Contingencies (Overview of Altria Group, Inc. and/or PM USA Tobacco-Related Litigation - Schedule Of Pending Cases) (Details) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) case plantiff trial	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) case	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) case	Jan. 29, 2018 case
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Payments made related to litigation | $	$ 21	$ 190	$ 57
Individual Smoking And Health Cases [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of unfavorable verdicts partially or entirely reversed on	92	70	65
Smoking And Health Class Actions And Aggregated Claims Litigation [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of unfavorable verdicts partially or entirely reversed on	4	5	5
Health Care Cost Recovery Actions [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of unfavorable verdicts partially or entirely reversed on	1	1	1
Lights Ultra Lights Class Actions [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of unfavorable verdicts partially or entirely reversed on	3	8	11
Pending Litigation [Member] | ETS Smoking and Health Case, Flight Attendants [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of cases	2,414
West Virginia [Member] | Pending Litigation [Member] | Smoking And Health Class Actions And Aggregated Claims Litigation [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of cases	30
Number of plaintiffs | plantiff	30
Number of consolidated trials | trial	6
West Virginia [Member] | Philip Morris USA [Member] | Pending Litigation [Member] | Smoking And Health Class Actions And Aggregated Claims Litigation [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of cases	9
Subsequent Event [Member] | Lights Ultra Lights Class Actions [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of unfavorable verdicts partially or entirely reversed on				3
Subsequent Event [Member] | Philip Morris USA [Member] | Individual Smoking And Health Cases [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of cases set for trial				0