Along ith indigo, tobacco was a major cash crop of colonial times, grown for export to England. The 'tidewater aristiocracy' of Virginia rose on those two crops. By late colonial times they had depleted the soil.there and were increasingly grown 'out west'.
Sugar was more an import from the caribbean islands where it was the prime crop. Molasses and rum-making were related industries, agian for export.
The labor-intensity of tobacco farming, as well as the fact that it could be grown on relatively marginal lland meant that it was cropped by small farmers as opposed to plantation owners. Most tobacco farming occurred in the southern states and engendered the lifestyle that now is described by the derogatory term 'cracker'.