U.S. Patent 6,772,767, assigned to Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., Louisville, Kentucky, USA. A process for reducing lignin and nitrogenous content in tobacco lamina and tobacco fiber material, including whole leaf, stems, scraps, fines and lamina, as well as burley leaf and stem, in an extraction with a solution containing hydrogen peroxide and an alkali metal hydroxide. The treated tobacco may then be further processed for use in cigarettes and other smoking articles.