Davidoff Sliding Ashtray

Over the last year, Davidoff has added a variety of interesting accessories to its portfolio in the form of both ashtrays and humidors. While some of the items still haven’t arrived in American stores—I patiently await the additional Air de Famille humidors—it released two different ashtrays designs earlier this year.

The more interesting of the two is a new design called the Davidoff Sliding Ashtray, which is offered in a black body and two different options for a minor accent piece. As the name implies, it slides.

WHAT IS IT?

At its core, it’s a rectangular-shaped ashtray with a v-like channel that is designed to hold your cigar and a large storage compartment that can be accessed by sliding the ashtray open. That said, there are technically three pieces because the ashtray comes with a similarly designed stand.

When closed, the ashtray measures 5.16 inches long by 2.2 inches wide and 1.9 inches tall at its tallest points (the sides) and about 1.7 inches tall at its lowest point (the center channel.) Fully extended, that length increases to about 8.6 inches, though the two pieces can be detached from one another.

The included stand measures .95 inches in length by 2.2 inches wide and 1.9 inches in height. For those looking to store this in a particularly tight area, the ashtray and stand are a bit taller from the surface as there’s an included piece of rubber on the bottom that provides more grip for the ashtray and helps protect whatever surface it is placed on.

The ashtray is offered with accent colors—a wood that reminds me of the rosewood used on a classic Eames lounge chair, or a metallic gold finish—that can be found on one end of the ashtray and inside the cigar stand. Both feature a small Davidoff logo engraved into the material.

The interior storage compartment is about 3.6 inches in length by 1.7 inches in width and no more than 1.5 inches in height, though that number reduces towards the center of the ashtray.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

$180.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Like most ashtrays, extremely intuitively.

The ashtray itself has a magnetic closure system that help keeps it secured into place while also allowing for easy opening. The stand doesn’t have any magnets, meaning you’d need to separately pick that up and carry it while moving the ashtray.

The center part of the ashtray is slightly lower than the edges, which creates a v-like channel that allows for your cigar to rest in the middle. I found that with box-pressed cigars it’s possible to get them to stay on one side of the ashtray—something that could be useful if two people were trying to use this at once—though with round cigars, the cigar wants to slide into the center channel.

As far as the ashtray by itself, there are three different ways to use it:

1. Fully Closed — I suppose if you wanted to use the inside to store a lighter or matches, you wouldn’t want to dump ashes inside. This can be done so long as there’s enough room to fit all the ashes, but I found this to be super messy.
2. Closed But With Ash Storage — I’m guessing this is the intended use. Smoke your cigar with the ashtray closed and open it up to store the ashes when you need it to. I found this to be slightly less messy than the first option, though still quite messy.
3. Open With Ash Storage — Keep the ashtray open and basically use the front side (the part with the accent piece) as a cigar stand and allow for the ash to hang over the storage area like a typical ashtray. This was my preferred method of using it.

WHAT ABOUT THE STAND?

The accompanying stand piece is a nice feature and I cannot think of another ashtray that comes with an included cigar stand. Even when smoking a 9-inch cigar, I don’t think this is particularly useful if you are just smoking one cigar. However, if two people were trying to use the ashtray, I think it makes a difference.

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL?

It neither looks like an ashtray nor looks like any other ashtray I’ve seen. Most people that see it for the first time

THE GOOD

• Small Footprint — If you are smoking on a very small or crowded table, this ashtray’s 5.16 inches by 2.2 inches footprint is great. There aren’t that many ashtrays that are going to take up less space on a table than this one and I found it useful while recording live broadcasts where there tends to be a lot of clutter on the table.
• Modern Design — Ashtrays can be pretty and very interesting; this is certainly more of a conversation piece than most. I like the aesthetic, though it certainly would look out of place in a lot of traditional cigar shops.
• Well-Built — The ashtray feels solid enough without being overly heavy. For reference, the ashtray weighs 363 grams, the cigar rest piece weighs 73 grams. While I’m not sure about scratches, the ashtray seems more than capable of surviving most drops.

