Tobacco is the clearest-cut exclusion in LDS values investing. There's no interpretive debate, no threshold question, no corporate-veil workaround. The Word of Wisdom says tobacco is "not for the body," and for the past century LDS practice has treated tobacco as strictly forbidden. Let me walk through how this shapes stock screening in practice.

The Scripture

Doctrine and Covenants 89:8 is the scriptural basis: "And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill."

Notice the specificity. The verse acknowledges tobacco has legitimate veterinary uses (for livestock) but explicitly says it is "not for the body" of humans. The wording leaves no room for interpretation about human tobacco use.

Joseph Smith received this revelation in 1833, at a time when tobacco use was widespread in American society and the health effects weren't well understood. The revelation predates the medical consensus on smoking by over a century. From a historical perspective, the Word of Wisdom's tobacco prohibition was remarkably prescient.

The interpretation has been consistent throughout LDS history. Every major church president has reaffirmed the prohibition. The temple recommend interview includes questions about Word of Wisdom compliance, and tobacco use (any form) disqualifies a member from temple attendance.

What Counts as Tobacco

The prohibition covers all forms of tobacco consumption:
- Cigarettes
- Cigars
- Pipe tobacco
- Chewing tobacco
- Snuff
- E-cigarettes and vaping (clarified by the church in 2019)
- Nicotine delivery products generally

For investment screening, this means excluding all companies whose primary business is tobacco or nicotine delivery in any form. Vaping companies are included under the same prohibition as traditional cigarettes.

The Major Publicly Traded Tobacco Companies

Let me walk through the names that every LDS investor needs to know for exclusion purposes.

Altria Group (MO): Based in Richmond, Virginia. Altria is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, which sells Marlboro (the largest cigarette brand in the US), Parliament, Virginia Slims, and Benson & Hedges. Altria also owns U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (Copenhagen, Skoal), John Middleton (cigars), and Ste Michelle Wine Estates. Altria owns a 10% stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) as well, so even secondary investment in Altria has alcohol exposure. Total revenue roughly $20 billion, almost entirely tobacco. Fails every LDS screen.

Philip Morris International (PM): Split from Altria in 2008 to handle non-US tobacco sales. PM sells Marlboro internationally, plus Parliament, L&M, Chesterfield, and others. PM has been aggressive in heat-not-burn products (IQOS) as part of its "smoke-free" transition strategy, but these products still deliver nicotine and are classified as tobacco under LDS interpretation. Total revenue roughly $38 billion. Fails every LDS screen.

British American Tobacco (BTI): London-based global tobacco giant. BAT owns Lucky Strike, Camel (non-US), Dunhill, Vogue, Pall Mall, Kent, Vuse (vaping), and many other brands. The US subsidiary, Reynolds American, was fully acquired in 2017 and sells Newport, Camel (US), Pall Mall, Doral, and other cigarette brands. Total revenue roughly $32 billion. Fails every LDS screen.

Imperial Brands (IMBBY): UK-based tobacco company. Brands include Winston (non-US), Davidoff (non-US), West, JPS, Gauloises, and several others. Total revenue roughly $35 billion. Fails every LDS screen.

Japan Tobacco (JAPAY): Based in Tokyo. Owns Mevius, Winston (Japan), Camel (Japan), Pianissimo. Third-largest international tobacco company by volume. Fails.

Vector Group (VGR): US-based company that owns Liggett tobacco (Pyramid, Grand Prix, Eve cigarettes) plus New Valley real estate. Smaller than the majors but pure-play tobacco on the tobacco segment side. Fails.

Swedish Match: Was publicly traded, acquired by Philip Morris International in 2022. No longer independently listed.

22nd Century Group (XXII): Small-cap tobacco research company that develops reduced-nicotine cigarettes. Still in tobacco business. Fails.

Vaping and E-Cigarette Companies

The 2019 church clarification on vaping made clear that e-cigarettes and nicotine delivery devices are included in the Word of Wisdom prohibition. For investors, this means vaping companies are also excluded.

Juul Labs: Privately held. Not an investment question for public market investors.

NJOY Holdings: Acquired by Altria in 2023. Owned as a subsidiary.

Vuse (owned by BAT): Part of the BTI parent company exclusion.

Blu eCigs: Owned by Imperial Brands. Part of the IMBBY exclusion.

Turning Point Brands (TPB): Sells Zig-Zag rolling papers, Stoker's chewing tobacco, and distributes a variety of tobacco-adjacent products. Fails LDS screen.

There are no major independent publicly traded vaping companies that escape the tobacco exclusion. The industry has consolidated under traditional tobacco company ownership.

Cannabis Companies: A Separate Question

Cannabis is not tobacco, but it's worth addressing briefly because investors sometimes wrap cannabis and tobacco under the same sin-industry exclusion. The Word of Wisdom doesn't explicitly mention cannabis (it didn't exist as a widespread recreational product in 1833), but LDS practice has generally treated recreational cannabis use as inconsistent with the spirit of the Word of Wisdom's prohibition on mind-altering substances.

The church's official position on medical cannabis has evolved. As of 2026, medical cannabis use by prescription in jurisdictions where it's legal is generally accepted. Recreational cannabis use is not.

