Nicotine Testing and Tobacco Quality Control
Every lot that leaves LR Tobacco is tested before dispatch. Nicotine testing is done in our own lab by titration, batch by batch, and the result goes on the batch report that travels with the material. Nothing ships on last season's figure or a number carried over from a similar lot. Our leaf is rain-fed with minimal irrigation and nicotine runs high, up to 6%, so buyers blending to a target need the figure for the actual lot.
Nicotine testing by titration, step by step
Titration means finding how much of something is present by adding a solution of known strength until the reaction is complete, then reading off how much you added. The volume tells you the quantity. Applied to tobacco:
- Draw the sample. Taken across the lot, not off the top of one bag. Material is mixed and reduced down so the sample represents the whole lot.
- Prepare it. The sample is ground and its moisture accounted for, because nicotine is reported against dry weight and a wet sample reads low.
- Get the nicotine into solution. The prepared sample is treated so the nicotine separates from the leaf material and ends up in a liquid that can be titrated.
- Titrate. Solution of known strength is added slowly from a burette while the analyst watches for the colour change that marks the end point.
- Read the burette. The millilitres used are noted.
- Repeat and average. Readings are repeated on the same sample and averaged, so one shaky end point does not decide the result.
- Calculate. The average millilitre figure is converted to a nicotine percentage and recorded against the lot number.
We describe this as our in-house method. We are not claiming it against a published standard. If your buyer needs a third party certificate, tell us at enquiry stage and we will confirm what can be arranged and who pays for it before the order runs.
The rest of the tobacco quality control checks
Moisture. Checked on arrival and again before dispatch. Moisture moves most in transit and storage and causes the most argument at delivery, so the target figure and the tolerance are agreed in writing before the order runs. Tell us the figure your process needs and we will confirm what we can hold against current stock.
Foreign matter and sand. Material is sieved and checked for sand, soil, string, plastic and other non-tobacco matter. Sand matters most for extraction plants and for cut rag, because it comes in with dust and rava and does not show up by eye at low levels. Limits are set per contract, so put the figure your process can carry on the order.
Grade. Grades are verified against what was bought and what was ordered, before blending rather than after. Colour, leaf position, body and stem content are checked by people who have graded this crop for years. If a lot does not match the grade it was sold as, it does not go into the blend.
Sample retention. A sample from every dispatched lot is retained, so a later claim can be checked against what actually left. The retention period is agreed on the order.
What the batch report contains
The batch report goes with the lot. Example layout:
- Lot number: LR lot reference, unique to the consignment
- Buyer and order reference: Buyer name, PO number
- Product form: Cut rag, dust, rava, stems, threshed lamina, bidi patti
- Crop year and origin: Charotar region, Kheda district, Gujarat
- Net weight and packing: Number of bales or cases, net weight
- Nicotine, by titration: Result as a percentage, with test date
- Moisture at dispatch: Result as a percentage, with test date
- Foreign matter and sand: Result of the check
- Grade: Grade dispatched, against grade ordered
- Retained sample reference: Sample ID tied to the lot number
- Tested and released by: Name and date
If you need a field that is not listed here, tell us before the first lot and we will add it. Easier to set the format at the start than to reconcile paperwork after a container has moved.
Next step
To see what our testing looks like on real material, ask for a sample lot with its batch report attached and judge it yourself. Call +91 8000150037 or email hello@lrtobacco.com. Tell us the parameters you work to and we will confirm what we measure in-house and what has to go outside.