Investments in Equity Securities (Investment in JUUL Narrative) (Details) shares in Millions	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2020 director	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) director shares	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($) director shares	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Nov. 20, 2020 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2020
Investments [Line Items]
Investment in JUUL | $											$ 0	$ 5,000,000	$ 12,800,000,000
Equity securities without readily determinable fair value, upward price adjustment | $														$ 0
Equity securities without readily determinable fair value, downward price adjustment, cumulative amount | $														$ 0
Impairment of JUUL equity securities | $			$ 0	$ 2,600,000,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 4,100,000,000	$ 4,500,000,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 2,600,000,000	8,600,000,000	$ 0
JUUL [Member]
Investments [Line Items]
Investment in JUUL | $		$ 12,800,000,000
Equity securities without readily determinable fair value, ownership percentage		35.00%	35.00%								35.00%		35.00%		35.00%
Service agreement term											6 years
Non-compete release trigger period	12 months
Non-compete release trigger percentage of initial investment carrying value	10.00%
Equity securities without readily determinable fair value, quantitative assessment adjustment, annual amount | $		$ 12,800,000,000
No litigation period	1 year
Number of board members | director			7								7
Number of board members upon share conversion | director	9
Number of independent board members upon share conversion | director	3
Number of independent board members appointed by investor upon share conversion | director	1
Number of independent board members appointed by investee stockholders upon share conversion | director	2
Number of investor nominating committee designees | director	1
Number of directors designated by investor upon share conversion | director	2
Number of directors designated by JUUL shareholders other than Altria upon share conversion | director	3
Number of oversight committee directors designated by investor upon share conversion | director	2
Number of oversight committee chair directors designated by investor upon share conversion | director	1
Equity investment, fair value option, voting shares (in shares) | shares			42								42
Equity securities without readily determinable fair value, unrealized gain (loss) | $			$ 100,000,000
Impairment of JUUL equity securities | $							4,100,000,000	$ 4,500,000,000			$ 2,600,000,000	8,600,000,000
Equity securities without readily determinable fair value, amount | $							$ 4,200,000,000					4,200,000,000
Investment acquisition costs | $											$ 8,000,000	$ 85,000,000