Anne Landman's Collection
B&W Report No. 74-4. A Chemical Examination of B&W and Competitive Reconstituted Tobaccos.
Abstract
Report that says the nicotine content of Philip Morris proeducts are significantly higher than those of competitor's products.
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BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP.
Report No. 74-4
January 22, 1974
A CHEMICAL ~I~TION OF
B&W AND COMPETITIVE
RECONSTITUTED ~OBACCOS
R. R. Johnson
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
Louisville, Kentucky
,~&I~ ,, 1. I97zl,
THIS CONFIDENTIAL REPORT IS THE PROPERTY OF BROWN & WI LLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP.
• AND MUST NOT BE COPIED OR SHOWN TO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS•
570305198 r

Project No. 218
Copy No. ~/
Issued by Dr. J. G, Esterle
Report No. 74-4
January 22, 1974
A CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF
B&W A~ COMPETITIVE
RECONSTITUTED TOBACCOS
R. R. Johnson
DISTRIBUTION
i. Mr. E. P. Finch 12.
2. Mr. C. 2. McCarty 13.
3. Mr. J. H. Dunford 14.
4. Hr. R. M. Heyward 15.
5, Dr, I. W. Hughes 16.
6. Dr. 8. J, Green 17.
7, Dr. 8. J. Green 18.
8. Dr. D. G. Felton 19.
9. Dr. F, Haslam 20.
i0. Mr. R, M, Oibb 21,
12. Mr. R. 8. Wade
Mr. R, S. Wade
Mr. R. C, Nicholls
Mr. H. E. 8ottorf
Dr. P. 8eehofer
Mr. V. A. Smith
Mr. V, A. Sm£th
Dr. R, R. Johnson
Master
Library
Library
5"#0305199

Report E~Io. 74-4
A CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF B&W AND COMPETITIVE RECONSTI~TED TOBACCOS
SUMMARY
The six major manufacturers of cigarettes in Lhe United Stakes us~
dlst~nctly different reconstituted tobaccos. B&W and Philip Morris each
use two types, and Lorillard has recently abandoned use of a Second type.
Some distiuguishing characteristics are:
B&W uses a paper reconstituted in non-menthol brands and a slurry
~e¢onstituted in menthol brands,
Phi h!~MorrJs uses a mixture of reconstituted tobac¢o~ in all of
their brauds. The m~jor (95%) reconstituted is a slurry type which appears
as long s~rands in cigarettes; chemically, ~t is characterized by high
alkaloids, low sugars, and diammonium phosphate additiva. The minor re-
con~tltuted is a paper type and has high nitrate content.
Reynolds uses a paper reconstituted which is somewhat lower in nicotine
content than the B&W ~aper reconstituted.
~n~rican u~e~ a low nitrate, paper reconstituted. The low ~itrate is
consistent with the r~constltuted being made with Virginia stems only.
Lorillard uses a very thick~ ~lurry reconstituted characterized by
abnormally low alkaloids and sugars.
u~es a paper reconstituted v~ry similar to the B&W paper ~e°
constituted, but sigm~ficantly lower in alkaloids.
Most reconstituted tobaccos gain significantly in nicotine content
durin~ ~igare~c manufacture. This nicotine transfer is massive for the
major reconstituted tobacco in Philip Morris cigarette products. Th~s
transfer explains b~tter th~ high nicotine conten~ of Philip Morri@ re-
constituted than the previous hypothesis that lamina extracts were added
~o the recomstituted tobacco.
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INTRODUCTION
The Ble~nd Separation Group in R~d3 periodically monitors the blend
composition of competitive cigarettes. Sampling for blend analysis i3
from flft~p-flve cities to ensure representative results.
In June, 1973. we started a program in which all blend components
from c, ompetitive Brand monitoring were analyzed chemically. A Sufficient
numbe r of brands have now been analyzed to draw some conclusions.
This report covers reconstituted tobaccos isolated from B&W and
co~ ~petitor5~ brands, and changes which occu~ in these r~constituted
to baccos during ¢igaEette manufacture.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Full analytical results are in the Appendix.
F 4a,~or R~constituted Tobacco~
Table i lists the analytical results for both major and minor re-
constituted tobaccos isolated from commercial cigarettes. Each result
i~ the medla~ of at least three different samples of separated reconstituted
~ohac¢o. W£de differences among manufacturers are found in each chemical
c~ponent.
Total alkaloids in reconstituted tobaccos vary over a wide range.
This is largaly due to transfer of nicotine from lamina d~rin~ cigarette
manufacture as will be demonstrated later; our p~evious conclusionI tha't
Philip Morris extracts nicotine from lamina for use in reconstituted
manufacture is definitely wrong.
, ?0 305; 01

