# Do you smoke half cigs out of your own ashtray at home if low? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 18, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813 "2008-04-18T00:47:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/1 "2008-04-18T00:47:03Z")
Not crushed up butts, but say one a bit less than half, not stubbed out? ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/2 "2008-04-18T01:12:33Z")
Only if I’m desperate to the point of tears. Once you put it out, it never tastes the same again. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/3 "2008-04-18T01:17:43Z")
Dude- who only smokes half a cigarette?!? Ever? _Damned lightweights…_ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/4 "2008-04-18T01:49:07Z")
Blech. No. Never. If I ever get that desperate I’ll know for sure that it’s time to quit and stick with it for once. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/5 "2008-04-18T01:53:41Z")
I haven’t been quite that desperate yet, although I have saved half-smoked cigarettes by putting them back in the carton (when I was a poor student in Europe). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/6 "2008-04-18T01:56:42Z")
Did you ever drink beer out of the ashtray? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/7 "2008-04-18T01:59:52Z")
I roll my own cigarettes and a small bag of tobacco will last me anywhere from two to four months, so this is never an issue for me. It’s way cheaper to roll, and I’ve also heard from many people that it’s an easier transition to quitting if you want to quit. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/8 "2008-04-18T02:24:43Z")
Oh come on people! Don’t you know that you should leave them in public ashtrays for the less fortunate? Allow me to introduce the term here: **Butt Bandit**. When I drove Armored downtown (Minneapolis), that’s what I called those squicky, unfortunate and probably mentally ill people who went around collecting cigarette butts from public ashtrays. Out of your own ashtray? OK, not a problem. You smoked it to that point yourself. But picking them out of public ashtrays or off the sidewalks? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/9 "2008-04-18T02:30:03Z")
No way, dude. I’m never too completely lazy to go to the store to buy some. There’s always enough change, and there’s always a 24-hour gas station somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/10 "2008-04-18T02:52:46Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] Dude- who only smokes half a cigarette?!? Ever? _Damned lightweights…_ 😉 [/QUOTE] One of my best friends puts them out halfway EVERY SINGLE TIME! And he lights up very often. Wonder why he doesn’t just like, smoke a whole damned cigarette and use up half as many cigarettes? But eh I will admit I’ve lit up a stubbed out one before - a “reburn” as we called them in high school, when cigs were hard to come by so you saved ones you had to put out early - they always taste gross and I always regretted it. Haven’t done it since I turned 18 and was able to buy my own. ETA: this post just gave me a vivid memory of the smell of saved, half-smoked cigarettes that was pervasive back in the day - very strong funky smell I still associate with junior/senior year of HS. When you put one of those half-smoked cigs back in your pack it positively REEKED, way worse than just the smell of smoke even. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/11 "2008-04-18T03:29:26Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Did you ever drink beer out of the ashtray? [/QUOTE] Reminds me of the scene in Bad Santa where Billy Bob wakes up in the morning and drinks a leftover beer with a cigarette butt in it. 🙂 I don’t make it a habit to smoke a half cigarette, but it happens on occasion and don’t see the point of wasting it. Also if you just want one and don’t want to go the store, occasions like that. Half a cigarette is like 50 cents now! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/12 "2008-04-18T08:03:30Z")
EEEWWWWW!! I am so glad I am not a smoker and never had to contemplate this question seriously! I have trouble reusing a drinking glass if it had something other than water in it if it has been empty for more than about 15 minutes! Though I have seen aforementioned **Butt Bandits** around bus stops and such. One guy was literally walking up and down the line of people waiting and jumping forward at their feet to pick up what people tossed. He got this huge grin on his face when the bus showed up, like he was thinking “Jackpot!” ---
**Author:** ![SomeUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@SomeUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeUserName)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/13 "2008-04-18T08:47:15Z")
Sure. I don’t do it often as I usually smoke the entire thing but when I am low I have grabbed ones that may have a puff or two left in them. Hell I have raided my cars ashtray in desperate times. My SO does it a lot. He has the habit of only smoking half a cigarette. If he has something to do he will put out his cigarette half way though and then go do whatever. I am more of the after I finish this cig person. I emptied the ashtray on his side of the bed once, ONCE. I was instructed that he had a lot of halfies in there that he was not done smoking. I never touched his ashtray again except to place a round yellow smiley face puffer snuffer in it. He loves that thing. > [@](#): > > freekalette Only if I’m desperate to the point of tears. Once you put it out, it never tastes the same again. I learned many years ago the way to stop that is when you put the cig out to blow out on the filter to empty the smoke left in the cigarette. The left over smoke makes it taste funky when you light it up again. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/14 "2008-04-18T11:32:11Z")
[QUOTE=Chimera] Oh come on people! Don’t you know that you should leave them in public ashtrays for the less fortunate? [/QUOTE] You just reminded me of my sister when we were younger. When I was about 3, my mom got this brilliant idea to teach us that smoking was a nasty, bad habit. She allowed our babysitter to give us each a drag off her cigarette. I don’t even remember if I tried it, after all I was only a toddler. I didn’t start smoking until I was 19. My middle sister refused to try it and has only smoked socially for about two months when she was 16. My oldest sister (would have been 6 at the time) took one drag and fell in love. She finished the whole thing. From that day on, she used to sneak the butts left on the basement floor by our totally skanky-ass neighbors (they’d smoke while doing laundry and everything ended up on the floor). She continued to do that until she was 12. She would also pick them out of ashtrays in the mall (wow, I can’t believe I’m old enough to remember when smoking was legal in malls), or downtown. :eek: It was totally disgusting. By the time she was 12, she had older friends who would buy them for her but occasionally she’d still need to go ashtray diving in public places. I don’t think our mom ever knew what my sister was doing, and how horribly her plan backfired. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/15 "2008-04-18T19:42:02Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Reminds me of the scene in Bad Santa where Billy Bob wakes up in the morning and drinks a leftover beer with a cigarette butt in it. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’ve _done that_. By accident at first, but I really need the drink, so… :eek: The sad life of an alcoholic! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/16 "2008-04-19T04:59:57Z")
Absolutely. I also drink two and three-day-old coffee left over in the coffee maker. Desperation \*and \* supreme cheapskateness play a big role. ---
**Author:** ![Blather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@Blather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blather)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/17 "2008-04-19T05:28:05Z")
Yes, I’m sad to say. Mostly I’m sad to say I’m still smoking. I’m a weak, weak, man. But, I don’t crush out my cigarettes. I use a “snuffer”. It’s a nifty little device that deprives the bud of oxygen and immediately stops the combustion. I tend to smoke about 1/4 of the cigarette and will smoke the rest of it later. For those of you “not in the know”. A snuffer is a small device with an opening at the top that is the same diameter as a standard cigarette. One places the cigarette in the opening and, voila, the cigarette stops burning. You can find one at any tobacco shop. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/18 "2008-04-19T07:06:20Z")
I actually quit smoking a month ago, but when I was smoking, I rarely smoked less than a whole cigarette at a time (and often two). So there were usually no halfsies to resmoke. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/19 "2008-04-19T11:46:42Z")
The new fireproof cigarettes leave me with half-a-cigs a lot (I work from home). So yes, I re-light them, but usually just 5 or 10 minutes after it went out. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813/20 "2008-04-19T17:00:38Z")
Oh, and if a friend leaves a half smokd one at my house, I’m all over that too- and I’m also a cheapskate. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-smoke-half-cigs-out-of-your-own-ashtray-at-home-if-low/445813.md?page=2)