Flavors play an important role in establishing the taste signature of a tobacco or cigarette product and can be a key element of a brand's identity. Therefore, the tobacco industry has always treated information about flavors and other ingredients in its formulations as confidential, the details being known only to a select group of individuals within an organization. There are, of course, sound business reasons for applying the need-to-know principle; tobacco flavor formulations, like those for other branded products, are proprietary and commercially sensitive, and their disclosure to a competitor could result in a considerable financial loss to the manufacturer concerned. Of course, flavors alone do not determine the taste profile of a cigarette. Numerous elements combine to give a product its identity. Tobacco blend, papers and filters, design parameters, and primary process conditions all contribute to or have an influence on the sensory character and performance of a cigarette. Flavors, however, are viewed as playing a key role in providing taste differentiation and brand identity hence the confidentiality. Yet today, it is possible for anyone with access to the Internet to view information about the flavors used by several major cigarette manufacturers. This information is readily available on their Web sites.