A professional who controls heating equipment in tobacco barns to cure tobacco. Respnsibilities include:

• Starts coal or wood fire in furnace, lights oil or gas burner, or turns on electric furnace to heat barn.
• Regulates temperature and draft controls, depending on type of tobacco and weather conditions, until leaves are yellowed.
• Observes color and moisture content of leaves to determine when to increase heat and regulate draft controls to dry leaves and stems.
• When bulk curing barns (tobacco leaves packed in metal racks and cured by forced air heat) are used, starts and regulates fan speed to control movement of air and heat through tobacco leaves.