Abstract: To investigate the regional distribution characteristics of nicotine content in flue-cured tobacco leaves from Xiangxi and the quantitative correlations between the nicotine content and sensory quality of the leaves, the nicotine content in the leaves was determined with continuous flow method and the sensory quality of the leaves was quantitatively evaluated. The results showed that: 1) The mean values of nicotine content in B2F, C3F, X2F from the main tobacco growing areas in Xiangxi were 3.9%, 3.1%, 2.2%, nicotine content above 3.50% accounted for 73.5%, 24.1%, and 2.0%, respectively. The nicotine content in B2F was higher. 2) The nicotine content in tobacco exhibited roughly linear correlations with the scores of aroma quantity, offensive odor, concentration, irritancy and after taste, and exhibited roughly parabolic correlations with the scores of aroma quality, flavor, strength, taste, and total sensory evaluation score. With the increase of nicotine content in tobacco, aroma quantity, concentration, irritancy and offensive odor increased, and aftertaste became worse. Tobacco offered good aroma and taste when its nicotine content ranged from 2.63% to 3.61%, and the best smoking quality appeared at the nicotine content of 3.01%.