Graders in grading the tobacco leaf take into consideration leaf size and shape, degree of damage, maturity and surface texture of the leaf.

Techniques used by graders to correctly grade tobacco include keeping reapings from different fields separately; varieties of tobacco separate from each other and separating tobacco cured in different curing systems and conditions.

Tobacco merchants value and price tobacco based on the factors above through a similar process known as classification.  Classification of tobacco was introduced by the then Tobacco Marketing Board in 1946, the Board sought to standardize grading systems used within the Tobacco Industry. The standard grading system has been found to be a useful tool in comparing more closely the grade composition and price structure of the Zimbabwean tobacco crop with that of competing countries such as USA, Malawi, India and many others.