Spotted cigarette paper: determination of sugar and humectant contents and micro-morphological analysis

In order to study substance migration during yellow spotting on cigarette paper, sugars and humectants were used as markers to investigate their variations in spotted cigarette paper by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) after derivatization. The micro-morphology of spotted cigarette paper was characterized via scanning electron microscope (SME). The results showed that:1) The limits of quantification (LOQs) for 8 sugars and 4 humectants ranged from 0.27 to 8.17 mg/kg with the recoveries of 80%-116% at three spiked levels. 2) Yellow spots appeared on the paper of test cigarettes when relative humidity was higher than 80%, and the contents of fructose and glucose in the spotted cigarette paper were significantly higher than those before spotting. 3) At 80% relative humidity, the sugar content in cigarette paper increased with the increase of storage duration, the whiteness of cigarette paper reduced, and yellow spots formed after 24 h. 4) Micro-morphological analysis indicated that crystals formed on the inner surface of the spotted cigarette paper and the surface of cut fillers contacted with the yellow spots, which suggested that a large quantity of sugars was transferred from the cut fillers to cigarette paper when the cigarette became damp in a high humidity environment, meanwhile some soluble color substances were also transferred to the cigarette paper.