Difference of Main Non-volatile Organic Acid Contents Among Different Flue-cured Tobacco Leaves and Cigarettes

In order to investigate malic,citric and oxalic acid contents in different grade flue-cured tobacco leaves and cigarettes of different price categories,40 flue-cured tobacco leaf samples produced in Yunnan Province in 2003,52 cigarette samples,cut stem,reconstituted tobacco and expanded cut tobacco were analyzed with GC.The results showed that:1)oxalic acid content in middle leaf was similar to that in lower leaf but lower than that in upper leaf,the contents of malic and citric acids and the total of the 3 acids in leaves increased with the descent of stalk positions;2)the content difference of oxalic,malic and citric acids in different grades was not significant,though the content of citric acid in lower grade leaves was slightly higher;3)malic,citric and oxalic acids contents in premium cigarettes were lower than those in low-price cigarettes,the ratio of malic acid to citric acid was about 7.0;4)in Virginia type cigarettes,the ratio of oxalic acid to citric acid was over 0.80 and citric acid accounted for less than 20% of the sum of the 3 acids,however these relations in blended type cigarette samples were on the contrary.