Flavoring contributions of endogenous acidic aroma components in cigarette smoke

The transfer rates to particulate phase of mainstream cigarette smoke and olfactory thresholds of 15 endogenous acidic aroma components in cigarette smoke were studied. The ratio of transfer rate to olfactory threshold of each component was defined as its "flavoring contribution" to characterize the difference in contributions of aroma components to sensory characteristic of cigarette smoke. The results showed that:1) The transfer rate of acetic acid was the highest (36.61%), and those of the other 14 acidic aroma components ranged from 9.67% to 17.15%. 2) The flavoring contribution of isovaleric acid was the highest (169.76), and those of 3-methylvaleric acid, valeric acid, and butyric acid were in the range of 14.25-52.13, and those of acetic acid, 2-methylbutyric acid, 2-methylvaleric acid, hexanoic acid, 3-phenylpropionic acid were from 1.59 to 4.55, and those of the other components were less than 1.00. 3) The flavoring contribution integrated transfer ratio and olfactory threshold of aroma components and could comprehensively and authentically reflect the differences of flavoring components in influencing the sensory characteristics of cigarette smoke, which could be used to guide cigarette flavoring.