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Does anyone know of a kit or a lab that can be used to test for nicotine levels in tobacco leaves?

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OldDinosaurWesH

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Is there some kind of kit, or a laboratory out there that can be used to test the nicotine levels of tobacco leaf? Several of the varieties I have grown are either of an unknown percentage nicotine or have had a generic percentage assigned at some time in the past. I would be curious to know what the nicotine levels of my tobacco are. Just because a seed catalog says one thing, it doesn't necessarily follow that the tobacco i grow is the same.

Let me know if you have any info.

OldDinosaurWesH
 

SmokesAhoy

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I think it's kind of pointless, unless you plan on doing every batch every year as there is so much difference due to weather, inputs and probably things such as gdd's etc.

But ultimately I don't know, I have seen the old research docs mention how they did it in the early days in the labs of the time that should be doable by any motivated individual in our time. But every year every batch would be different. Either the nicotine works on you or it doesn't. The cool thing about nicotine though is if you use 10mg/g leaf it will affect you identically to if you grow and use something silly like 130mg/g. It'll all be the same to you.

And if you're addicted to it as I'm sure we all are as long as it has enough to satisfy you it has all it needs.

Sorry I couldn't link a lab or diy procedure though. I've wondered about the same thing in the past though and the above is the conclusion I came to.
 
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Charly

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Very wise answer Smokes ;)
I don't care what is the nicotine level of my own leaves, as long as they satisfy me !
If you feel your cigars are too light, you can always roll them bigger and you will have more available nicotine :D
 

Tutu

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I can give you the name of a lab in Belgium but I'm very much on the side of Smokes here. We grow tobacco of a certified variety, and test tobacco for residues. I see around 40 tests a year which includes nicotine levels. They vary greatly. Enormously.

Nicotine tests are interesting if you need to know the nicotine content of a certain tobacco batch. And it sure is true that some varieties have higher levels on average than others. But in the end it's spending money on something that is difficult to make conclusions from other than knowing the nicotine content of that certain batch and that batch alone
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Most tobacco varieties have some kind of baseline information when you buy the seed. You have at least some kind of idea of approximate percentages of nicotine levels. I have a variety of unknown nicotine level. All I can tell you is that is a Burley, and it is pretty strong. I was curious to establish a baseline percentage on said variety. Unfortunately, I think a serious test would cost more than I could justify paying.

Thanks for your input.

Wes H.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Most Burley's should be in the 3-5 range and the majority of those should fall around 4%. The time of harvest modifies levels as well, 6 weeks post harvest or 37 days was optimum according to a research paper I read that took samples of each priming every few days from topping and beyond. Levels in all sets of leaf rose steadily until about 5 weeks, however what made them say 6 weeks was optimum was that proteins that raised initially diminished improving flavor and combustibility. Your anonymous burley if it is a developed variety will probably be in the ranges posted with most concentrated in the upper parts of the plants but the bottom leaf should at least be 3%. I've seen some types tested as high as nearly 7% and would assume developed strains that are related could reach that under ideal conditions and with lots of nitrogen in the upper leaf.

I've also seen grin types classified as burley that were found in odd areas of the globe that had really low numbers, but American production varieties should all be pretty stout. That and the grin grow regimen didn't seem to really unlock the potential as it was (I think) all harvested early. I'll have to look around for those documents and include them here, I think you'll find them interesting.
 

SmokesAhoy

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I always forget how to attach PDFs attempting it now
 

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  • Burley Tobacco Quality Yield and Chemical Compos.pdf
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OldDinosaurWesH

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Thanks SmokesAhoy. I saved a copy of this and will give it a good read. I gave it a quick thumb-through, and there is a lot of useful information there.

Wes H.
 

Tutu

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Okay let me give a bit of visual on what I was saying earlier. These are nicotine test results from our current year crop. Let me explain a little bit about the samples first. All samples are at least half a kilogram, say a pound. Each sample is tobacco from a specific area. Within that sample, there is tobacco from at least 20 fields, and a fair amount of plants per field. I would say that one sample ranges between 200 to 300 plants. If not more. Now the seed that has been distributed to the farmers who plant these fields is all from the same source of certified seed. Thus, if a single variety would yield a certain range of nicotine, say 2-3%, you would expect the nicotine levels of these samples to be pretty similar, given the large sample sizes. They do not. This is why I'm suggesting that it is not to easy to be talking about "typical" nicotine levels for certain strains.

Now first I will list the results from middle plant position samples:

Middle 2017.jpg


Here follow results from top plant position samples:

Top 2017.jpg

Villages are typically no mare than 10 km apart from one another. By the way, the first four samples correspond in regard to what village they are from (middle and top). We also tested a single sample of lower plant positions that gave 3,0 as a result for nicotine..
 

burge

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I don't grow so I think the question to ask is the temperature type of soil and when the leaf was harvested. I am not sure what seed Big uses but his seems to have a good kick. It makes me wondering about suckering if that has a effect on nicotine levels.
 

Rolledroyce

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I've often wondered how much nicotine there was in the Whole Leaf Tobacco selection, the cigar tobaccos, the cigarette blends. Has anybody had any of them tested? Don, maybe?
 

deluxestogie

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A well regarded pharmacology textbook states that an average corona contains two lethal doses of nicotine. So what?

In any specific variety of tobacco, the nicotine level varies from lower to higher as you work up the stalk. So even the ARS-GRIN nicotine analysis numbers (available for only some varieties) are not particularly useful, even in a comparative sense. Also, the chemical concentration of nicotine in the tobacco is only indirectly related to the quantity of nicotine that your body absorbs. And the pH of the smoke will determine whether or not nicotine in the smoke is absorbed to an appreciable extent by the mucosal membranes in your nose, mouth and throat. (smoke of flue-cured is not; smoke of cigar leaf is) Topped plants produce more nicotine than plants that have not been topped. Increased fertilizer and increased planting space results in higher nicotine.

Don's leaf is the very same leaf found in premium cigars, derived from the same supply chain. Seco is lower in nicotine than viso, which is lower than ligero. How you go about smoking a cigar (your very own puffing pattern) influences the percentage of the nicotine from the smoke that will waft away in the side stream vs be drawn into your mouth.

Lab analysis of nicotine in cigar leaf is somewhat expensive, and if performed properly, would result in a statistical scatterplot for each bale of leaf.

Short answer: the numbers would not be meaningful.

Bob
 

burge

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Dons lemon and flue cured are more than a packaged cigarette. Big bonners yellow is about the same and a higher for the orangey yellow. The burley really packs a punch. On the Virginia I would gestimate 2.2 to 2.8 mg of nicotine per smoke.
 
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