Tobacco is an agricultural crop, most commonly used to make cigarettes. It is grown all over the world and supports a billion-dollar industry.

Tobacco is a green, leafy plant that is grown in warm climates. After it is picked, it is dried, ground up, and used in different ways.

It can be smoked in a cigarette, pipe, or cigar. It can be chewed (called smokeless tobacco or chewing tobacco) or sniffed through the nose (called snuff).

Tobacco companies spend billions of dollars each year to market their products. In 2011, the tobacco industry spent $8.4 billion on cigarette advertising and promotional expenses in the United States alone, and 83.6% ($7.0 billion) of this expenditure was spent on price discounts.

Smokeless tobacco advertising and promotion rose to $451.7 million in 2011–up from $444.2 million in 2010.Including both cigarette and smokeless tobacco marketing, tobacco companies spent $8.8 billion on marketing in 2011, or more than $24 million each day.

The world tobacco industry generated sales of almost $721 billion in 2010, according to MarketLine.

Cigarettes represent the leading market segment with revenue exceeding $681 billion, which accounts for almost 95% of the overall market. The yearly rate of market growth is expected to accelerate to be 4.5% until 2015, bringing the market to almost $890 billion.

The tobacco market involves the retail of tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos and chewing tobacco. There are currently around 1.3 billion smokers in the world; this figure is expected to climb at a rate of almost 4% per year.

Tobacco is grown in over 120 countries worldwide, using close to 4 million hectares of total agricultural land available globally. Around 12 million cigarettes are smoked every minute around the world.