Discrimination of Different Cigarette Brands Based on the Dynamic Volatile Aroma Components in Cut Tobacco

A total of 16 cigarette samples of two brands from different manufacturers were used as examples to research and develop a method of classification analysis based on measurements of volatile aroma components with a Purge and Trap-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (P&T-GC/MS) method. The aroma components data were submitted for interpretation to cluster analysis and principal component analysis. The results showed that the 16 samples were grouped into two categories corresponding to their brands and these two groups were well separated with each other, indicating that the volatile aroma components well characterized the similarity of cigarettes from the same brand, as well as the difference between cigarettes from different brands. The method provides reference for cigarette style characterizing, quality maintenance and authenticity discrimination.