Say goodbye to ashtrays and common ways

Have you got an ashtray? If not it’s understandable. An ashtray isn’t all that common anymore. They used to be everywhere. Some were decorative. Some were merely functional. In public places they would sometimes be overflowing with discarded cigarette butts. The same was true of the at home versions of ashtrays. However, the at home ashtray usually took on the personality of its main user.

That is something only a smoker would know. For example, they empty the ashtray after every cigarette. Probable OCD issues. Overflowing ashtray? Maybe a procrastinator. Or a hoarder. The ashtray said a lot about its user. And it was as common as a trash can. Back in the day. Looking back at those days now is a strange experience. Saying goodbye to them happened without the slightest bit of fanfare.

Furthermore, it was more noticeable when cars no longer had ashtrays. It was about changing how common the habit could be. For example, if there were ashtrays everywhere, smokers would feel more welcome. One way to interrupt the habit, was to make it less convenient. Anyone who was a kid in the 70’s and 80’s knew how common cigarette smoking was. Although it was nothing like twenty years before that.

Say Goodbye to Ashtrays

There was once speculation that cigarettes were a healthy part of everyday life. However, over the course of time, that changed. It soon became evident that cigarettes caused more harm than good. Especially with long term exposure. The evidence kept adding up, yet cigarettes were ingrained into almost everything. Additionally they were highly addictive.

With this in mind, the perfect storm was already brewing. It took great effort to change the outlook on cigarette smoking. But not as much effort as saying goodbye to the habit. Therefore, additional effort was put into looking for ways to overcome the addiction. As well as ways to take it out of the mainstream. First it needed to become uncommon. Furthermore there needed to be consequences if the new rules were not followed.

It began as a ban on indoor smoking. For a little while, many indoor places where the public gathered, kept the smokers separated. For example, there was a smoking section, and a non-smoking section. When that started, those non-smoking sections were so quiet, you could hear a cricket fart. Needless to say that compromise didn’t work out too well. It seemed saying goodbye to smoking indoors, was an all or nothing deal.

The Common Ways

Cars were still being manufactured with ashtrays. Through the eighties and the nineties it continued. Then, as the indoor ban on smoking became more widely accepted, the ashtray was no longer an expected accessory. In fact, fewer and fewer people were smoking inside. By the nineties, the dangers of second hand smoke were becoming increasingly evident.

It wasn’t easy to go through the changes of the smoking ban. Although most everyone knew it was about a healthier life, they didn’t like the idea of the government making a lot of rules. Even though it was for the benefit of everyone, it felt like government overreach. Furthermore, everyone knows how grumpy a smoker can be without a cigarette. If not for the ban on cigarette smoking indoors, that would be a fairly good joke.

Saying goodbye to common ways, isn’t always a bad thing. Especially if the bad thing is that it’s all too common. Being able to smoke anytime and anywhere made it all that much easier to keep the habit entrenched in everyday life. And that’s how it became a habit to begin with. Thanks for reading today.

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