Tucked away in a kampung house in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, is a family-run enterprise that has been rolling out cheroots since 1941.
Most of the cheroots (churuttu in Tamil) sold in the northern part of the peninsula come from this 6m x 21m building.
The workers make about 5,000 sticks under the Mahjong, Rangoon and Meh Mas cheroot brands monthly. Owner Datuk Voo Man Chung said they used to produce almost four times as many cheroots to meet the demand from locals and foreigners.
“It is a family-owned business started by my great grandparents who came from China.
“The purpose of our business has changed a lot. Today, we do not make cheroots for smokers, but primarily for religious purposes.”
Voo said the Chinese and Indian communities offered cheroot to deities for protection from evil spirits. Among Malays and Indonesians, he said, cheroots were bought as gifts for friends.
“Kampung folk use cheroots to chase away pests, such as rats. There is a folktale about a rat that bit into a cheroot and it caused stomach upset,” he said.
“The rat never returned to the house to scavenge after that,” Voo said.
The business has been a source of income for villagers, who are paid according to the number of cheroots they roll a day.
Wang Ai Choo, 65, has been rolling cheroots for 30 years.
She is believed to be one of only 300 tobacco leaf rollers left in the country.
She said it was a hobby that became her profession when she started working at the small factory when she was 31. Today, she is a senior supervisor among the 20-odd workers.
“I was introduced to cheroot rolling by my mother, who had also rolled cheroots in this factory in her younger days.
“It is repetitive work but I have never found this job boring,” she said with a laugh.
Sourced from Kelantan, the tobacco leaves are dried in the sun for 10 days and sent to the leaf rollers in the village.
A dried leaf, about the length and width of an A4-sized paper, is split down the middle along the leaf’s midrib.
Each half is rolled into a cheroot, and rice glue is dabbed on parts of the leaf.
The rolls, measuring about 10cm in length, are fed into a machine where they are cut to size (7cm).
The cheroots are then baked at 108ºC for eight hours.
This eliminates moisture and ensures that the cheroots remain crisp.
The baked cheroots are labelled and packed.
Sadly, the business is no longer profitable due to lower demand and higher operating costs.
With steady demand worldwide for cigars, the popularity of the cheroot, which was fashionable during the days of the British Empire, has fallen.
The reason could be its pungent smell and strong taste that deters the younger generation.
There are only a handful of cheroot-manufacturing businesses left.
Voo said the cottage industry would fade into oblivion in less than 10 years.
“Apart from lower demand, we also face higher operating costs and taxes. We have no choice but to close shop eventually. I believe we are the ‘last of the Mohicans’,” Voo said.
The government imposed an excise duty on local tobacco products, excluding cigarettes, on Jan 1, 2014. He said the tax should have been implemented gradually.
“A RM280 excise duty was imposed on every kilogramme of tobacco leaves. This has increased our manufacturing costs.
“Very little of the proceeds from our sales come back to us after tax.”
He said he hoped that the government would provide a 10-year tax relief on tobacco leaves, since their product was mostly used for religious purposes.
Voo said he had written to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the matter.