Ashtray

An ashtray is a receptacle for ash, typically from combustible consumer products such as cigarettes and cigars. Ashtrays are typically made of fireproof material such as glass, heat-resistant plastic, pottery, metal, or stone. Improvised ashtrays may include coffee cans and glasses.

The most common ashtray design is a shallow cylinder with a flat base, to rest on a table. Other ashtrays, particularly in public places, are wall mounted, and larger than standard tabletop ashtrays due to the increased use they receive. Many ashtrays have notches at the rim, to hold cigarettes and/or a cigar. Some, as in Spain, consist of two interlocking parts, the bottom of which is filled with water. Ashtrays are also often built into cars and dustbins, and provided in toilets and other public places. Free-standing public ash receptacles made of stone, frequently in the shape of an urn, and cylindrical steel, are often filled with sand. Others are integrated atop public trash bins.

Ashtrays were not a common part of life until the early 20th century, when cigarette manufacturers began to encourage the development of ashtrays as an American consumer product. The word itself did not come into common use until 1926. The need for public ash receptacles saw a surge in the post-World War II era when cigarettes began to be manufactured en mass with non-biodegradable filters and inexpensive popular cigars sold affixed with disposable plastic tips.

Ashtrays have been a popular advertising vehicle. Collectors look for ashtrays with clever and unusual ads, colors, shapes and sizes. Some ashtrays of the late 1940s to early 1970s were freeform vehicles for Googie styling. Designers noted for their ashtrays include Marianne Brandt, Maurice Ascalon, Walter Bosse's hedgehog ashtrays, and Masahiro Mori. During the 1950s and 1960s, small personal ashtrays were part of a table setting, commonly placed on the top right-hand side, behind the wine and water glasses, even integrated into individual party trays used for teas, cocktails, and events serving punch. An accompanying item, the silent butler, would be used to collect ashes from the ashtrays, rather than carrying the ashtrays to a trashcan.

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