• Rubber Base — The included rubber base works okay at keeping the ashtray in place. On a glass table, you can still move the ashtray without picking it up, but it’s not going to move all that much. Furthermore, I’m not concerned about scratching the table. Still, it’s nice to see that this isn’t a complete afterthought.
• Cleans Pretty Well — Or maybe, “cleans better than I expected.” I’ve mentioned in previous ashtray reviews that ease of use in cleaning is as big of a feature as any. This is pretty easy to clean, though the inside is a bit more work than most. Davidoff made the very smart decision to use rounded corners inside the ashtray, meaning that it’s a lot easier to get most of the ash residue out of the ashtray. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable putting this in the dishwasher, at least not the wood grain one, but perhaps the metal one could be cleaned that way.

THE BAD

• Price — While not the most expensive ashtray I’ve reviewed, this isn’t cheap.
• The Mess — I found that if I used the ashtray in a closed position, the ash is going to touch the ashtray. This is different from most ashtrays, where the ash dangles from the end of the cigar and is usually suspended in the air by the cigar itself. If you think about it, this means the ash is unlikely to touch any surface until it falls. This seems to make a huge difference in terms of both flakiness and also the propensity for the ash to fall quicker than normal. When I forced myself to use the ashtray in a closed position, I was surprised by how much ash failed to make it into the ashtray, both small and large pieces of ash.

• Moisture — After about 15-20 minutes of a lit cigar resting on the closed ashtray, I notice moisture had developed on the ashtray, which can eventually be transferred to the cigar. I suspect this is something to do with the heat and metal. I’m sure it’s harmless, but it’s a bit strange.
• Ash Storage or Accessory Storage, Not Both — Unless you are willing to dump ash on your lighter, cutter or matches, the inside of the ashtray is most likely going to be used for either ash or your accessories. I think you could store a simple double guillotine cutter or lighter inside the ashtray, take them out when not in use, clean the ashtray, and then place them back inside, though I do wonder if the smell would become annoying. While I don’t think this is a negative: if you are wondering, I think the amount of ash that can be stored in here is about two 6 x 50 toros worth of cigar. I never tried filling it up with three cigars worth of ash, but it was getting full after two.
• I’m Not Sure This Would Work All That Well in Windy Environments — Let’s say you are outside and it’s windy. You’d probably want to keep the ashtray closed so that way the wind isn’t blowing the ash outside of the storage compartment. It seems intuitive enough, except for the aforementioned mess. While I think this would be a lot better at keeping ash in than many ashtrays, I have a difficult time believing this would work better than ashtrays that are specifically designed to retain ash in windy environments like a Stinky or Ash-Stay.

• Different Metal Finishes? — One of the two ashtrays we bought features a different metal finish on one piece for some reason.

• The Stand Can Be a Slightly Different Shape — For the longest time, I thought the stand was slightly larger than the ashtray, meaning they wouldn’t perfectly align. Brooks pointed out that there is one configuration where the two pieces will align flush, the problem is in the three other ways you could align the pieces, it’s not. What that means is that neither the ashtray nor stand have a symmetrical V-shape. I also think they slope in a direction and aren’t flat.

The Competition

When I was in college, I frequently used a single cigar ashtray that is probably the same as the Butt Bat Single Ashtray ($10.99). This ashtray keeps the single cigar, low profile approach and was great for someone that had to carry all of my smoking accessories to an outdoor patio table. Eventually, one of the balls that is used to elevate the ashtray broke off, but it held up for probably about 100 cigars.

There are a lot of other ashtrays, I’m not sure I’ve seen anything quite like the Davidoff. But here are a few that come to mind as alternatives:

• Elie Bleu Egoist Ashtray ($700+) — Elie Bleu makes a variety of these ashtrays which are designed for a single cigar and look beautiful. At some point, I might get one to review but it’s very expensive and looks like it could be less than fun to keep clean.
• Czevitrum Salamander Small ($280+) — The smaller Czevitrum remains my go-to ashtray when not reviewing other ashtrays. It’s interesting, pretty, and relatively easy to clean. You can find these a bit cheaper on Etsy and I’m going to continue to use the Czevitrum going forward. I suspect if you are considering spending $180 on an ashtray, you’d probably be okay spending $250 on an ashtray.
• Stinky Jr. ($26.95) — If you are looking for a smaller ashtray that can keep ash in, the smaller Stinky ashtray should do the trick. There are many other options if you want something that could handle more cigars.

SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

Yes.

If you like this design—both function and form—and are okay with the price, there’s nothing wrong with how the ashtray functions. It’s well-built, there are some smart design choices and so long as I used it with the ash compartment open, I didn’t have any complaints about the functional aspects. However, it’s a $180 ashtray that can make a decent-sized mess if you use it in a closed position.