CD
Table i
Typical Analyses of Reconstituted Tobaccos
% Total
% Sugars % %
Alkaloids
Reducin~ Total Chlorogenic Acid Nitrate
Philip Morris Slurry 2,6
1.5 3.6 0.3 2.7
Liggett Taper 0.7 9.7 9.9
0.3 2.4
B&W - PJS Paper 1.2 5.5 6.1
0.3 2,3
Lorillard Slurry 0.4 3.2 3.3
0.3 2.]
Reynolds Paper 0.9 6.4 7,5
0.6 1.6
B&W - PCL Slurry 1 5 5,6 6.4
0.7 1,3
American Paper 1.3 7.7 8.9
0.S 0.7
Minor T~
Philip Morris
Lorillard
Paper 0.9 4.3 i0.i
Slurry 0.6 6.1 7.7
N .D. 5.3
N .D. 2.9

3 -
Major reconstituted tobaccos used by two manufacturers, Philip Morris
and Lorillard, are very low in sugars. These low levels may even he due
not to sugars hut to other reducing substances which react positively in
the ¢olorimetric analysis. Moderately high sugars in Liggett re¢onstit~ted
probably include s~me added sugar~ thls reconstituted is made by Schweitzer
and is very similar to PJS,
Chlorogenic acid results~ an indicator of flue-cured content, show
definite differences among the various reconstituted$~ but the lower levels
are at the lower limits detectable in this colorimetric analysis. We cannot
explain the differences found~
Nitrate analyses fall into high, intermediate and low categories. One
potassium analysis is also available on reconstituted from each manufacturer
to aid in explaining the nitrate differences.
Reconstituted % Nitrate % Potassium
Philip Morris 2.7 5.3
Liggett 2,4 5.3
B&W - PJS 2.3 4.9
Lorillard 2.1 6.6
Reynold~ 1.6 4.6
B&W - PCL 1.3 3.5
American 0.7 3.7
Philip Morris - Minor 5.3 6.8
These resnlts largely reflect stems used as the basis of the different
reconstituted sheets. Burley stem is high in potassium nitrate content.
All manufacturers~ except for American, appear to use a mixture of b~rley
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- 4 -
and Virginia st~fls; American appears to ~se Virginia stem only. B&W buys
hurley st~ frr~m American~ and American brands are gen~rally higher ~han
ec~flpetitorsr in lamina content, reinforcing the conclusion thatAmerican
u~es only Pirginia stems in their reconstituted.
PCL and Reynolds reconstituted are intermediate in nitrate and
potassl%~m content. This suggests that the processes are similar in
discarding hurley stem e~tracL.
The minor recon~tltuted in Philip Morrl~ 5r~t~ds app~a~s to he a high
b~rl~y stem type, ss evidenced by high contents of bo~h potassium and nitrate.
The several reconstituted tobaccos do not differ significantly in
chloride, calcium, magnesiL~,~ and~ except for Lorillard, sodium; Kent
lamina is also high in sodium~ so we suspect some sodium salt additive.
Philip Morrls reconstituted is very h~gh in ammonia ~nd phosphate,
in accord with their diammoni~m phosphate process for liberating pectin
as binder.3
Reconstituted % Ammonia % Phos h~
Philip Morris 0.91 4.73
Lorillara - Kent 0.04 0.69
B&W - PJS 0.05 0.52
8&W - PCL 0.06 0.68
Reynold~ 0~06 0.59
American 0.07 1.15
Liggett 0,04 0.58
Philip Morrls - Minor 0.16 0.68
AmericanJs reconstituted is higb in phosphate, possibly due to use
of phosphoric acid as a crossllnking agent.
STO305Z04

