The main attraction of British American Tobacco (NYSE: BTI) is the stock's huge 9.7% dividend yield. That's a shockingly high number for a consumer staples maker. It's understandable that income investors would find the yield attractive -- or at least attractive enough to dig into the cigarette maker's backstory.

Here's the thing -- in a year, the story won't change all that much. But the real question (if you want to live off that dividend over the long term) is: How many bad years can the business withstand before something gives way?

There's usually a reason why investor sentiment turns so negative that a stock has a dividend yield of 9.7%. In the case of British American Tobacco, the reason is pretty simple. The consumer staples company's core business is under severe stress. In 2023, the volume of cigarettes sold fell 8.2% on a reported basis and 5.3% on an organic basis. This is British American Tobacco's most important business, and it is clearly struggling right now.

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Source Fool.com