Bambang Setiawan: Cigarette collector from Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
By Bambang M.<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Collecting antiques is no big deal. Millions
\nof people all over the world do it. But collecting cigarettes?<\/p>\n
Bambang Setiawan, a teacher at Yogyakarta Art Teachers
\nTraining Center, is probably the only one in Indonesia to have
\nbecome a cigarette collector.<\/p>\n
No less than 4,000 packs of cigarettes are in his collection
\nwhich he displays at his office in Ngaglik, Sleman, some 10
\nkilometers north of here.<\/p>\n
\"Every pack on display has cigarettes in them,\" said Bambang,
\nwho does not smoke. He used to be a smoker but managed to kick
\nthe habit years ago.<\/p>\n
Bambang, whose nickname is Orek, collects both local and
\nimported cigarettes. On display are various foreign brand names
\nlike Marlboro, West, More, Cartier, Horizon and JPS; and local
\nbrand names like Gudang Garam, Kansas and Sampoerna Mild.<\/p>\n
He also stocks up local brand names which are known only in
\nlimited localities that people have never heard of, such as Layar
\nTancap, Odjolali and Grendel.<\/p>\n
The prices range from Rp 200 per pack to Rp 250,000 per pack
\nwhen they were bought.<\/p>\n
All the cigarettes are kept neatly in the cupboard. Local
\nbrandnames are separated from the foreign ones. He also has a
\ndifferent section for Indonesian cigarettes whose packaging have
\nbeen copied by other companies.<\/p>\n
\"No foreign cigarette's packaging have been found copied,\"
\nsaid Bambang, a 1982 graduate of the Advertisement Department of
\nthe Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) of Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
To make his cigarette collection complete, Bambang also
\ncollects anything which is directly or indirectly connected to
\ncigarettes, like matches, leaflets, cigarette cans. He even has a
\nsmall cigarette showcase.<\/p>\n
\"I will do anything to get something which has a connection to
\ncigarettes,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Bambang recalled how he tried hard to get the small showcase
\nissued by Sampoerna Mild. Although he knew it was not for sale,
\nBambang asked the owner, a cigarette seller on the street, to
\nsell the cupboard to him.<\/p>\n
\"I got it for Rp 250,000,\" said Bambang, who is also a
\nphotographer.<\/p>\n
Attracted to cigarettes' different packets, he started
\ncollecting cigarettes in late 1996. \"Actually they (the designs
\non the packets) correspond with the advertising designs I studied
\nbefore,\" said Bambang.<\/p>\n
Since then, he was ready to do anything to add to his
\ncollection and was not even reluctant to go to remote areas just
\nto get one. Once, he got on his motorcycle to go to his hometown
\nin Surabaya from Yogyakarta. The trip, which only needs about
\nfive hours of ride, took him 15 hours instead because he stopped
\nat a number of villages along the way just to hunt for village-
\nmade cigarettes.<\/p>\n
If he sees cigarettes that are not yet in his collection, he
\ngoes nuts and will do anything to get it.<\/p>\n
Once, he found some foreign cigarettes in a market in Semarang
\nand wanted to buy them all. Unfortunately, he did not bring
\nenough money to do so. He somehow persuaded the trader to keep
\nthe merchandise until he got back to buy them all. He was lucky
\nbecause the trader agreed to do so. In no time, he went back to
\nYogyakarta to collect the money and returned to Semarang to buy
\nthem.<\/p>\n
On a different occasion, Bambang found a foreign cigarette,
\nJPS, one of his favorites, in a shop in Yogyakarta. He wanted to
\nbuy the whole box of 10 packs but did not have enough money.<\/p>\n
\"So I pawned my watch with a friend and got the money to buy
\nthem,\" Bambang recalled.<\/p>\n
Whenever the father of two goes abroad, he never forgets to
\nbuy cigarettes from countries he visits. He also asks for
\ncigarettes as souvenirs from his friends who travel abroad.<\/p>\n
His collection was also useful when he taught art teachers.
\n\"Sometimes, when I teach art teachers, I bring my collection to
\nclass to show how they are carefully designed,\" said Bambang who
\nnow has more than 4,000 packs of cigarettes and plans to display
\nthem to the public when their number reaches 5,000.<\/p>\n
The character of a particular country, he said, was also
\nreflected through its cigarettes. France, for example, which is
\nknown as the center for art and fashion, has artistic and
\nbeautiful designs for their cigarette packets.<\/p>\n
Most of all, the man considers his collection as a means to
\nentertain himself.<\/p>\n
\"This collection is my first wife,\" said Bambang, who also
\ncollects old cameras, hotel soaps, phonograph records and places
\nhis collections in his office to avoid intrusion from his wife
\nand daughter.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes I just watch my collection in the night.\"<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bambang-setiawan-cigarette-collector-from-yogyakarta-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }