Here’s the story of the best ashtray I’ve ever owned. 

The HERF Signature astray. What is it? A place to ash your cigars. A hunk of metal. A small weapon. All of these apply. I got a sample about six months ago and have been using it ever since. Here’s how it’s going.

Initially I was a little skeptical. The pitch I received was sort of like this: “Here’s a new ashtray we are going to carry. It's overbuilt, it's heavy, and the price point is around $50. Go test it out and tell us what you think.” It looked pretty nice, so I took the job, but all along I was thinking $50 for an ashtray? Half the time I use the seashells my wife collects at the beach, who wants a hunk of metal for that price! Fast forward six months, and now I get it. 

I left this ashtray outside, full of cigar butts, through a rainstorm for about a week. Instead of scrubbing it by hand, I tossed it in the yard and hit it with a power washer. Clean as a whistle with no cracks, dents, chipped paint, nothing. 

Last winter we had a lot of snow up north. A coworker left this ashtray outside and it got buried in snow. A couple weeks later that same ashtray was brought back into the office to shoot a video. Our photographer dropped it on a tile floor, and it took a chip out of the tile with no harm done to the HERF Ashtray.  

These are true stories. This ashtray is seriously tough and would take quite an effort to damage it. Durability aside, it has all the features an ashtray could have. A deep bowl that can handle all the cigars burned on poker night. It has four large cigar rests that can easily accommodate any size cigar (within reason) and even has raised grooves to make sure those cigars don’t slide off on a windy day. The ash knocker in the middle is a nice bonus, easy to roll those ashes off so they don’t end up in your lap. On the bottom are four rubber feet, so you can place it on a glass or wood table and not worry about scratching them up.

For me, this ashtray sits on my back porch at all times and even through a tough winter it’s still in great shape. The black and silver design is pretty sleek and would look great in a garage or smoking lounge if you’re so fortunate. 

My suggestion? Fork up the $50 and get one. It’s the best ashtray I’ve ever had by a longshot, and I don’t think I’ll need to replace it any time soon.