I’m constantly amazed at the number of people I see discarding cigarette butts out the car window – so much so that I wonder why carmakers even bother installing ashtrays, since nobody seems to use them. But then one day when I was complaining about this, my wife made the point that we don’t really know how many people *don’t *throw their cigarette butts out the window, we just see the ones who do. So for all you Dopers out there who smoke – do you use the ashtray in the car or not? (And if not, why not?)
Yep.
I have friends who won’t use the car’s ash tray because they think the ash tray is what makes the car stink like smoke, so they use something else. But they don’t toss the butts out the window.
When I used to smoke, I would just toss them out the window. Come to think of it, I don’t really remember very many people who would use the ashtray.
I am not a smoker, but just for the hell of it, I have been watching dudes who flick their ashes out the window. Every single time, the ashes are followed by a butt.
No, but I don’t smoke in my car.
In my old car, I did smoke in the car - and I always used the ashtray. I would flick the ashes out the window, but the butt never followed. And I emptied the ashtray into the trash as well.
I do it because my parents were really vehemently against littering, and it sank in - not because I want any type of “oh, good for you for not littering” - I was brought up that you just don’t litter, and that goes for food trash, cigarette butts, whatever.
I’m not a regular smoker but I keep a pack in my car anyway in case of bad traffic jams or eating an extremely heavy meal. In these cases, I will ash out the window, but always put out the butt in the ashtray.
Carmakers DON’T put ashtrays in cars anymore, do they? At least, I don’t think Ford does.
My daught bought our '98 Escort with a “smoking package” that included an ashtray with a lid that would fit in a cupholder and a cigarette lighter.
When we got rid of that car I kept said “smoking package” and plugged the lighter in my '04 Escape. I gave my dad the ashtray thingy to use while in his '05 Five Hundred. I dunno what he uses in his '03 Taurus.
Anyway…my answer is no I don’t use an ashtray because I don’t have one, I only smoke in the car with the windows open and yes the butts go outside.
My dad uses the ashtray (the removeable one that I gave him) and smokes with the windows closed which makes me gag, but he puts his butts out the window as well.
Do other makes of car come with ashtrays still?
Most new cars don’t come standard with ashtrays anymore, but you can usually get one through the parts counter at the dealership as a “Smoker’s Package” - which is nothing more than a cup with a lid on it to take up space in your cupholder and a lighter.
I’m a smoker and am probably as annoyed as anyone else when I see someone throw a butt out the window. I rarely smoke in my car, though, as I hate smoking in confined spaces and would rather my car not reek quite as badly. When I’m running late or on a long drive and do smoke in the car the ashes go out the window and the butt goes into the ash tray. Now that I think about it there’s a couple of weeks old butts that I need to empty out of there.
FWIW my car is an '00 and the ashtray wasn’t standard. It is an in-dash ashtray, not one of those cup-holder ones.
I used to toss the butt’s out the window. I didn’t think much of it until I read a thread here where a poster was piled on for tossing butts in a high wildfire risk area.
It finally sunk in that throwing lit paper out the window was kind of an assholish thing to do, so I got a cupholder ashtray (My actual ashtray is full of change) and toss them in that.
I forget once in awhile, but I feel like a big jerk when it happens.
I ash and deposit my butts in my car’s ashtray. I am right handed but control the wheel mainly with my left hand, and smoke with my right hand. The ashtray in next to my cupholder on the right side of me in the car. I cannot drive, smoke and ash out the window at the same time.
It’s not all that rare to find evidence of smokers who do both: they use the ashtray, then when full they dump its contents next to their parking spot.
Butts left in the ashtray (or worse, smoldering in the ashtray) and smoking with the AC on (which sucks smoke into the ducts) are the two things most likely to make a vehicle reek, in my experience.
I use a 20 oz. soda bottle with a little liquid left in it. Screw that cap tight and keep that stench contained!
It’s been a long time now that the “cigarette lighter” has been referred to as a “power outlet.”
Oh dear. I turn on the AC or the defrost because it makes the smoke go away. Where is it going? I assumed that if your circulation-vent thingie is set to outside air, at least some of the smoke would go outside. It’s not going outside?
I Febreze about once a week. My non-smoking stepson borrowed my car to drive to Florida, and he insisted he didn’t notice a smoke smell. Maybe he was just being nice.
Some people smoke non-filter cigarettes. Their butts are simply tobacco and a bit of natural hemp, flax, rice, or wood rolling paper. As far as I am concerned, they are biodegradable and not an environmental impact.
So is feces – even more organic and biodegradable.
So do ya mind if we all dump sewage on your front lawn?
That’s quite absurd and facetious. Feces are a bio-hazard, unlike paper and tobacco.
If you’d ever gotten a butt in the face (or at least the face plate) as every motorcyclist has, you’d have a different opinion. And in California, where seasonal wildfires are a standard hazard, we’d really bloody appreciate it if you’d stick the butts in your ashtray rather than on the rodeside. Your habit, your problem, stench and all. (That said, I really appreciate the smokers who dress their butts; at least they make the effort to be conscientious.)
Stranger
I don’t smoke in my car (99% of the time) , but when I do, I put the butt in a soda can or a bottle of some sort with some liquid left in it and toss said can/bottle when I reach my destination. I get so irritated when I see people toss the butts out. I have on occasion gone to flick the ash and a little gush of air sucks the cig from my hand :eek: :mad: