Nicotine analysis of commercial tobacco products

The use of AOAC standard methods for the determination of nicotine in commercial tobacco products is shown to be inappropriate. The methods do not provide for suitable sample preparation of these products for the analysis and, in addition, they yield high results. Evidence is presented that the nicotine or total alkaloids measured includes artifact nicotine. The distillation method was developed at a time when the complex alkaloid chemistry of tobacco was unknown, and does not take into consideration the possible contribution of substances in tobacco capable of contributing falsely to the result. The Cundiff-Markunas method, developed more recently, also fails to account for this effect--probably because it was designed to produce results matching those of the distillation method. Replacement of the standard methods is proposed and some alternative procedures are suggested.