Condensed Consolidating Financial Information (Condensed Consolidating Statements of Earnings and Comprehensive Earnings) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2015
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	$ 6,066	$ 5,804
Cost of sales	1,874	1,797
Excise taxes on products	1,536	1,532
Gross profit	2,656	2,475
Marketing, administration and research costs	559	610
Asset impairment and exit costs	120	0
Operating income (expense)	1,977	1,865
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	200	209
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	0	228
Earnings from equity investment in SABMiller	(66)	(134)
Gain on derivative financial instrument	(40)	0
Earnings (loss) before income taxes	1,883	1,562
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	665	544
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	0	0
Net earnings	1,218	1,018
Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	(1)	0
Net earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	1,217	1,018
Other comprehensive (losses) earnings, net of deferred income taxes	(47)	(263)	$ (598)
Comprehensive earnings	1,171	755
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	(1)	0
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	1,170	755
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | Altria Group, Inc. [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0
Excise taxes on products	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Marketing, administration and research costs	36	42
Asset impairment and exit costs	5
Operating income (expense)	(41)	(42)
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	129	154
Loss on early extinguishment of debt		228
Earnings from equity investment in SABMiller	(66)	(134)
Gain on derivative financial instrument	(40)
Earnings (loss) before income taxes	(64)	(290)
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	(49)	(143)
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	1,232	1,165
Net earnings	1,217	1,018
Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Net earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	1,217	1,018
Other comprehensive (losses) earnings, net of deferred income taxes	(47)	(263)
Comprehensive earnings	1,170	755
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	1,170	755
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | PM USA [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	5,265	5,068
Cost of sales	1,642	1,566
Excise taxes on products	1,487	1,480
Gross profit	2,136	2,022
Marketing, administration and research costs	415	465
Asset impairment and exit costs	94
Operating income (expense)	1,627	1,557
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	15	(1)
Loss on early extinguishment of debt		0
Earnings from equity investment in SABMiller	0	0
Gain on derivative financial instrument	0
Earnings (loss) before income taxes	1,612	1,558
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	603	584
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	60	61
Net earnings	1,069	1,035
Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Net earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	1,069	1,035
Other comprehensive (losses) earnings, net of deferred income taxes	(17)	4
Comprehensive earnings	1,052	1,039
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	1,052	1,039
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	810	745
Cost of sales	241	240
Excise taxes on products	49	52
Gross profit	520	453
Marketing, administration and research costs	108	103
Asset impairment and exit costs	21
Operating income (expense)	391	350
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	56	56
Loss on early extinguishment of debt		0
Earnings from equity investment in SABMiller	0	0
Gain on derivative financial instrument	0
Earnings (loss) before income taxes	335	294
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	111	103
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	0	0
Net earnings	224	191
Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	(1)	0
Net earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	223	191
Other comprehensive (losses) earnings, net of deferred income taxes	(156)	35
Comprehensive earnings	68	226
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	(1)	0
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	67	226
Consolidation, Eliminations [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	(9)	(9)
Cost of sales	(9)	(9)
Excise taxes on products	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Marketing, administration and research costs	0	0
Asset impairment and exit costs	0
Operating income (expense)	0	0
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	0	0
Loss on early extinguishment of debt		0
Earnings from equity investment in SABMiller	0	0
Gain on derivative financial instrument	0
Earnings (loss) before income taxes	0	0
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	0	0
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	(1,292)	(1,226)
Net earnings	(1,292)	(1,226)
Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Net earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	(1,292)	(1,226)
Other comprehensive (losses) earnings, net of deferred income taxes	173	(39)
Comprehensive earnings	(1,119)	(1,265)
Comprehensive earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0
Comprehensive earnings attributable to Altria Group, Inc.	$ (1,119)	$ (1,265)