Organoleptic studies 



Essentially, the studies were designed to compare by panel 

 test the flavor of cigarettes containing Turkish tobacco to ciga- 

 rettes containing isovaleric and j3-methylvaleric acids in place 

 of Turkish tobacco. Initially, candidates for the test panel 

 were screened repeatedly by the Triangle Method, using one 

 cigarette of a blend containing flue-cured, burley, Maryland, 

 and Turkish tobaccos and two cigarettes containing the same 

 blend except that the Turkish Was replaced with an equivalent 

 amount of flue-cured. Eight out of twenty-five prospective 

 panelists were ultimately accepted in this screening and used 

 in the tests described below. 



In subsequent tests, the Paired Comparison Technique was 

 employed, using two cigarettes. The first cigarette contained 

 flue-cured, burley, Maryland, and Turkish tobaccos. The 

 second cigarette had the same composition as the first ciga- 

 rette except that the Turkish tobacco was replaced by a com- 

 parable amount of flue-cured tobacco and a combination of iso- 

 valeric and /3-methylvaleric acid. Panelists were asked to 

 smoke the two cigarettes and indicate whether or not the ciga- 

 rettes were identical in organoleptic properties. If differences 

 were found, the panelists were requested to describe the dif- 

 ference in detail. Various control tests of acuity were pre- 

 sented periodically to the panelists as a check on the well-known 

 daily fluctuations in human sensitivities. When a panelist was 

 found to be relatively insensitive, his results were discarded. 

 The inadequacies of panel testing are well known and should 

 be realized in evaluating such data. 



A wide range of concentration of constituent tobaccos and 

 of added acids was investigated. Table 2 contains data on some 

 combinations of tobaccos with or without added acids which 

 were tested comparatively for similarities in smoke flavor. 

 The cigarettes in test No. 3 were commercially manufactured; 

 all other cigarettes were hand-rolled in the laboratory. The 

 low grade flue-cured tobacco was a sample previously judged 

 to be flavor -deficient in panel tests by a domestic manufacturer. 

 The cigarettes contained no filters, humectants, or flavoring 

 agents other than the added acids, and the moisture contents 

 were adjusted to 13. percent before panel testing. The acids 

 were added to the cigarettes by injection of an acetone solution 

 containing . 026 percent isovaleric and 0. 094 percent j3-methyl- 

 valeric acids, respectively, using a 50= microliter hypodermic 

 syringe. The syringe was provided with a 19-gage needle hav- 

 ing 4 holes of 1/32-inch diameter uniformly distributed along 

 the needle with the original aperture sealed. The solvent was 

 removed from each cigarette by a gentle stream of warm air 

 or nitrogen. 



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