(OT) WARNING: Cheap Melemine Ashtrays from China

[Jerry.Tan]

I'm a smoker and have used the standard 6" cheap ashtrays made from Melamine. with the cig holder in the center, for years. They have always held up well. I just bought another one at Dollar General for around one dollar. A cigarette actually melted a spot, leaving a dimple on the bottom of the ashtray. The label on the bottom says "Made in China". All my older ones say "USA" on the bottom, adn I've had them for years with no problems. The China one says it's Melamine. I say it's GARBAGE. I just bought it a week ago, and it's going back to the store this week. Yea, it's only a buck, but it could start a fire or damage the furniture it sits on. Luckily nothing was damaged, but I wont use it again. These should not be sold! I'll tell this to the store manager, but I'm sure they will keep selling them anyhow. I know they will give a refund though. They always do!

I just posted this to warn others!!!!

[Smokey]

A house is replaceable, your lungs -- not so much.

[philoÂÂ]

+1

[micky]

But it was only a dollar. How much can you expect.

Anyone can quit smoking. It takes a real man to fight a fire.

Thanks. Appreciated.

[trader_4]

It's part of the plot to screw you smokers. They banned smoking in most places, making you go outside. That wasn't enough, you stood outside, so then they banned smoking near entrances. That wasn't enough, so they banned smoking on entire properties, parking lots, beaches, parks, etc. That wasn't enough so they decreed that you couldn't even have a cigar night in a closed separate room at a restaurant. That wasn't enough, so they hiked the tax so high that a pack costs $12 in NYC. So, folks started selling loosies, obtained illegally, on the street. That had to be dealt with so Bloomberg passed a law toughening the penalties for doing that. Then they told the police to go vigorously enforce it. So, when Eric Gartner was spotted on Staten Island selling them, the cops busted him and he wound up dead. But now it's all the racist cops fault, who among other things, should have just looked the other way, because cigs are no big deal.

So, I think this is the next step. Get China to sell you defective ashtrays so you'll wind up burning yourself up. Then you won't be smoking anymore and the libs will be happy, having achieved their goal.

[Jerry.Tan]

I expect something SAFE, regardless of the price! I bought my old ones at Walmart for not much over a buck, several years ago. They say USA on the bottom. I'm no fan of Walmart, but at least they sell something still made in the USA, and SAFE.

I knew this would turn into an anti-smoking rant.... Almost everyone has something unhealthy they do.... Or, they are so perfect and judgemental that no one can stand to be around them..... No further comments about smoking.

But dont buy melemine ashtrays from China! (Dollar General, and probably other stores).

[micky]

My friend notices all the problem foods etc. from China, so I decided to stop buying caffeine pills at the dollar store. Then I heard on the radio that Coke and/or Pepsi buy their caffeine from China, so I went back to the dollar store. But now I'm thinking maybe coke and pepsi buy better caffeine than I'm getting

No, it was just a joke. Sorry if you thought otherwise.

[micky]

BTW, I still offer ashtrays to guests who want to smoke. I would have one on the table but there is no room anymore. I've never sent anyone outside and if they offer to go outside, I say No, don't bother.

[Gordon Shumway]

Just like Obama does with all the illegal wet backs.

[larrymoencurly]

You can always quit smoking, but you can't always quit burning up in flames.

[Terry Coombs]

I quit ten years ago in march , and I'm glad I did . What you do is up to you , but please don't smoke in my house .

[Jerry.Tan]

I somewhat thought it was a joke.....

I dont make anyone go outdoors to smoke either, of course I am a smoker so why would I. But making someone go outdoors in frigid weather to smoke is more unhealthy as smoking indoors. Not to mention cruel. When people drink, they want to smoke, and that should be up to the individual bar owner. I never objected to smoking in restaurants, in fact it would bother me when I was eating, but bars should allow smoking if the owner chooses to do so.

There is a local country bar who solved the no smoking issue. He built a large deck on the back of the bar with a roof. He built walls around it like a railing, about 5 ft high. The upper part of the walls are open (about 3.5 feet), other than some support posts. In summer you go out there to smoke in the fresh air, in winter he covers these walls with a double layer of plastic sheeting, (inside and outside), and has a heater in there. Legally, it's still considered "outdoors" so you can smoke, and you cant get busted by the cops for drinking outside since it's still part of the bar. It worked so well, that he enlarged it last summer. Then put a pool table, big screen tv, and speakers from the juke box out there, because it seems more people are out there than inside the bar most of the time. In hot weather, it's cooler out there too.

[rbowman]

They've got to save their melamine to mix in the baby formula:

Considering melamine is a thermoset resin, melting really isn't in its repertoire after polymerization. Nasty stuff when you're molding it. The company I was working for set up a turnkey dinnerware plant for Fingerhut back in the '70s and I saw more melamine than I ever needed too.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, No one smokes in my house.

[ChairMan]

+1 and the irony here is that they then complain about the drop in cig taxes collected. when i use to smoke, i always told the doc I was doin it for the chillrens

[wstiefer]

My ashtray is machined from billet aluminum. Hardly ever catches fire. Oh, just looked at it. It's cast.

[Edward]

And you think cigs are safe?

[songbird]

...

plastic isn't suited for ashtrays.

cut a piece of metal can and put it in the bottom to protect it and to distribute the heat more widely if a cig should keep resting upon it.

songbird

[Jerry.Tan]

I would tend to agree, but those melamine ashtrays that are made in the USA work fine. I have some older glass ones. But they have the groove for the cig on the outer edge. It's too easy to have a lit cig fall off. I like the ones that have the ridge down the center INSIDE of the tray.

In my garage, I have a large tractor piston for an ashtray. Of course any metal can works too. And there is always a metal electrical octogon box. Yeah, years ago, when I worked for an electrician, we would use them on the job.... (just had to avoid the screw holes).

I might just bring that piston in the house......

[Vic Smith]

They've been melting dimples for at least 30 years IME. Can't say where they were made 30 years ago, but I've seen them melt. Might be weak spots, or a cigarette burning hot. Don't know. One time about 40 years I had a heavy glass ashtray shatter and damn near catch the house on fire while I was sleeping. It was half full of butts, and I hadn't put the last smoke out well before I fell asleep. Unfiltered Pall Malls.