Every tobacco plant I ever cut or saw cut was immediately laid on the ground. Like Cosmic said, it would lay there until a row was finished or until the next guy came up the row to "spike" the plants (impale the stalk onto a wooden stick for hanging). Sometimes in smaller fields (less than 2 acres) we would cut them all and lay them on the ground, then start the process of spiking and hanging them.Leaves are cut then don't touch the ground, then hung to dry.
There's several other times during the process where the leaves touch the ground as well.
Maybe we do it wrong here in DFK farming land??? :D