Dean Yates, Bojong Gede – Indonesia's most famous novelist, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, nearly totters over from age and illness.
Grabbing the arm of a visiting reporter to steady himself, Pramoedya, 79, sits down at a table inside his comfortable villa in the leafy province of West Java before reaching for a packet of Indonesia's clove-scented cigarettes called kreteks.
Wearing blue tracksuit pants and a stained white T-shirt, the former political prisoner and perennial nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature lights up, savouring the taste. Pungent smoke shrouds his face. Health warnings be damned.
"If my doctor says I shouldn't smoke, I'll fire him. Really, why take away something so joyous in life," said Pramoedya.
And therein lies one of the big hurdles for anti-smoking campaigners and doctors worried about the cost of smoking-related illnesses in impoverished Indonesia.
Not only do they have to fight Indonesia's powerful cigarette industry, they are taking on a product that for millions is more than just a smoke, but something inextricably tied to the country's history, culture and identity.
Kreteks are as much a part of Indonesia as Java's famous shadow puppets. In a land already rich with exotic smells, the aroma of kreteks lingers from airports to roadside eateries, from cities to thatch huts in remote corners of the archipelago.
Even foreigners who hate smoking tend to like the smell.
"The taste of kreteks is Indonesia," adds Pramoedya, who puffs through two packets a day despite a poor heart.
Impact on health But kreteks have roughly double the nicotine and tar levels of ordinary cigarettes, and with 90 percent of Indonesian smokers choosing kreteks, health experts are concerned.
"With the level of smoking in Indonesia the long term effect is definitely going to be an issue in the future," said Georg Peterson, World Health Organisation representative in Indonesia.
The Health Ministry, in a soon-to-be-released report compiled with WHO help, estimates 400,000 people died in Indonesia from smoking-related illnesses such as cancer in 2001.
Indeed, while anti-smoking campaigns cut into sales in the West, consumption grows in Indonesia. It is now the world's fifth-biggest consumer of tobacco. More than 62 percent of Indonesian men smoked in 2001, up from 53 percent in 1995, official figures show.
Indonesians smoke more than 200 billion kreteks a year. And more than two-thirds start puffing before they turn 19.
Kreteks were invented in Indonesia in the late 19th century, initially to ward off a sore throat and asthma. They got their name from the crackling sound they make when they burn. Cloves are the main raw material after tobacco.
A typical kretek also contains a secret sauce, which can contain scores of flavours, from chocolate to dried fruits. Some taste sweet, others spicy, but they are distinctly Indonesian.
In a glossy book published in 2000 called "Kretek: The Culture and Heritage of Indonesia's Clove Cigarettes", author Mark Hanusz says kreteks capture the soul of the nation.
"Kretek is the common thread which ties Indonesian people together in spite of their historical, cultural, ethnic and religious differences," Hanusz writes.
That history goes back a long way. European powers, including the Dutch who ruled Indonesia for 350 years, fought to control the country's trade in spices like clove and nutmeg.
Important for the economy Anti-smoking campaigners also have to deal with kretek makers who run an industry with $8.7 billion annual turnover.
Tobacco excise tax accounts for eight percent of the debt-laden government's revenue, while the industry formally employs around 200,000 people, many women who still hand roll sticks. Many more depend on the industry, from distributors to cigarette sellers.
Several big firms dominate the market, but hundreds of smaller producers vie for a slice of the action. Throughout Indonesia, kretek advertising is omnipresent – on billboards, television screens and banners strung across town streets.
The government dropped regulations last year which would have put maximum limits on nicotine and tar content.
Health Minister Ahmad Sujudi told Reuters the regulations would be revised and might become law.
Sujudi denied suggestions Indonesia was reluctant to sign the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a landmark international agreement that aims to protect future generations from the dangers of smoking. It was agreed last year in Geneva.
The purpose of the legally binding convention is to support member states develop tobacco control programmes.
Back at his cozy villa, Pramoedya says he will keep smoking kreteks until he takes his last breath.
"With kreteks my imagination lives, the tension is gone," Pramoedya said with a smile.