Global climate change observed in recent decades indicates an alarming trend of increasing extreme weather events, including the emergence of more frequent and longer periods of drought. The increasing extent of drought in areas devoted to tobacco cultivation has been observed for many years. The aim of this study was to recognize the basic mechanisms of tolerance of tobacco plants to drought stress. The effect of drought stress on selected morphological and physiological parameters was determined. Moreover, based on the activity of genes encoding transcription factors involved in plant response to drought conditions, selected genotypes were evaluated for tolerance to drought stress. Genes involved in abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent and ABA-independent control of gene expression were examined. Based on the results obtained, the tolerance of 17 tested tobacco genotypes to drought stress was determined. Studies were conducted under controlled conditions of temperature, photoperiod and relative humidity. Morphological parameters were determined: plant height, leaf area, and number of stomata per mm² of leaf blade. Moreover, expression of four genes involved in plant response to drought stress was determined. Regardless of the genotype, all genes showed the highest expression between the 6^th and 10^th day of the experiment. The largest 3.2-fold increase in gene expression was observed for the DREB2 gene on day 6 of the experiment in the BPTN151 genotype. In five genotypes complete growth inhibition was observed already on the 10^th day of the experiment. Based on the results obtained, it was shown that the highest tolerance to drought stress among the tested tobacco genotypes was exhibited by BPTN151 and VPPG78 genotypes.