Ten frequently added flavouring ingredients in waterpipe tobacco registered in EU-CEG (March 2019, the Netherlands) and anethole.
| Flavouring agent | CAS no. | Prevalence (%) | Median concentration (mg/g) | Flavour description | Smoke taste | GHS code | |
| 1 | Vanillin | 121-33-5 | 59 | 0.31 | Sweet, powerful, creamy, vanilla-like | Sweet vanilla; used widely in tobacco flavours at levels of 25 ppm up to add sweetness | H317, H319 |
| 2 | Ethyl Vanillin | 121-32-4 | 47 | 0.02 | Intense, sweet, vanilla-like odour; creamy, vanilla taste | Sweet, strong vanilla notes; useful for adding sweetness over a wide range of levels | H302, H315, H319, H335, H412 |
| 3 | Dihydrocoumarin | 119-84-6 | 41 | 0.001 | Very sweet, nut-like, hay-like, coumarin-tobacco like odour | Nutty, hay, honey, spicy; sweet coumarin-like | H302, H317 |
| 4 | Ethyl Butyrate | 105-54-4 | 40 | 1.24 | Ethereal, fruity with buttery-pineapple-banana, ripe fruit and juicy notes | Sweet, fruity, winey, excellent in any fruit or wine flavour for tobacco | H226 |
| 5 | Ethyl Acetate | 141-78-6 | 34 | 0.49 | Ethereal, sharp, wine-brandy-like | Weak fruity, chemical; not important as a tobacco flavour | H225, H319, H336 |
| 6 | Ethyl-2-methylbutyrate | 7452-79-1 | 31 | 0.54 | Strong, green, fruity, apple with strawberry notes | Green apple, winey-fruity | H226 |
| 7 | Maltol | 118-71-8 | 27 | 0.22 | Sweet, fruity, berry, strawberry, caramellic | Sweet, flue-cured; tends to fade somewhat on ageing; excellent tobacco flavour; used in caramel, nut, brown sugar maple and flue-cured flavours | H302 |
| 8 | Isoamyl Acetate | 123-92-2 | 25 | 1.10 | Sweet, fruity, banana, pear odour and taste | Weak, sweet, banana | H226 |
| 9 | Menthol | 2216-51-5 | 25 | 0.76 | String trigeminal cooling sensation with a slight mint note | No description available | H315, H319 |
| 10 | Benzyl Alcohol | 100-51-6 | 25 | 1.26 | Faint, sweet, almond fruity, somewhat chemical | Very weak cherry-floral, smoothing; primarily used as a cosolvent for highly water insoluble materials such as sclareolide and anise oils | H302, H332 |
| 11 | Anethole | 4180-23-8 | 11 | 2.25 | Sweet, herbaceous, anise (artificial Licorice) odour and taste | Sweet, anise | H317 |
This table contains the name of the flavour ingredient, the frequency of addition in the registered waterpipe tobacco products and median concentration per product. Flavour and smoke taste descriptions were collected form the Leffingwell database.29 Flavour descriptions are based on the individual flavourings. The smoke taste is the taste of a flavouring in smoke observed after combustion of tobacco containing the flavouring. Hazard statements of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS codes) were derived from PubChem.
EU-CEG, European Common Entry Gate.