Smoke & Rye The Bowden Ashtray

While doing research as part of my most recent ashtray review, I stumbled upon this midcentury modern-looking ashtray on Etsy and decided to buy one for a future review. I’ve purchased a half dozen or so ashtrays from Etsy, but most of the ashtrays I see on the site are either ashtrays that can be purchased from other places on the internet or vintage ashtrays. There are, however, people who are crafting unique ashtrays of their own. Smoke & Rye Handmade—technically, SmokeandRyeHandmade—offers a variety of ashtray designs that I have not seen elsewhere, and they are far more affordable than most of the ashtrays I’ve reviewed.

WHAT IS IT?

The Bowden is a single cigar ashtray with a unique design. It is primarily made of teak wood that serves as the base of the ashtray, though it also extends all the way up to serve as the cigar holder and as a handle. The part where the ash is meant to go is a shallow bowl made out of black metal. As with most ashtrays, using The Bowden is self-explanatory, though it certainly separates itself thanks to the unique design. I find the curves to be very pleasant to look at, while the matte black metal complements the wood to complete the midcentury modern look.

It measures 7.92 inches in length, 4.425 inches at its widest point, 1.22 inches at its narrowest and 2.5 inches tall. The cigar rest is about .95 inches wide. Because that section doesn’t come up to the midpoint of the cigar, i.e. where you’d measure the horizontal diameter, that doesn’t correspond exactly to ring gauge. For what it’s worth, I was able to fit a 64-ring gauge flush into the cigar holder, though a 70-ring gauge cigar left a small gap. Because of the way it is designed, it can hold cigars thicker than that, though they won’t be flush against the cigar holder. The Bowden weighs 253g, roughly .55 lbs.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

$40. We bought this ashtray in February; the price then was $42 plus tax but with free shipping.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

You put the cigar in the channel milled out at the top with the foot of the cigar hanging over the ashtray. That’s more or less it.

The metal bowl is not removable, which means to clean the ashtray, you just need to manually empty it and then figure out how to wipe it down.

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL?

Because it’s made of wood, each ashtray is likely to have a unique wood grain.

THE GOOD

• It Works — Making an ashtray would seem simple, but my last review will tell you it is not. The Bowden’s design means it should work for pretty much any cigar, though I’m not sure I’d want to use it for a 9 x 90 or larger cigar. It’s a pretty foolproof concept as the cigar is held over the bowl and the edges of the cigar holder section will keep most cigars firmly in place.
• The Ash Shouldn’t Touch the Ashtray Until It Falls — One feature I prioritize in ashtrays is having the ash suspend off of the end of the cigar without touching the ashtray. I find this creates less mess and allows the ash to fall naturally, instead of accidentally being knocked off because it touched a piece of the ashtray. In this case, there’s more than an inch between where the bottom of your cigar would be and the top of the bowl, plenty of space to avoid disturbing the ash.

• It Patinas — I suppose this might be a negative for some, but the edge of the cigar holder nearest the bowl has developed a black ring around it after use. I find it nice-looking, though some might not.
• The Curves — Staring at the ashtray reveals so many different curves that may not be readily apparent. For example, the end of the cigar rest portion—the part closest to the bowl—could have just been finished off to look rectangular. Instead, that piece has swooping curves that end a bit inward towards the top section. Similarly, the back of the ashtray could have been rectangular but instead has a curvature that matches the curve on the opposite end. These aren’t just visually appealing, they also make the ashtray a lot nicer to pick up and carry since there aren’t many sharp edges. I think the only pointed ends are at the end of the cigar holder section, though thanks to the curves, I hardly noticed them.
• The Bowl’s Rim Makes Knocking Off Ash Easy — The rounded edge of the metal bowl is great for knocking a cigar against to help get the ash off.
• The Fit & Finish Exceeds The Price — While not flawless—there’s a minor bump on the underside of the cigar holder section and small nicks on the metal bowl—I’m extremely impressed with how well the ashtray is finished considering its $40 price. I would suspect many cigar shops could purchase these for $40 and sell them for $80 without customers complaining too much, at least until they went on Etsy or halfwheel.

THE BAD

• The Bowl Is Shallow — Because of how shallow the bowl is, I do not think this would work well in windy environments.
• The Bowl Is Small — In addition, the small bowl means that large cigars might overwhelm the bowl by producing too much ash. You could, of course, dump the ashtray out mid-cigar, though it’s something to at least consider. The small bowl also makes it a bit tougher to brush ash into the ashtray, though that was a minor inconvenience.
• The Metal Bowl Has Some Small Nicks — There are four small nicks on the bowl. If I had to guess, they are smaller than the point of a pen or pencil.
• The Wood Absorbs The Smell of Smoke — A few weeks into testing, I placed an unlit cigar on the ashtray, got distracted and returned an hour later. When I went to smell the cigar’s wrapper, it smelled like a burnt cigar. That’s because the cigar holder portion has absorbed a lot of the cigar smell. I could use wood cleaner to help get rid of that smell, though it would likely introduce other foreign smells into the equation.
• Thorough Cleaning Is More Complicated Than Most Ashtrays — I found daily cleaning pretty easy: wipe off the wood pieces with a dry cloth and then use a damp cloth to clean out the bowl. But if I wanted to thoroughly clean this ashtray, I needed: two different types of cleaner, a rag or towel, and some compressed air. One cleaner for the metal pieces, one for the wood pieces and the compressed air because there are some nearly impossible-to-reach areas underneath the bowl that will accumulate ash and dust. It’s a minor complaint, but it might be the ashtray’s largest flaw.

The Competition

The most obvious competition would be another ashtray from Smoke & Rye, probably The Luna, another $40 ashtray that uses the same bowl, though it has a different wood piece. I much prefer the look of The Bowden, though The Luna is unique in its own right.

• Butt Bat Single Ashtray ($10.99) — This ashtray is sold under a number of different names, but the all-metal single cigar ashtray functions very similarly to The Bowden. For a year or so, I used this ashtray as my daily ashtray until one of the feet fell off. While both ashtrays allow the ash to hang off of the cigar, there’s a lot less space between the cigar and the bowl of the Butt Bat compared to The Bowden. I prefer The Bowden, though if you are going to smoke outside, I’d get the Butt Bat.
• Davidoff Sliding Ashtray ($150) — This is a single cigar ashtray that also uses black metal and wood, though the materials are reversed. These two ashtrays accomplish the task very differently, though I like both. I prefer using The Bowden over the Davidoff as I think it makes less mess and find it to be a lot less disruptive to the cigar being smoked as the ash is being held off the end of the cigar and not touching any part of the ashtray.
• Oh!Val Cigar Ashtray ($330) — One of these days I am going to buy some accessories from the Japanese brand Oh!Val, but so far, I’ve suppressed my urges. This is one of a handful of ashtrays the company currently sells and it would seemingly fit the bill. Unfortunately, I’ve neither used nor seen this ashtray.

SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

Yes.

This ashtray checks all the right boxes for me: modern design, interesting design, $40, suspends the cigar’s ash without touching it, and fairly easy to clean. If you primarily smoke cigars in a place that gets windy, this probably isn’t a great ashtray for you, but otherwise, it’s one of my favorite ashtrays to date. Since reviewing the Czevitrum Salamander I have used the smaller Czevitrum as my daily ashtray at halfwheel’s office outside of when I’m testing an ashtray for review, but that might change thanks to The Bowden. The highest compliment a reviewer can give any product is to keep using it after the review, and I’m right on the edge of doing that.

The ashtray for this review was purchased by halfwheel.