Study on physical property of over-dried cut tobacco during starting and finishing stages of drying process

Physical indexes such as whole cut rate, its changing ratio, bulk density and apparent density were investigated to determine industrial availability of over-dried cut tobaccos with different moisture contents. Cluster analysis was used to analyze data and sensory evaluation was also carried out to verify outcomes. Results showed that: 1 Whole cut rate, its changing ratio, bulk density, apparent density were highly correlated with moisture content. 2 Cut tobacco samples with different moisture contents could be clustered into two categories with cut-off point of 8.72% ~ 9.46% moisture content. 3 Overall sensory quality of over-dried cut tobacco with moisture content lower than 8.72% was significantly different from normal cut tobacco. The quality-concerned critical moisture content for overdried cut tobacco was about 9.00%.