Kites and Pseudo BL-algebras

We investigate a construction of a pseudo BL-algebra out of an $\ell$-group called a kite. We show that many well-known examples of algebras related to fuzzy logics can be obtained in that way. We describe subdirectly irreducible kites. As another application, we exhibit a new countably infinite family of varieties of pseudo BL-algebras covering the variety of Boolean algebras.