Picking the tobacco (and stacking and racking in the barn and drying and etc) wasnt the bad part; according to some of my family who did it. Bad enough; but not the worst.

The bad part was patrolling for tobacco hornworm (you may know them from tomato plants) every morning before school. I was impressed but the vehemence of the folks i talked to. afaik this stuff has made that unnecessary now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis

I've done a few tobacco plants and yes; there's a definite "i just smoked a whole pack" buzz from handling them. real harvests appear to suck as a job, from what i have observed and been told. heavy clothing, gloves, and you still get juiced; plus you're doing all this in the hot and dry usually.

Kids that worked tobacco used to start chewing early, it was good to have a tolerance and a familiarity with the effects of overdose.