Improving the fermentation ability of unripe air-cured tobacco

The fermentation of dark air-cured tobacco depends on its fermentation ability. Dry spells during the growth period can contribute towards unripe tobacco with poor fermentation ability. By blending such tobacco at a 1:1 ratio with tobacco of good fermentation ability, the whole stack could be fermented to a satisfactory end-product. The chemical changes during fermentation of the blended tobacco's resulted in a substantial increase in pH and a corresponding decrease in total volatile bases as opposed to very little change in the stack tobacco with poor fermentation ability only. In addition, the concentrations of malic and citric acids decreased by 95 and 65% respectively during fermentation of the blended tobacco's.