Differences in chemical composition of middle tobacco leaves with different tar contents in the major tobacco producing areas of China and its relationship with smoke quality
Using 53 C3F grade middle tobacco leaves from major tobacco producing areas in China as samples,the relationship among tar contents,chemical composition,and smoke quality was analyzed.The results showed that there were 27,18,and 8 samples of low,medium,and high tar tobacco,respectively.The average tar contents of low,medium,and high tar tobacco samples were 10.41,11.82,and 13.29 mg/cig,respectively.Comparing the chemical composition of high,medium,and low tar tobacco leaves,high tar to-bacco leaves had higher levels of reducing sugar and total sugar content,medium tar tobacco leaves had higher levels of total alkaloids and total nitrogen content,and low tar tobacco leaves had higher levels of K and chlorine content.For smoke quality,as the tar con-tents of tobacco leaves increased,the buff number,total particulate matter,carbon monoxide release,and nicotine content all showed an increasing trend,while the moisture content showed a trend of first decreasing and then increasing.The total particulate matter in low tar tobacco leaves was significantly positively correlated with total plant alkaloids and total nitrogen,while moisture and total plant alkaloids were significantly positively correlated.Tar and total nitrogen were significantly positively correlated;there was a highly sig-nificant negative correlation between carbon monoxide,nicotine,and K in tobacco leaves with medium tar content,a highly signifi-cant positive correlation between moisture and total plant alkaloids,and a significant negative correlation between moisture and total sugar;there was a significant positive correlation between moisture and total plant alkaloids in high tar tobacco leaves.