The volitile components of tobacco, their possible effects on taste and the feelings of smoking

Drael;7652904 said:

(AKA draels e-cig forum essay )

Didnt know where to post it, theres no tobacco consituents/biochemistry section Hope here is okay!

I will start with what I end with, just so its a _bit_ clearer what I am talking about, even if this is a little technical:

"What is the contribution of volitile chemicals like terpenes to the mental/physical effects of trade tobacco?

And possibly just as fun to talk about- if a more effective means were established for extracting these, as isolated components, storing them, is it possible to entirely replicate the smell and taste of tobacco? (not the yucky burning, just the plant itself)"


Okay, so lets dig into what I am driving at here:

The volatile components of a plant are those that degrade quickly, enter into the air easily - they make the majority of the taste and smell of a given plant.

While many of these types of components are common to many species, they are also often bioactive in nature (they have an effect on the mind/body of a person or animal).

There are some easy examples.

Linalool, a terpene, which has a woody, floral, spicey note, is thought to be the primary active ingredient of lavender. Its quite well studied, and seems to be a potent CNS sedative, potent enough it relaxs muscles and slows the heart from low level inhalation of the smell alone, and via absorbtion via the skin!

Interestingly its also in tobacco.

Here one study on its effects:

Inhaled linalool-induced sedation in mice. [Phytomedicine. 2009] - PubMed - NCBI



From wiki, also in tobacco, and often also added - "Isovaleric acid has a strong pungent cheesy or sweaty smell, but its volatile esters have pleasing scents and are used widely in perfumery. It has been proposed that it is the anticonvulsant agent in valerian."



Its long been a matter of speculation, the contribution of terpenes, flavanoids are other volatiles, to the effects of a certain member of the Cannabaceae family (only mentioning it here because its _directly_ relevant - I hope this is okay, but a vast majority of the second part of this post/information would disappear if I were not able to make this reference. It is only informational, and I dont condone use of this plant - hope this is okay!).

Terpenes like myrcene, limonene, alpha-Pinene & Eucaluptol are thought to contribute to the effects and the smell of this plant. There are at least a dozen suspects, and its likely more complex than that.

But I mention these four specifically for a reason: they are all in tobacco.

Limonene for example smells like orange peel - its also found in orange peels, and is medically active in them.

Pinene smells like pine, and is medically active there.

beta-Myrcene occurs in mangos, and is medically active there. And so on.

Of course these are not uncommon, in particularly aromatic plants - but those plants often have medical qualities. Some of these terpenes alone, even in high doses will do little notable. But some of them exactly the opposite is true. All of these four are bioactive however, which has been studied (in a quite limited way, mind you).

When the terepenes and other volitiles occur in high concentration, along with alkaloids, it seems reasonable to speculate they make some kind of interactive contribution. There contribution could even be significant.

There is one internet individual (well leave him out of this, but the information is relevant), who investigated this personally with a large group of freinds and swears that the volitiles make a major contribution to the relaxing nature of that unnamed plant. (I dont condone or advise such experimentation either obviously!)

I imagine this scenario is not that terrible unfamiliar to the vaping community (for example wta's). People with no subjective experience using laboratory rats as their senses, can make some pretty wack assumptions about the complexities of a plants effect on a man. In fact medical science, and the public can in general.

The point I am getting to, all of those four mentioned terpenes, as well as the sedative terpene in lavender, also occur in tobacco.

Flavanoids are also often bioactive.

There are a very large number of volitiles in tobacco. In fact heres a list of one analysis (which of course mentions all the ones I bring up!):

http://leffingwell.com/download/Volatile Constituents of Perique Tobacco4.pdf

So, back to the start:

"What is the contribution of volitiles like terpenes to the effects of trade tobacco?

And possibly just as fun to talk about- if a more effective means were established for extracting these, as isolated components, and storing them, is it possible to entirely replicate the smell and taste of tobacco? (the plant, not the yucky burning qualities)."



This would of course have limitations - volatiles by nature degrade.

They would need to be stored in opaque containers, be totally vacuum sealed, out of heat, and they would degrade once opened in a limited time period, like say, a saffron absolute does.

Regarding the smell/taste: Of course existing extracts, like simple ethanol extracts, and whole co2 absolutes, may end up not smelling/tasting right for exactly this reason, degradation due to improper storage (because they are well volitile, like the name implies - all these key ingredients degrade ultra easily).

It takes very little exposure to air for say, something like the key volitiles in saffron to degrade. A pure absolute of saffron is useless about one week of having its vacuum seal broken, whereas the whole plant, the volitiles can survive much longer (although they are still somewhat sealed, and kept fresh, and still degrade reasonably fast)

So the first step in a real flavour/smell extraction, is to only extract the volitiles, the flavanoids, flavanols, terpenes, terpenoids etc. The second step would be to actually store, and treat it properly (ie as a volitile). Hard to say if the e-liquid business is anywhere near being able to provide that sort of thing, but its fun to speculate on. Plus it would be expensive!

Regarding the effects: We know about wta's now. We know about the combustion generated mao-inhibitors. What about the volitiles?

Thoughts?

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