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Advancements and Challenges of Cigar Science, Testing and Regulation: A Review Cover

Advancements and Challenges of Cigar Science, Testing and Regulation: A Review

Open Access
|Aug 2022

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Statistical hierarchy of review method findings based on (a) general tobacco literature search and (b) cigar science literature search for about 1100 peer reviewed publications.
Statistical hierarchy of review method findings based on (a) general tobacco literature search and (b) cigar science literature search for about 1100 peer reviewed publications.

Figure 2

Construction of a typical premium cigar product (17).
Construction of a typical premium cigar product (17).

Figure 3

Strata, morphology and parts of tobacco leaves used for cigar construction. Colored “stripes” in the diagram represent concentric/rolled layers of tobacco (18).
Strata, morphology and parts of tobacco leaves used for cigar construction. Colored “stripes” in the diagram represent concentric/rolled layers of tobacco (18).

Figure 4

The art of hand-making premium cigars (a). The ideal cigar wrapper after curing in a barn (b) (15).
The art of hand-making premium cigars (a). The ideal cigar wrapper after curing in a barn (b) (15).

Figure 5

TPM variability comparison for 146 commercial cigarette products and 86 commercial cigar products under different smoking regimes, n = 55 (39).
TPM variability comparison for 146 commercial cigarette products and 86 commercial cigar products under different smoking regimes, n = 55 (39).

Comparison of some selected components in the tobacco of cigars and four cigarette tobacco types (% of dry weight of tobacco) adapted from Hoffmann and Hoffman (25)_

ComponentCigarTobacco type used for cigarette

BurleyMarylandBrightOriental
Nitrate1.4–2.11.4–1.70.9<0.15< 0.1
pH6.9–7.85.2–7.55.3–7.04.4–5.74.9–5.3
Reducing sugars0.9–2.71.5–3.01.27.0–25.05.5
Total polyphenols< 0.12.01.65.14.5
Nicotine0.6–1.72.0–2.91.1–1.41.2–1.91.1
Paraffins0.3–0.320.34–0.390.34–0.410.24–0.280.37
Neophytadiene0.4–0.80.40.40.30.2
Phytosterols0.14–0.160.3–0.390.380.3–0.450.26
Citric acid5.5–6.08.222.980.781.03
Oxalic acid3.3–3.63.042.790.813.16
Maleic acid1.5–1.86.752.432.833.87

Components in the gas phase of mainstream smoke of cigars and cigarettes, values are given for 1_0 g tobacco smoked adapted from Hoffmann and Hoffmann (25)_

ComponentCigarsNon-filter cigarettesLittle cigarsFilter cigarettes
Carbon monoxide (mg)39.1–64.516.322.5–44.919.1
Carbon dioxide (mg)121–14461.947.9–97.967.8
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) (μg)159, 30016045, 15090–145
Ammonia (μg)30.595.3200, 32298
Hydrogen cyanide (μg)1,035595510, 780448
Vinyl chloride (ng)n.a.17.3, 23.519.7, 37.47.7–19.3
Isoprene (ng)2750–3950420, 460210, 510132–990
Benzene (μg)92–24645, 60n.a.8.4–97
Toluene (μg)n.a.56, 73n.a.7.5–112
Pyridine (μg)49–15340.561.327.6, 37.0
2-Picoline, μg7.9–44.615.41714.8, 15.6
3- + 4-Picoline (μg)17.9–10036.132.912.6, 20.2
3-Vinylpyridine (μg)7.0–42.529.121.2102, 192
Acetaldehyde (μg)1020960850, 139094.6
Acrolein (μg)5713055, 6087.6
N ’-Nitrosodimethylamine (ng)n.a.16.3–96.15557.4
N ’-Nitrosopyrrolidine (μg)n.a.13.8–50.724.56.6

Selected analytical methods previously applied to testing of cigar leaf and cigar smoke constituents_

