BigR, sounds like you and I must be pretty close in age, because that's pretty much how we did it too. While the harvest methods have pretty much remained the same.......you still cut it with a tobacco knife, put it on a stick using a spear (we call them spikes), hang it in a barn to cure, and then start the stripping process when it comes in case. Today's tobacco is marketed different, or at least it is here. The stripping method (which is removing the leaves from the stalk) is a lot easier, as most farmers use a wheel to hang the tobacco on, and it keeps a constant supply going. The buyers want it in bales that will weigh around 600-700 pounds. Whereas it used to take me all winter to strip my tobacco out, the big operations of today are usually finished by the first of December. Of course, they use migrant labor, and have a dependable labor source, something I never had.
The tobacco companies today have a much stricter tolerance on the tobacco leaves they buy. They cannot contain any foreign material. That means no pigeon feathers, weeds, dried up tobacco worms. or any other substance that we used to see on the tobacco. They inspect each bale, document any foreign material in the tobacco and can cancel a buyers contract over it. It's a much different ballgame, but it's still hard work.
