Segment Reporting (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021	Sep. 30, 2021
Disposal Group, Held-for-sale, Not Discontinued Operations [Member] \| Ste. Michelle Transaction [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Disposal group, total pre-tax charges	$ 41	$ 41
Disposal group disposition related costs	10	10
Oral Tobacco Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Business combination, acquisition related costs		37
Wine Segment [Member] \| Marketing Administration And Research Costs [Member] \| Disposal Group, Held-for-sale, Not Discontinued Operations [Member] \| Ste. Michelle Transaction [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Disposal group, total pre-tax charges	$ 51	$ 51

Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operations, Disposition Related Costs

No definition available.

Name:	mo_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsDispositionRelatedCosts
Namespace Prefix:	mo_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operations, Marketing, Administration And Research Costs

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	mo_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsMarketingAdministrationAndResearchCosts
Namespace Prefix:	mo_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This element represents acquisition-related costs incurred to effect a business combination which costs have been expensed during the period. Such costs include finder's fees; advisory, legal, accounting, valuation, and other professional or consulting fees; general administrative costs, including the costs of maintaining an internal acquisitions department; and may include costs of registering and issuing debt and equity securities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 10
-Section 25
-Paragraph 23
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123586518&loc=d3e1043-128460

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationAcquisitionRelatedCosts
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SegmentReportingInformationLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisposalGroupClassificationAxis=us-gaap_DisposalGroupHeldforsaleNotDiscontinuedOperationsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsAxis=mo_SteMichelleTransactionMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=mo_OralTobaccoSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=mo_WineSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementLocationAxis=mo_MarketingAdministrationAndResearchCostsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: