10 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 
advanced as to whether these losses are due principally to simple 
volatilization of the nicotine or to its decomposition. Those who 
have had experience in the packing house where the fermentation is 
carried on do not need to be reminded of the sharp, disagreeable, and 
often nauseating odor emitted from the fermenting bulks, and this 
characteristic odor is due principally to the volatilization of the nico- 
tine. This volatilization of the nicotine is not confined to the fer- 
mentation, but is marked throughout both the air-curing and the 
flue-curing processes. Now it can be very readily demonstrated that 
there is practically no volatilization of nicotine when combined with 
malic or citric acids even at the highest temperatures reached in 
the fermentation bulks or in the curing barn in the flue-curing 
process. Of course this statement would not apply to the portion 
of these salts in which the acid constituents undergo fermentation, 
forming volatile fatty acids. 
Since the nicotine salts of malic and citric acids are insoluble in 
petroleum ether, it is very instructive to compare the amounts of 
nicotine removed by extraction with this solvent before and after 
fermentation. The following table shows the percentage of nicotine 
soluble in petroleum ether before and after fermentation, as well as 
the loss of this base in the fermentation process, in the case of a 
sample of Connecticut shade-grown wrapper-leaf tobacco: 
TABLE I.—Nicotine soluble in petroleum ether in a sample of Connecticut 
wrapper-leaf tobacco before and after fermentation. 
Per cent. 
Total nicotine before fermeniawWones ae eer 
Total. nicotine: aEter > Keri e mba ts 0 Tees eee ee eee ep 
Loss of nicotine in the fermentation process______--__-_-____ 0. 50 
Nicotine soluble in petroleum ether before fermentation_____ 1. 60 
Nicotine soluble in petroleum ether after fermentation_______ LeOm 
PTE reme se a5 2 ee a sae pe ae Re 0. 59 
It will be seen that the total loss of nicotine in fermentation cor- 
responds very closely to the difference between the amounts soluble 
in petroleum ether before and after the fermentation, and it is highly 
probable that nearly all of this loss is due to simple volatilization. 
As is to be expected, the loss of nicotine is greatest in those cases in 
which the temperatures of the fermenting bulks reach the highest 
points. This volatilization of nicotine which takes place during the 
curing, and especially in the fermentation process, continues through- 
out the subsequent aging of the tobacco, but of course at a diminished 
rate. It is easy to understand, therefore, the marked improvement 
brought about by resweating or a long period of aging in the case of 
those types of tobacco containing excessive quantities of nicotine in 
an easily volatile form, which imparts a very undesirable sharpness 
or pungency to the smoke. 
141—1 
