Cuticular components from the green leaves of a typical flue-cured tobacco, NC 2326, were removed and sprayed onto the leaves of a tobacco budworm-resistant entry, TI 1112. Both the whole leaf wash (WLW) from NC 2326 and the methanol-water soluble (MWS) fraction of the NC 2326 WLW stimulated budworm oviposition onto the previously nonpreferred TI 1112 in cage bioassays and field experiments. The hexane soluble (HS) fraction of NC 2326 WLW did not significantly increase tobacco budworm egg laying. The major components in the NC 2326 MWS fraction were the α- and β-4, 8, 13-duvatriene-1, 3-diols. Hydrocarbons, fatty alcohols, and wax esters were identified in the NC 2326 HS fraction.