Abstract:
To comprehensively utilize tobacco waste, wasted air-cured and sun-cured tobacco leaves extracted by steam distillation (SD) and solvent extraction (SE) were used as the raw materials to prepare tobacco flavors by integrating superheated steam distillation and cracking process (SSD-CP). The yields, chemical compositions and aroma of three prepared tobacco flavor complexes were compared and evaluated, and the structure-activity relationships between the chemical compositions and aroma were also investigated. The results showed that: 1) The mean yields of tobacco flavors prepared from non-extracted air-cured and sun-cured tobacco and wasted air-cured and sun-cured tobacco leaves extracted by SD and SE were 11.36%, 10.33% and 9.36%, respectively. The aroma characteristics of the three tobacco flavors were mainly roasted and burnt sweet, and their application in low-tar cigarettes significantly improved the smoking quality. 2) The yields of the tobacco flavors prepared from the wasted air-cured and sun-cured tobacco leaves extracted by SD and SE were slightly lower than those of the non-extracted air-cured and sun-cured tobacco material, but much higher than those of the air-cured and sun-cured tobacco leaves directly extracted by steam distillation (0.11%), solvent extraction (1.29%) and other conventional methods. In summary, the tobacco flavors prepared from the air-cured and sun-cured tobacco leaf waste extracted by SD and SE could enhance the roasted aroma and smoke for cigarettes.