Sample analyzedConstituent and method of determinationMethod feasibility with existing equipmentDetection limit
Tobacco (1.0 g) from cigarettes was placed into a 20-mL head-space vial. Internal standard solution (2 μL of 1 μg/μL 2,6-dichlorotoluene) and flavor spike mixture (1 μL of 1 μg/μL each benzaldehyde, tetra-methylpyrazine, methanol, and anethole in ethanol) were added. The samples were sealed and allowed to equilibrate for 2 h at room temperature before analysis (59)Flavor additives to tobacco (e.g., menthol, anethole, benzaldehyde, and tetramethylpyrazine)Headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatographymass spectroscopy (HS-SPME-GCMS) for both qualitative and quantitative analysis)Feasible but could be very tedious, time consuming & unproductiveBenzaldehyde = 66 ng/gmethanol = 120 ng/ganethole = 16 ng/gtetramethylpyrazine = 163 ng/gacetophenone = 41 ng/g
10.0 g tobacco sample was added to 40 ml dichloromethane. Then the mixture was shaken overnight and steam distillated for 3 h to obtain 800 mL aqueous solution of volatile components using a simple apparatus (60)Lactones, benzaldehyde, 6-methyl-2-heptanone, 2,4-dimethyl-1-penten-3-one, etc.Steam distillation (SD), simultaneous distillation and extraction (SDE) and headspace co-distillation (HCD)-GC-MS utilized for all volatilesFeasible but could be very tedious, time consuming & unproductiveTotal detected 315.72–445.48 μg/g
Evaluation of volatiles from flue-cured tobacco varieties, smoke organoleptic (61)Lactones, benzaldehyde, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, etc.Steam distillation of 10 g tobacco, capillary GC/GC-MSDistillation system must be available200–600 μg/g
Smokeless tobacco products including snuff, plug tobacco, chewing tobacco, pellets, and snus (62)α- and β-angelica lactonesHeadspace gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS)Feasible. However, reference standards for β-angelica lactone unavailable or difficult to obtainThe limit of detection was 30 ng/g and limit of quantitation 65 ng/g with a variability of 9–44% (RSD)
Tobacco samples used for analysis were Brazilian flue-cured, Kentucky Burley, N. rustica, and Greek and a sample of commercially available roasted peanuts (63)Benzaldehyde, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, acetone, hexenal Chromatography-mass selective detection-flame ionization detection (PT-GC-MSD-FID) hyphenated technique with purge-and-trap-gasFeasible with little modificationSemiquantitative and qualitative analysis
Qualitative and quantitative analysis was developed and validated for volatile flavour components in flue-cured tobacco (64)Flavour components in flue-cured tobacco (e.g., pyridine, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, benzene acetaldehyde, benzaldehyde, furfural)HS-SPME followed by GC × GC-TOF-MSFeasible but must have TOF-MS on scope5.7–147.6 ng/g
Determination of selective phenolic compounds in cigarette and MMC cigar smoke (65)Phenolics (e.g. hydroquinone, resorcinol, phenol, catechol, and o-, m-, and p-cresol).Ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) and fluorescence detector (FLD) with a sub-2 μm pentafluoro-phenylpropyl phase analytical columnFeasible high throughput method that is based on CRM 78, which has a run time of 10 minutesQuantitative and qualitative analysis

Cigar reference products available through the University of Kentucky (72)_

Reference cigarProduct typeCigar diameter (mm)Cigar length (mm)
1C1Large machine-made cigar15.9136.5
1C2Machine-made filtered cigar7.899.0
1C3Small machine-made cigarillo11.0109.5
1C4Large machine-made natural wrapper12.8103.0

Carbonyl yields in cigarillo and leaf-wrapped cigar products tested in 2016 and 2017 under CRM 64 smoking regimen (n = 7) adapted from Young et al_ (46)_

Tobacco Product Brand Name2016-Carbonyl yields, mean (RSD)2017-Carbonyl yields, mean (RSD)


Tobacco product weight (mg/unit)Form-aldehyde (μg/unit)Acet-aldehyde (μg/unit)Acrolein (μg/unit)Tobacco product weight (mg/unit)Form-aldehyde (μg/unit)Acet-aldehyde (μg/unit)Acrolein (μg/unit)
Cheyenne Cigarillo Dark & Mellow (SM)2462 (6)11.6 (16)1015 (8)20.2 (22)2688 (4)8.9 (12) a1246 (16) a14.2 (54)
Cheyenne Cigarillo Dark & Sweet (SM)2354 (8)10.2 (14)1258 (12)21.8 (21)2806 (3)9.8 (20)1333 (13)16.2 (25) a
Dutch Masters Cigarillo (SM)2484 (9)16.7 (34)2232 (9)46.2 (30)2879 (9)9.8 (16) a2259 (23)23.1 (32) a
Game - Black (SM)2161 (8)16.3 (25)1681 (10)33 (22)2363 (6)12.1 (22) a1817 (14)30.8 (30)
Swisher Sweet Cigarillos - Sticky Sweet (SM)2277 (5)13.1 (11)1551 (11)33.6 (18)2794 (2)10.7 (17) a1571 (19)22.5 (41) a
Swisher Sweet Cigarillos (SM)3048 (14)16.1 (19)1926 (10)15 (43)2682 (3)12.9 (22)1889 (15)36.2 (31) a
Swisher Sweet Cigarillos - Black (SW)2457 (3)9.8 (24)1548 (9)25.7 (36)2676 (3)9.3 (18)1799 (31)20.7 (55)
Dutch Masters President (LG)7538 (3)11.8 (12)4855 (7)49 (16)7603 (5)16.3 (9) a3913 (17) a34.5 (22) a
Phillies Blunt (LG)6611 (6)9.6 (15)3152 (4)35.8 (25)6931 (4)19.8 (18) a4145 (20) a64.6 (33) a
Language: English
Page range: 73 - 89
Submitted on: Nov 5, 2021
Accepted on: Mar 30, 2022
Published on: Aug 15, 2022
Published by: Institut für Tabakforschung GmbH
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2022 Richard Y. Abrokwah, Rana Tayyarah, published by Institut für Tabakforschung GmbH
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