The short answer: a smokeless car ashtray works by pulling smoke down through a filter with a small fan, so less of it drifts into the headliner and seats. Ours, the smokeless car ashtray with anion purifier ($19.99), runs a 3600 RPM fan and pushes negative-ion air back out. It is battery powered and works with one button. It reduces smoke that lingers. It does not make a car smoke-free, and the filter is a consumable you replace.
How a smokeless ashtray works
A normal ashtray only holds ash. A smokeless one adds a fan under the lid that draws smoke from the cigarette down through a filter instead of letting it rise into the cabin. Ours puts negative-ion air back out on top. The listing gives the noise as under 36 dB.
What to know before you buy
- It won't fit a cup holder. It is 15 cm across and 9.5 cm tall, so it sits in a door pocket, on the console tray or on a seat.
- Power: battery, so there is no cable across the console.
- Running cost: the filter wears out. If you smoke daily, plan on changing it every few weeks.
- In the box: 1 ashtray, 1 aromatherapy tablet and instructions. Gray, White or Starry Sky Green.
Smokeless ashtray or a sealed cup-holder ashtray?
If you mainly want the cabin not to smell of stale ash, a lid that seals may be enough. The LED car ashtray with lid ($15.99) is 10 × 8 × 6 cm, drops into a standard cup holder and has a flame-retardant liner that lifts out to rinse. It has no fan, so it does nothing about smoke while you are smoking. The light ring runs on a button battery.
- You smoke in the car and want less smoke in the fabric: the smokeless ashtray.
- You want something in the cup holder that keeps ash smell in: the LED ashtray with lid.
Both come with 30-day returns. For other ways to keep the cabin fresh, see how to make your car smell good.
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