Unraveling the Relationship between Key Aroma Compounds and Sensory Characteristics of Cherry-Red Tobacco.

Cherry-red tobacco has aroused significant interest in both the academic and industrial fields due to its unique aroma style. In order to analyze the aroma characteristics of Cherry-red tobacco and the intrinsic aroma substance basis, the aroma compounds were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), the aroma characteristics were verified by sensory evaluation, and a correlation analysis was further conducted. The sensory evaluation suggested that Cherry-red tobacco was significantly richer in aroma, containing a total of 11 aromas, among which nutty, bean, herbal, and spicy were the characteristic aromas. The analysis of aroma compounds indicated that there were 88 differentiating aroma compounds between Cherry-red tobacco and Yunyan 87. The correlation analysis revealed that the glutinous sweet aroma of Cherry-red tobacco was strongly correlated with phenols, aromatic hydrocarbons, and aldehydes, while the fresh sweet aroma of Yunyan 87 was strongly correlated to ketones and nitriles. There were 24 characteristic aroma substances with strong correlations with the glutinous sweet aroma of Cherry-red tobacco. Furthermore, based on the odor and OAV analysis results, 2-vinylpyridine, 2,6-dimethylpyridine, scopoletin, 4-methylphenol, and eugenol were the key aroma compounds that highlighted the characteristic aroma of Cherry-red tobacco.