This research qualitatively analysed informants’ perception before and after tasting hand-rolled kretek cigarette to unveil relation between perceptions before and after tasting hand-rolled kretek cigarette using Barthes’s process of signification, Burke and Stet’s perceptual control theory as basis in analysing informants’ process of thought. This research employed in-depth interview using four informants divided into two categories: less frequent and frequent smokers. The in-depth interviews were done in two phases, before and after tasting the product to find out whether the perceptions of each informant remained the same while finding out the similarities and the differences in the perceptions. From the findings, frequent smokers perceived the product more clearly and more consistently. In this sense, experience highly contributed in creating perception required as a standard or comparator in the perceptual system. The more background experience related to the subject, the more likely subject perceived things more consistently, more objectively, and more clearly compared to those with less experience.