For stock screening, the practical effect is that cannabis companies are typically excluded under an LDS screen even though the scripture doesn't mention them by name. Companies in the exclusion:

Canopy Growth (CGC)
Tilray Brands (TLRY)
Aurora Cannabis (ACB)
Cronos Group (CRON)
Curaleaf Holdings (CURLF)
Green Thumb Industries (GTBIF)

Most LDS screens treat cannabis under the broader "recreational substances" category along with tobacco.

Secondary Exposure: Retailers and Distributors

Here's where the screening question gets more nuanced. What about companies that sell tobacco products as part of a broader business mix?

Walmart (WMT): sells cigarettes and tobacco products in many of its stores. Tobacco is a small fraction of Walmart's total revenue (probably under 2%). Under a 5% threshold, WMT passes an LDS screen.

Costco (COST): similarly sells tobacco products in many clubs. Tobacco is a minor portion of revenue. Passes under threshold-based screening.

Kroger (KR): largest US supermarket chain. Sells tobacco. Still passes threshold screens because tobacco is a small portion of grocery revenue.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA): pharmacy chain. Stopped selling cigarettes in 2014. Sells e-cigarettes and vaping products in some locations. Borderline but generally passes.

CVS Health (CVS): pharmacy chain. Stopped selling cigarettes and tobacco products in 2014 as part of a corporate health strategy. Clean LDS screen on tobacco.

The retailer question comes down to whether you apply a strict "any tobacco sales" rule or a revenue threshold. Most LDS screens use thresholds because strict exclusion would eliminate most mass-market retailers.

Payment Processors and Tobacco Transactions

Another layer is payment processors. Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), and PayPal (PYPL) handle transactions for tobacco purchases. Are they complicit in tobacco sales?

The mainstream LDS screening position is that payment processors are neutral infrastructure and don't constitute tobacco involvement. They don't manufacture, distribute, or sell tobacco products. They process transactions that some consumers use for tobacco purchases along with everything else.

Under this view, Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal pass LDS screens. This is the dominant view among LDS financial advisors.

Tobacco ETFs and Funds

Some sector ETFs have heavy tobacco exposure and would fail LDS screens.

Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC): includes MO and PM in the consumer staples sector. Tobacco exposure is roughly 5-7% of the fund. Fails a strict LDS screen but is generally acceptable under lenient threshold screening.

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP): similar exposure to VDC. Includes tobacco stocks. Fails strict LDS screen.

For LDS investors who want consumer staples exposure without tobacco, options include:

Direct stock selection: buy PG, KO, PEP, COST, WMT, GIS, K, and other consumer staples names individually while excluding MO and PM
ESG consumer staples funds that pre-exclude tobacco
Direct indexing with tobacco exclusions applied to a consumer staples benchmark

The Financial Cost of Exclusion

Tobacco stocks have historically been strong performers on a risk-adjusted basis. They're defensive (demand is inelastic), they pay high dividends (often 6-8% yield), and they generate enormous free cash flow. Studies have shown that tobacco stocks have outperformed the broader market over long periods specifically because investors avoid them for ethical reasons, which depresses valuations and increases yield.

For LDS investors, this means the exclusion carries a measurable performance cost. Excluding tobacco from a US equity portfolio has historically cost roughly 0.2-0.5% per year of returns compared to an unfiltered benchmark. Over 30 years, that can add up to several percentage points of cumulative impact.

Most LDS investors accept this cost because the Word of Wisdom is a religious commandment, not a performance optimization. The financial cost is the price of religious compliance, and it's a small price over a full career.

Building a Tobacco-Free Portfolio

Here's a practical approach for an LDS investor who wants full tobacco exclusion:

Start with a broad index fund (VTI, SPY, VOO) and accept the small tobacco exposure. MO and PM together are less than 1% of the total US market cap. For many investors this is an acceptable compromise.
Use a direct indexing account to customize the broad index with tobacco exclusions. Schwab Personalized Indexing, Fidelity's similar offering, and other providers let you exclude specific names or categories. This is the cleanest practical solution.
Select individual stocks directly and avoid tobacco companies entirely. This gives you the cleanest LDS compliance but requires more active management.
Use ESG funds with tobacco exclusions. Many mainstream ESG funds (not LDS-specific) exclude tobacco as a matter of course. The overlap with LDS values is substantial, though not perfect.
Combine approaches: use broad index funds in 401(k) accounts where customization isn't possible, and use direct stock selection or direct indexing in taxable accounts where you have full control.

Bottom Line

Tobacco is the easiest LDS exclusion to implement because the scripture is unambiguous, the companies are few, and the business models are pure-play. Altria, Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco, and a handful of smaller names comprise essentially the entire publicly traded tobacco universe. Excluding them is simple and mechanical.

The harder question is how to handle secondary exposure through retailers, payment processors, and broad-market ETFs. Most LDS investors take a pragmatic approach: exclude the pure-play tobacco companies rigorously, accept small incidental exposure through ETFs and retailers, and don't lose sleep over payment processors.

The deeper point is that the Word of Wisdom's tobacco prohibition, written in 1833, has aged remarkably well. The health evidence on tobacco is unambiguous, the corporate ethics of tobacco marketing are troubling, and the business model depends on addiction. Excluding tobacco from an LDS portfolio is both scripturally required and, by most ethical standards, clearly justified. For observant members, it's not just a religious compliance exercise; it's an investment decision that aligns with modern medical and ethical consensus.

Tobacco Exclusions Under LDS Values: A Strict Filter