Abstract A simple, rapid, quantitative procedure has been devised to measure chlorogenic acid in a 75% aqueous ethanolic extract of ground tobacco. The absorbance of the extract at 330 mμ is directly proportional to the concentration of chlorogenic acid, provided a suitable background line is drawn to correct for interfering nonpolyphenolic substances. Analysis of a series of eight bright tobacco samples has shown large variations among leaves from different stalk positions, with a very definite trend toward higher chlorogenic acid content nearer the top of the stalk. The chlorogenic acid content of burley tobaccos appears to be extremely low. The precision of replicate analyses has been found to be ± 3%, relative, for virtually all samples analyzed. Many vary less than 1% between duplicate determinations.