Lombok's Golden Leaf: The Island's Tobacco Country

Drive inland from the coast of Lombok during the dry season and the rice paddies give way to rows of broad green leaves. Tobacco is one of the island's important cash crops, grown by thousands of small farming families, particularly in the central and eastern parts of Lombok.

Lombok is best known for Virginia tobacco, the bright, golden-yellow leaf prized for cigarette blends. After harvest the leaves are hung in tall curing barns, the brick 'oven' buildings you will notice dotted across the countryside, where controlled heat slowly turns them from green to a warm amber. It is this colour that gives Lombok its nickname, the land of golden tobacco.

Tobacco is deeply woven into Indonesian daily life through kretek, the country's signature clove cigarette. The name is said to imitate the crackle of cloves as they burn, and the sweet, spicy scent drifting from a warung or a fishing boat is one of the most recognisable smells of the archipelago, from Bali to the Gili Islands.

In village markets on Lombok, loose tobacco is still sold by weight, and small shops on Gili Trawangan, Gili Air and Gili Meno carry local brands. Even if you are not a smoker, a day trip across the island to see the fields and curing barns is a fascinating window into rural Sasak life.

From the quiet north beach of The Gili Beach Resort, Lombok's volcanic skyline is right across the water, an easy boat ride away when you feel like exploring beyond the island.