When it has been determined that an employee is an ``agricultural employee employed in the growing and harvesting of shade-grown tobacco,'' to whom section 13(a)(14) of the Act may apply, it then becomes necessary to ascertain whether he is ``engaged in the processing * * * of such tobacco, prior to the stemming process, for use as Cigar-wrapper tobacco.'' Sec. 780.516 ``Prior to the stemming process.''
The exemption provided by section 13(a)(14) applies only to employees whose processing operations on shade-grown tobacco are performed ``prior to the stemming process.'' (See H. Rept. No. 75, 87th Cong., first sess., p. 26). This means that an employee engaged in stemming, the removal of the midrib from the tobacco leaf (McComb v. Puerto Rico Tobacco Marketing Co-op. Ass'n., 80 F. Supp. 953, affirmed 181 F. 2d 697), or in any operations on the tobacco which are performed after stemming has begun will not come within the exemption. Stemming and all subsequent operations are nonexempt work. Sec. 780.517 ``For use as Cigar-wrapper tobacco.''
The phrase ``for use as Cigar-wrapper tobacco'' limits the type of end product which may be produced by the exempt operations. As its name indicates, cigar-wrapper tobacco is used as a cigar wrapper and is distinguished from other types of tobacco which serve other purposes such as filler, pipe, chewing, and other kinds of tobacco. Normally, shade-grown tobacco is used only for cigar wrappers. However, if the tobacco is not being processed by the employer for such specific and limited use, the employee is not engaged in exempt processing operations.