I take the shirt which, sadly, is about 2 sizes too small. No matter. The important thing is, I had blustered my way into an intimidating situation I had no business being in. At age 26, that’s a victory! There was a new sheriff in the factory! Me! Reggie Hammond would be proud.
(We’ve all heard the statement, “Fake it until you make it.” It’s got a nice ring to it, but do we really want to be “fakers”? The notion of dishonesty makes me uncomfortable. In a Forbes article, author Curtis J. Morley suggest these three alternate phrases:
• “Face it until you ace it”: Face the situation with truth and honesty
• “Be it until you see it”: Emulate the behaviors of people you admire
• “Learn it until you earn it”: Adopt humility and teachability
All three phrases are essentially saying the same thing: jump in and start doing it…the confidence will arrive in time.)