|
Leffingwell &
Associates
|
 Alchemist WebPick Awarded by the webzine of ChemWeb.com  |
John C. Leffingwell & E. D. Alford
|
Leffingwell &
Associates
|
Alchemist WebPick Awarded by the webzine of ChemWeb.com |
John C. Leffingwell & E. D. Alford
Fire-cured tobacco from Kentucky-Tennessee is the third largest tobacco type exported from the United States.
|
(Pounds in Millions) |
|
Tobacco Type |
1996 |
1997 |
|---|---|---|
|
Flue-cured |
248.7 |
275.8 |
|
Burley |
108.2 |
275.8 |
|
KY-TN Fire-cured |
12.5 |
12.7 |
|
Maryland |
4.7 |
3.6 |
|
Cigar wrapper |
2.5 |
3.2 |
|
(Pounds in Millions) |
|
Country |
|
|
|
Netherlands |
|
|
|
Sweden |
|
|
|
France |
|
|
|
Switzerland |
|
|
|
Italy |
|
|
|
Belgium/Luxemberg |
|
|
|
Nigeria |
|
|
|
Others |
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
|
(Pounds in Millions) |
|
Country |
|
|
United States |
|
|
Malawi |
|
|
Italy |
|
|
Tanzania |
|
|
Kenya |
|
Kentucky fire-cured tobacco is Stalk-Cured under controlled humidity in barns with a series of gentle smoldering hardwood fires throughout. Considerable care is taken to achieve proper yellowing; firing requires considerable skill so as not to “burn” the tobacco or cause tobacco rot through too high humidity. A more detailed description of the curing and processing of Dark Fire cured has been provided by Maksymowicz in 1997.
The resultant tobacco possesses a powerful smoky note reminiscent of smoked meats and provides a rich “smoky & sweet note” in tobacco products. Fire-Cured Tobacco is much less pungent than Latakia, a sun-cured & smoke-cured tobacco produced in the mid-east with a unique fuel source.
In the USA Fire-Cured tobaccos have historically been produced in Virginia and Kentucky-Tennessee wth four counties contributing more than 50% of total production.
In the USA, Fire-cured tobacco is used primarily for chewing tobaccos and snuff, but fire-cured tobacco is important for roll-your-own and pipe blends outside the U.S.
For many years, flavor manufacturers produced extracts of fire-cured tobaccos for use in Europe and the far-east. While tobacco extracts are rarely used today in flavoring tobacco products, super-fluid carbon dioxide extracts are known to provide a rich true tobacco flavor and, in contrast to alcohol-water extracts, are readily amenable to analysis by GC-MS.
The GC-MS analysis of a denicotinized super-fluid CO2 extract of Kentucky Fire-Cured tobacco produced in Europe is presented and the GC profile is compared to similar extracts of Virginia and Burley tobaccos. Analyses were conducted on a HP 5890 GC with a 5970 MSD on a 60 meter DB-5 column (0.32 I.D. and 0.25 micron film) programed from 60 degrees C. to 250 degrees C. with a beginning hold of 2 minutes at 60o and final hold of 30 minutes at 250o.
Over 15% by weight of the denicotinized Fire-cured CO2 extract consisted of phenolic compounds and of the 107 constituents identified, 44 were phenolics, primarily generated by pyrolysis of lignin from the hardwood smoke. In other words, the phenolics are generated durring the fire curing process in a manner directly analogous to the process of smoking meats. Neither the Virginia or Burley tobacco extracts contained significant amounts of Phenolic constituents.
See our analysis of hardwood smoke. And our comments on major phenolic hardwood smoke constituents.
GC-MS Profiles of denicotinized Fire-Cured, Virginia and Burley Tobaccos
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Copyright © 1999-2001 by
Leffingwell &
Associates