Background And Basis Of Presentation (Details) (USD $) Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	15 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jan. 31, 2011 Altria Group, Inc. January 2011 [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Altria Group, Inc. January 2011 [Member]	Oct. 31, 2011 Altria Group, Inc. October 2011 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Altria Group, Inc. October 2011 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Altria Group, Inc. October 2011 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Altria Group, Inc. October 2011 [Member]	Oct. 23, 2012 Altria Group, Inc. October 2011 [Member]
Background And Basis Of Presentation [Line Items]
Equity method investment, ownership percentage			26.90%
Increase in quarterly dividend	7.30%
Quarterly Dividend Authorized	$ 0.44	$ 0.41
Annualized dividend rate			$ 1.76
Planned share repurchase program					$ 1,000,000,000		$ 1,000,000,000
Common Stock Repurchase Amount Authorized Expanded Program											1,500,000,000
Average price of repurchased shares, per share				$ 26.91		$ 26.62		$ 27.84	$ 32.00	$ 30.95
Treasury Stock, Shares, Acquired				49.3		37.6		11.7	34.9	46.6
Treasury Stock, Value, Acquired, Cost Method			1,116,000,000	1,327,000,000				327,000,000	1,100,000,000	1,400,000,000
Stock Repurchase Program, Remaining Authorized Repurchase Amount									$ 57,000,000
Repurchase program expected completion date									Jun. 30, 2013