diff --git a/lisp/org-exp.el b/lisp/org-exp.el
index 9b06c5db2..be7c82890 100644
--- a/lisp/org-exp.el
+++ b/lisp/org-exp.el
@@ -2195,7 +2195,7 @@ can work correctly."
 	;; This is a subtree, we take the title from the first heading
 	(goto-char rbeg)
 	(looking-at org-todo-line-tags-regexp)
-	(setq title (if (eq tags t)
+	(setq title (if (and (eq tags t) (match-string 4))
 			(format "%s\t%s" (match-string 3) (match-string 4))
 		      (match-string 3)))
 	(org-unmodified