Comparison of HiSorb probes and sorbent tubes for the determination of VOCs emitted by two historical snuffboxes

• Comparison of non-invasive sampling devices for VOCs emitted by historical snuffboxes. • Coupling of GC-MS with olfactory detection to combine chemical and olfactory data. • Comparison of olfactory data obtained with sorbent tubes filled with Tenax TA® and HiSorb probes. In the recent years, several sampling devices have been used for the non-destructive collection of volatile organic compounds in heritage environments. To heritage scientists and conservators, these have become essential tools, as they enable the investigation of material composition, degradation processes, and conservation treatments, in principle without damaging the artefact. This paper investigates the performance of sorbent tubes, common sampling devices used in museums, and HiSorb probes, to analyze the volatiles emitted from two historical snuffboxes. The first one, an empty one from the National Museum of Slovenia, has undergone conservation, while the second one is an untreated historical object from the Historical Reference Material Collection of the Heritage Science Laboratory Ljubljana, still containing tobacco. Comparison of the different sampling devices showed that both sorbent tubes and HiSorb probes gave comprehensive chromatograms, detecting products related to wood degradation, such as acetic acid, formic acid, furfural, nonanal, and decanal. Furthermore, HiSorb probes detected terpenes and tobacco-derived compounds, like nicotine, and pyridine-derivatives. Noticeably, these compounds were characterized as traces in the cleaned snuffbox, while they showed high peaks in the reference one, consistently with their conservation history. The small size of the HiSorb probe, which allowed its insertion into the snuffbox, likely contributed to the higher abundance of the detected volatiles. Gas chromatography was coupled with two detectors – mass spectrometry and olfactometry – to define the olfactory profile of the two case studies and correlate each compound with the detected smell. Two sampling devices were compared: sorbent tubes and HiSorb probes. In contrast with commonly used sorbent tubes, this study represents the first application of HiSorb sampling in combination with olfactometric analysis for heritage objects, introducing a novel methodological approach. The results demonstrated that olfactory analysis following HiSorb sampling is feasible, with a number of the most intense smells comparable, or even higher, than when sampling with sorbent tubes. The outcomes confirmed the chemical analyses, highlighting “wood”, “leather”, “flower”, and “fresh” as main descriptors, with the snuffbox belonging to the reference collection presenting a richer profile including more compounds giving “wood”, “sweet”, and “powder” notes.