High concentrations of trace metal(loid)s in cigarette tobacco are likely the result of soil contamination and seriously threaten the health of smokers and non-smokers. This study aims to improve soil protection guidelines by carefully examining metal(loid)s uptake by tobacco leaves and human exposure to metal(loid)s through the soil–tobacco–smoker pathway. Soil and tobacco tests and health risk assessment were performed. Soil results indicated that the exchangeable fractions, greatly influenced by soil pH in historically contaminated (HC) agricultural soils were small but the geochemically reactive fractions were very large, representing a great potential of phytoavailability. Greenhouse experiments for tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) grown on both HC and artificially metal-spiked (AS) soils indicated that tobacco leaves accumulated high concentrations of Zn, followed by Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr, Ni and As. Exposure model indicates that consuming the contaminated tobacco can result in an unacceptable inhalation intake of Zn (138mgkg−1year−1), As (0.64), Cd (4.9), Pb (5.9) and Cu (8.9) for women in particular. Plant-available fractions of As, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu and Cr in soils explained 85–100% of the variation for tobacco metal(loid)s. Reliable soil-tobacco transfer models were derived and validated with field data. In the present study, contaminated soils are unsafe for growing tobacco identified by the inverse use of empirical models based on regulatory limits estimated for tobacco metal(loid)s. This work provides a basis in a regulatory context of tobacco metal(loid)s exposure.