LIBS QUALITY CONTROL AND ORIGIN IDENTIFICATION OF HAND MADE 2 MANUFACTURED CIGARS 3 4

F. C. ALVIRA; G. M. BILMES; T. FLORES REYES; L. PONCE CABRERA

APPLIED SPECTROSCOPY

SOC APPLIED SPECTROSCOPY

Lugar: New York; Año: 2015 p. 1205 - 1209

0003-7028

Tobacco is an agricultural product originating in America that is obtained by processing the leaves of various plants of the genus Nicotiana tabacum. It is the inedible product occupying the most plantings in the world, according to a recent report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. It is consumed in various ways, but undoubtedly the most popular is smoking cigarettes. A particular segment of the tobacco industry is the manufacturing of hand-made cigars, which for some third-world countries is an important source of income. There are different qualities of cigars and a major problem is the adulteration that occurs, for example, when authentic high quality leaves are replaced by others of lower quality. A factor that influences the quality of the cigars is the smoke combustion process, which depends on several factors, particularly the composition of the leaves.We present a simple and quick technique for the quality control and origin identification of hand-made cigars, by using the Mg/Ca relationship measured with Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) in the tobacco leaves and wrappers of the cigars.