Thirty-nine years ago, the 26th of December 1962 marked the momentous birth of a tobacco company with the coming together of two strong individuals who formed PT. Gelora Djaja in Indonesia. Lie Koen Lie and Oei Bian Hok brought with them only a shared experience of decades in the tobacco industry, but also a shared conviction to produce a more superior product.
Within five short years the company managed to build and enjoy a wonderful reputation, and had succeeded in being ranked among the leading clove cigarette manufacturers in the country. The company’s clove cigarettes are the only ones ever to win international awards for quality and taste and are the number one ranked cloves cigarette in Europe, where they sell for ten times the price of the competition.
Today, with the second generation at the helm, the company has diversified its activities, supplying high-quality raw materials for the production of tobacco products around the world, as well as applying their experience, expertise and passion for growing the finest tobaccos to bring to market premium cigars of the highest quality, in the family tradition… Wismilak Premium Cigars.
We thrive in making fine cigars that thrill the taste&soul.
To achieve the high standards set for the Wismilak Premium Cigar, PT Gelora Djaja selects those individuals who possess the talent, desire and dedication to be trained as Cigar Craftsmen. Qualified “Masters” in the art of premium cigar production teach the necessary skills ranging from tobacco preparation, bunching, and matching for fillers, to the fine art of rolling as first taught by Cuban Master Rollers.
Selecting the world’s best tobaccos for blending, binding and wrapping is the responsibility of Mr. Soegeng Pangestu, Wismilak’s Master Blender. Before joining PT Gelora Djaja, the manufacturer of Wismilak Premium Cigars, he headed Indonesia’s government run tobacco marketing operation in Bremen, Germany, from 1988 to 1995. His expertise, which is dedicated for PT Gelora Djaja, is an intimate knowledge of the characteristic of each type of tobacco leaf, and how to combine them to achieve a balance in flavor and strength. He applied his experience and knowledge about tobacco and cigars to produce the Wismilak Premium Cigar.
Marked the momentous birth of a tobacco company with the coming together of two strong individuals who formed PT Gelora Djaja In Indonesia, Lie Koen Lie and Oei Bian Hok. The name, Wismilak, is a word coined by Indonesians in imitation of the English phrase, "wish me luck."
The company's clove cigarettes are the only ones ever to win international awards for quality and taste and are the number one ranked cloves cigarette in Europe, where they sell for ten times the price of the competition.
We started production of hand-rolled cigars in 1999 and the first cigars gained appreciation from the very beginning. Today the company offers high-quality long-filler cigars of various shapes and in various ring gauges.
National proud that MURI has given a new record for the biggest cigar in Indonesia to Wismilak Premium Cigars in World Tobacco Asia 2010 event at JCC Jakarta on 27 October 2010.