There are a great variety of heat-not-burn products (HnBs) available on the market. The heating devices are various and the tobacco materials in heating rods also come in different forms.

To determine the delivery of the nicotine and endogenous volatile aroma constituents from different material forms, two different forms of reconstituted tobacco materials (A: granule and B: sheet) were prepared using the same tobacco leaf blend, and the same flavour formula was designed to ensure a similar content of humectants and tobaccos. Nicotine, humectants and aroma constituents in prepared material were quantitatively determined. Tobacco rods filled with either reconstituted tobacco materials form A or B were heated by the same device with a central heating blade, and emissions were generated by linear smoking machine. Nicotine, humectants and aroma constituents in emissions were collected by Cambridge filter pad and quantitatively determined. Puff-by-puff analysis was carried out to study delivery of the compounds of interest on puff basis.

The total delivery of nicotine from A into emission was higher (58.9 %) than that of B (49.8 %). The delivery of propyl glycol and glycerin was also found to be higher from material A (A:39.2 %, 5.1 % vs B: 17.9 %, 3.8 %). More endogenous volatile aroma compound types were detected in emissions from material A too, which were 38 compared with 33 different types from material B. The material form A also showed 10 % higher delivery of the amount of volatile aroma compounds compared with material form B. Puff-by-puff analysis showed that nicotine delivery from material B was much more stable compared with material A.

It was observed that under the central heating system, the form of reconstituted tobacco materials is a critical factor that affects delivery of nicotine, humectants, and endogenous aroma compounds. Findings of the present study provided useful information for development and optimisation tobacco materials for HnB use.