Tobacco is harvested from 70 to 90 days after it has been transplanted to the field. There are two methods, priming and stalk cutting.
Priming is the practice of hand or machine harvesting the growing leaves as the plant matures. This method of harvesting is popular for wrapper, flue cured and some filler tobacco.
Stalk cutting is exactly what it sounds like, cutting the entire plant. The tobacco is then usually placed on sticks in the field for a day or two to wilt. Much air cured and fire cured tobacco is harvested this way. The leaves are then hung in barns and allowed to dry, or "cure."
There are three main methods of curing tobacco once it has been harvested. In "air curing", tobacco is sheltered, but cured primarily under normal weather conditions for six to eight weeks.
In flue curing, heated air is carefully applied through pipes (flues) from furnaces, but the leaves are not subjected to smoke. This method takes about a week. In fire curing, tobacco is cured with heated air from a fire on the barn floor, and smoke is allowed to permeate the leaves. This gives the tobacco a distinctive flavor and aroma and takes from just a few days to six weeks. The curing process takes place in long barns that are up to twenty feet tall.
After curing, the leaves are graded, often according to position on the plant, color, size, and other qualities before being baled and taken to tobacco warehouses for auctioning.
