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Where does tobacco get its flavors from ?

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KNEWBLOOD

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When I smoke a cigar and really pick up licorice notes from a smoke is it just a natural similarity in tobacco leaf or has licorice root maybe once been grown in the soil the tobacco was ?
 

SmokesAhoy

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Heaven, I believe.

Different leaf has different chemicals that give flavors but mainly it's how it was processed after picking it and before you lighting up. Nothing special in raw tobacco, but after processing you can have something amazing.
 

deluxestogie

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You ask a difficult question. As tobacco color-cures and subsequently ages (and is kilned or fermented), scores of volatile compounds are created. These are relatively light weight compounds (less that about 300 grams per mole), and can be detected by the nose. These are often esters, terpenes, amines, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ketones, lactones, thiols etc. While a single compound may present the aroma of a specifically identifiable scent (e.g. diacetyl-->butter), the same "scent" may also be triggered by other compounds. At least two distinct compounds are recognized as "anise" aroma. Several different aldehydes say "chocolate" to the nose.

Another phenomenon is that certain combinations of aroma compounds together may trigger identifiable scents. Most recognizable fruit aromas result from a combination of aroma compounds. (This is why we may say, "fruity," when we can't pinpoint the particular fruit.)

So, setting aside the possibility of adding specific flavorants to tobacco, which is seldom done with cigars, just the natural chemical interactions within the cured, aging leaf can generate a host of aroma compounds, depending on the conditions of temperature, humidity, ambient pH and the abundance or scarcity of oxygen. If any research has explored the specific aroma compounds of cigar leaf (which could be done with various chromatography and spectrometry techniques, analyzing "head space" air within a container of tobacco), I'm not aware of it. [It has been done and published for Cyprus Latakia.] My guess is that it would be different for nearly every variety of tobacco, as well as every stalk level, every plantation and every crop year.

And I've left out a discussion of the additional aroma compounds produced by combustion (at various temperatures and humidity).

Bob
 

MarcL

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That was really well put Bob.
Though, licorice root may have been used, perhaps not in all the leaf but, a certain one within a blend. Not that it needs to be added to get a hint of it.
Is there a specific cigar you can recall?
 

KNEWBLOOD

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That was really well put Bob.
Though, licorice root may have been used, perhaps not in all the leaf but, a certain one within a blend. Not that it needs to be added to get a hint of it.
Is there a specific cigar you can recall?

It was awhile back but the Don Peppin 601 (red label) is one smoke that had the most licorice taste to it that ive had anyway.
 

MarcL

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https://www.google.com/search?q=licorice+taste&safe=off&biw=1153&bih=794&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWwpvslazRAhXD7oMKHVHHB5YQ_AUIBygA&dpr=1


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquorice
Most liquorice is used as a flavouring agent for tobacco, particularly US blend cigarettes, to which liquorice lends a natural sweetness and a distinctive flavour and makes it easier to inhale the smoke by creating bronchodilators, which open up the lungs.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP] Liquorice flavours are also used as candies or sweeteners, particularly in some European and Middle Eastern countries. Liquorice extracts have a number of medical uses, and they are also used in herbal and folk medications. Excessive consumption of liquorice (more than 2 mg/kg/day of pure glycyrrhizinic acid, a liquorice component) may result in adverse effects, and overconsumption should be suspected clinically in patients presenting with otherwise unexplained hypokalemia and muscle weakness.[SUP][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anethole
Anethole (anise camphor) is an organic compound that is widely used as a flavoring substance. It is a derivative of phenylpropene, a type of aromatic compound that occurs widely in nature, in essential oils. It contributes a large component of the odor and flavor of anise and fennel (both in the botanical family Apiaceae), anise myrtle (Myrtaceae), liquorice (Fabaceae), camphor, magnolia blossoms, and star anise (Illiciaceae). Closely related to anethole is its isomer estragole, abundant in tarragon (Asteraceae) and basil (Lamiaceae), that has a flavor reminiscent of anise. It is a colorless, fragrant, mildly volatile liquid.[SUP][1][/SUP] Anethole is only slightly soluble in water but exhibits high solubility in ethanol. This difference causes certain anise-flavored liqueurs to become opaque when diluted with water, the ouzo effect.
[/SUP]
 
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