Defining chemical specifications of raw materials, and having adequate analytical methodologies with known tolerances at a reasonable cost is a need for tobacco companies. They allow a better management of batches of raw materials produced. Three experiments were conducted simultaneously from 2012 to 2017: 1) Assessing the fitness for purposes of analytical procedures for total alkaloids as nicotine and total nitrogen under intermediate precision conditions and three mass fraction levels without using certified reference materials; 2) Developing calibration models for analysing the same parameters and total ash through near infra-red spectroscopy (NIRS); 3) Predicting the sensory strength of cigar mainstream smoke through instrumental measurements. Two batches of raw materials from consecutive tobacco seasons were sampled from the point of sale and utilised for preparing 322 dust samples and 1890 cigars. A positive indication was obtained of the fitness for purpose of the reference and NIRS analytical procedures. The relative systematic effect at the intermediate mass fraction level for total alkaloids as nicotine (2.87 %) was smaller than in previous collaborative studies (3.80 % and 4.10 %). The same figure obtained for total nitrogen was 6.39 % and there were no data from collaborative studies. The relative standard error of prediction of the NIRS models for the same parameters and the total ash (3.90 %; 2.79 %, and 2.32 %) were smaller than that reported for traditional analytical procedures under reproducibility or intermediate precision conditions, respectively (4.10 %; 3.63 %; and 2.47 %). The smoke analytes quotient nicotine/tar and the relative nicotine transfer, together with the ones mentioned in the products can predict the sensory strength of the cigar mainstream smoke. In spite of the limitations of cigar emissions testing, this work sheds light on the possible use of chemical information for selecting raw materials for cigar manufacture.