Abstract: In order to investigate the effects of key primary processing parameters on the releases of aroma components in cigarette smoke and dry sensation perceived during smoking, the releases of aroma components in mainstream smoke and the dry sensation of cigarettes made by various key primary processing procedures were evaluated based on simultaneous distillation extraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and a bespoke method for evaluating dry sensation. Additionally, redundancy analysis (RDA) was conducted on the relationship between the releases of aroma components in cigarette smoke and dry sensation. The results showed that: 1) After setting different primary processing parameters, there were differences in the total release of aroma components in cigarette smoke samples. The total releases of six categories of components including alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, phenols and heterocyclic compounds all increased with the increase in the amount of HDT air flow drying steam and the decrease of cut tobacco width. When the amount of HDT air flow drying steam was decreased, the hot air temperature for loosening and conditioning was reduced, and the cut width increased, the total releases of the aforementioned six categories of components were decreased. When the hot air temperature for loosening and conditioning was raised, the total releases of alcohols, aldehydes, phenols, and heterocyclic compounds were all increased, while those of ketones and esters all decreased. 2) The main aroma components in cigarette smoke that influenced dry sensation were megastigmatrienone, phenethyl alcohol, furfural and 5-methylfurfural. Among them, megastigmatrienone enhanced the sweetness and fluid promoting sensation during smoking. Phenethyl alcohol reduced dryness in the oral cavity and on the surface of the tongue, while furfural and 5-methylfurfural enhanced the dry sensation in the oral cavity, on the surface of the tongue and also at the tongue root and throat. 3) When hot air temperature for loosening and conditioning was 105 ℃, cut tobacco width was 0.85 mm, the amount of HDT air flow drying steam was 400 kg/h, the score of dryness sensation index was the highest, and the total release of smoke aroma components was also the highest.