Upcycle An Old Ashtray Into The Perfect Addition To Your Bar Cart
The American Lung Association reports that between 1965 and 2022, smoking rates among adult smokers declined more than 73%. Given that the portion of cigarette users went from 42.6% to 11.6% I those five-plus decades, it's probably safe to assume that there are now a lot of groovy vintage ashtrays sitting around on eBay, just waiting to be repurposed. The question is, if you're not going to use them for the dying embers of cigarettes, what can you do with them? Here's a thought: How about turning them into a garnish caddy for your lemon and lime wedges? A piece like that looks stylish on a retro bar cart and would certainly be a clever way to repurpose an old ashtray.
Once you get past the eeeww!-factor of displaying your fruit slices on an ashtray, you'll see the merit of using it on your bar setup. First of all, many vintage ashtrays are made of cut crystal and are quite stylish in their own right. The design of this commonly-thrifted item boasts a series of little knobs in a never-ending circle around the piece's center. Those nubs once held multiple cigarettes firmly in place. They can do the same for your citrus wedges, giving each fruit slice a perch of its own among the knobs. Despite the change in the bar caddy's style, a bartender can still grab the garnishes easily when it's time to embellish the look of the drink.
Practical things to consider with this bar cart hack
It probably goes without saying: You'll need to give the ashtrays a good scrubbing before you decorate a bar cart with it. Many of them are dishwasher safe. Running them through the dishwasher not only cleans the ashtrays but sanitizes them as well. Additionally, keep in mind that not all ashpan designs will work for this. Some only have three or four knobs around the center of the piece to hold individual cigarettes. Some have no individual holders at all. You'll need one that has a dozen or so nubs because each piece of cut fruit gets positioned between two of the upright knobs. You can find an example of this on TikTok, courtesy of user redux_style.
@redeux_style If you're gonna set up a bar you have to have @Pantalones Organic Tequila vintage glassware for cocktails, and a vintage ashtray to hold all of those limes and salt! Everything has multiple uses! #pantalones #tequila #ashtray #upcycle #circularliving
Additionally, you want to avoid putting a glass ashtray on a bed of ice as you would with the plastic containers of the caddy. There are better ways to chill the ashtray, and if the piece breaks, you'll have glass shards in your ice cubes. Instead, consider putting the ashtray in the freezer as you would when you chill a bar glass. Leave it in there to chill for up to 30 minutes. If you think the party will last several hours, keep two to four ashtrays chilling at all times. When the lemon and lime wedges run out, just replace the whole thing, ashtray, fruit pieces, and all.