To help the different teams, the Tobacco Institute has the ability to operate chemical analyses with classical techniques (HPLC, continuous flow analyzer...), or less conventional allowing the fast characterization of tobaccos resulting from the breeding program and the agronomic or post-harvesting tests.

Among these new methods, near infra-red spectrometry (NIRS) allows in a very short time to predict multiple chemical and physical criteria directly from tobacco powder. Performance of the process is subject to constant qualitative and quantitative improvements.

A portable near infrared spectrophotometer is also used to work directly on whole tobacco leaves, in the field or after curing, without grinding.