CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF REPRESENTATIVE GRADES OF ONTARIO FLUE-CURED TOBACCO

Abstract

A study was made of the chemical composition of representative commercial grades of Ontario flue-cured tobacco selected at random from the three auction exchanges from the 1978 tobacco crop. Comparisons were made with the grade price using the stalk position, color and quality classification of each grade. Total alkaloids, reducing sugars, neophytadiene, aqueous methanol extracts, nonvolatile organic acids, phenolic constituents, fatty acids and mineral constituents were determined on individual grade samples. In general, the largest chemical differences were found when comparisons were made on the basis of the stalk position aspect of the grade classification; however, chemical differences due to the color classification of grades were also often quite large. Except for the mahogany grades differences among the quality classification of each grade were usually smaller than differences due to stalk position or color.Key words: Flue-cured tobacco, grades, quality, tobacco chemistry