Ashtrays I'll never put my smoke out in

Mount Rushmore

All my friends know that I love our nation's biggest heads. Someday, I'll actually go there. But until I do, I will continue to gather (thanks to welcome donations) quite a collection of Mount Rushmore souvenirs. I think I'll bring them all with me when I finally make it to see the actual big heads, and I'll set these tchotkes free in the gift store while I'm there. Poetic justice.

This ashtray is set in a collection of various rocks and stones found locally in that part of South Dakota.

Mount Rushmore ashtray
a tacky wedding shower gift from Lynda Folwick

Ugly

This is close to being the ugliest ashtray I've ever come across. It's just another one of those swell things that people give me while saying, "I saw this and thought of you." I never know quite what to say in response, except thanks...this is quite an addition to my tacky collection.

Ugly ashtray
Gift of Anastasia Maddox, 2007

Hail to the Chief

What a way to show respect for the President of the United States! However, if they made an ashtray with the face of our current president, I might be convinced to take up smoking again long enough to use it at least once.

Gerald Ford ashtray
Purchased in 2007
at Beckley's truck stop
Thurmont, MD

Deer Ashtray

This ashtray looks like it was made in a middle school arts & crafts class. It has that kind of simple, well-meaning uselessness. I don't know what the white stuff is that the colored glass stones are set in, but it's porous and easily stained. And I could never stub my cigarette out in Bambi's face.

However, it was not lovingly made by a school child to enable her parents' smoking habit. I found a stack of four at Beckley's truck stop in Thurmont, Maryland. I bought them all, and gave away three as gifts. If you are the proud possessor of one of these, then you know that you are special to me. I have kept this last one, and I swear that I'll never use it. I just like looking at it.

Deer Ashtray
Purchased in 2004
at Beckley's truck stop
Thurmont, MD

Goose Ashtray

I'll bet you think I've got an animal theme going on here. I don't...this is a totally different kind of goose.

Goose Ashtray, ca. 1920s
[FRONT OF ASHTRAY]
Gift of Carrie Beyer
2004

Goose Ashtray, ca. 1920s
[BACK OF ASHTRAY]
Gift of Carrie Beyer
2004

Jesus Hates It When You Smoke Ashtray

If this doesn't get you to quit smoking nothing will. (Of course I said something similar about the lung ashtray. It was made back in 1987, and yet people still smoke.)

If you can't get to Capitol Hill, you can order this through Miss Poppy's online store ("...where even your MONEY is saved").

Jesus Hates It When You Smoke
Glass Ashtray
Purchased at
Pulp on the Hill
Washington, DC

Lung Ashtray

Years ago, I saw a pink one of these in a Salvation Army thrift store, and I passed it up. This was long before I got the idea to create Julie's Tacky Treasures. Ever since I choose to become a maven of tackiness, I've longed for another chance to have a lung ashtray. And now, thanks to eBay, my dream is fulfilled.

The funny thing is that back when I first saw the lung ashtray, I didn't know that it was produced to educate people about the dangers of smoking. It was not in its original box, otherwise, I would have noticed this message:

SURGEON GENERAL'S CERAMICS WARNING: The Anatomically Correct Ashtray Causes Those Who See It to Think Twice. Thinking Twice Does not Cause Lung Cancer, Emphysema, Or Complicate Pregnancy.

Poop Ashtray

I think it's a pile of poop. What else could it be? That is the mystery of this ashtray. When you remove the lid, you find a little glow worm in the bottom. Look inside!

Poop ashtray
Purchased June 2006
at the New Seoul Department Store, Annandale, VA