The minor Philip Morris reconsbltuted is made without added ammonium
phosphate; apparently high ammonia is due to transfer during manufacturing
operations.
Two of these reconstituted tobaccos stand out in physical appearance.
Philip Morris~ reconstituted shows up as long strands with an apparently
high spring constant; this reconstituted should do much to hold the tobacco
column together. LorillardJs reconstl~uted is very thick, thicker even
than puffed tobacco~ and looks like phoEographs of rod bacteria; this should
do little to hold the tobacco column together,
Minor Reconstituted Tobaccos
A second type of reconstituted appeared in Philip Morris products in
Marlboro 80 of January, 1974 manufacture.1 Thls paper~type reconstituted
has now appeared in many Philip Morris brands, amounting to ahout 5% of
the total reconstituted, or about 1% o~ the total cigarette. We know that
Philip Morris is building a new reconstituted tobacco factory and suspect
that this mince type is a temporary Substitute from Schweitzer. Blend
separaclon of a "reconstituted Marlboro" for CPT showed that this minor
reconstituted breaks up badly in comparison with the major reconstituted.
Until recently~ Lorillard used two types of reconstituted in their
elgarette products. The minor type is similar in composition to the major
type but different in appearance. Kent 85 of May, 1973 manufacture showed
reconstituted which was 93~ major and 7% minor types.
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6
Chemical Chan~es in Philip Morris Reconstituted Tobacco During Processin~
In mid 1973, B&W Manufacturing Department provided a sample of Philip
Morris reconstituted and commented on the good, well-aged tobacco aroma.
This sample was visually identical to the major reconstituted in Philip
Morris cigarettes but chemically it was differ~nL
P~Morr~s Reconstituted 'Iobacco
F~ From
Cigarettes
Total Alkalolds, ~ 0.65 2.b
Reducing Sugars, %1.0 1.5
~otal Sugar, % 2.0 3.3
Nitrate~ % 3.6 2~9
Chlorogenic Acid, %0.2 0.3
Ammonia, % 2~i 0~9
Phosphate, % 4.1 4.7
Glycerin, % 0.9 2.37
Triethylene Glycol2.6 1.5"
*Marlboro 80 of January, 1973 manulacture.
Despite the large analytical differences, the two samples are both
the major Philip Morris reconstituted. The hogshead sample came from a
large room full of hogsheads with the same grade tag (RCB, 900 ibs.).
More definitely, the hogshead sample efficiently scavenges nicotine from
heated tobacco (Virginia tobacco dust at 6% moisture, 65°C for five days)
a~d reaches the same ~icotine co~te~t a~ Phllip Morris reconstituted fr~
clgarettes. This would be vapor transport at such low moisture,
% Nicotine
Reconstituted From Before After
gen~ & Hedges i00 2.82 4.34
Hogshead 0,62 g.29
"geforOi and "afte~i analyses for sugars and nitrate showed no major
changes. Mowe~er, the hogshead reconstituted nitrate con~ent of 5.6% is
higher than that of any of the same reconstituced isolated from cigarettes.
570305; 06

~he ma881~e transfer of nicotine illustrated Above is from a tenfold
excess of Virginia tobacco at 2.4% nicotine. Lamltm recovered from Philip
Morris cigarettes typically is reduced to 1.4% nicotine by transfer to
reconstituted. S~ae Marlboro lO0 were heated at 65°C for 24 hours, and
the reconstituted was then isolated to determine if nicotine transfer
la completed to equilibrium during Philip Morris manufacturing operations.
Control reconstituted was obtained from cigarettes in the same pack but
not heated.
Reconstituted in Heated Cigarettes
Reconstituted in Control Cigarettes
N1cotlne equlllbrlum with lamina is achieved in the Philip Morris
~nufacturlng operations. A similar experiment also showed nicotine
equlllbrlum In KOO~ 99.
One result of nicotine transfer is that Philip Morris products having
less reconstituted will sh~ a higher nicotine content in the reconstituted
portion. ~fnis conclusion is supported by the available evidence, illustrated
on Page 8. ~o points do not fall on £he indicated curve, and these are for
cigarettes of more re~ent~nufactu~e.
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