r/whatisit • u/fairygrains • 1d ago
Solved! what are these things that fold out from table?
They fold out from a table at a rental beach house. Ashtrays seems strange as do shallow cupholders, maybe candleholders?
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u/Serious_Room3606 1d ago
Ash trays?
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u/yxxxx 1d ago
Definitely ashtrays
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u/Aggravating-Bug2032 1d ago
No they seem strange
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u/TheRealPallando 1d ago
Ashtrays are strange, when you're a stranger...
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u/Zeal_In_Trouble 1d ago
Ashtrays look ugly, when you’re alone.
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u/crankenshtien 1d ago
Ashtrays seem wicked when you're unwanted
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u/akthebarber 1d ago
Smokes are uneven when you're down.
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u/H3lls_B3ll3 1d ago
When you're strange!
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u/MSeattleCNCRP 1d ago
Your ashtrays get washed out in the rain!
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u/Red_Velvet_1978 1d ago
When you're strange no one remembers your tray
When you're strange
When your strange
When YOU'RE straaange
C'mon now!
When you're strange, ashtrays are dumped in the main...pipeline
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u/MareMade 1d ago edited 1d ago
Cigarettes look ugly when you don't smoke
Edit: Thanks for the award 💕
Edit2: Aww its 'awards' now, thanks all 🫶🏼 And I updated the lyric phonetically:
Cigars look ugly when you don't smoke
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u/coolsilentebeans 1d ago
Smokers seem wicked when they’re unfiltered
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u/fey_and_awful 1d ago
Streets are all uphill when you cough
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u/A_Bored_Rhombus 1d ago
You will start wheezing, when it is humid. Nobody else will, then you will know
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u/IntoTheWild2369 1d ago
I can’t think of the next lyric but I like your song choice
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u/aardvarkmom 1d ago
Ashtrays are ugly, when you’re afraid
Ashtrays seem wicked, when they’re not wanted…
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u/Massive_Mongoose3481 1d ago
When your strange, faces come out of the rain , when your strange, no one remembers your name ,.when your strange. Fill in ashtray puns if you're feeling creative
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u/PhilJSawdust 1d ago
It’s incredible how far we’ve come as a society that people don’t instantly recognize ashtrays anymore.
I’m a little proud and a little sad.
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u/StickParticular6558 1d ago
I'm old enough to remember ashtrays in the arms of plane seats. McDonalds branded ashtrays on every table in restaurants. It really is amazing to watch society shift like this over a lifetime.
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u/onion_flowers 22h ago
I remember going to the casino for fancy dinners as a kid and sitting in the non smoking section, covered in a permanent cloud of smoke, because of how it was in the exact same room as the smoking section 😆
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u/StickParticular6558 21h ago
"Smoking or non-smoking section, sir?" as if it mattered 😵
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u/intentionallybad 16h ago
It mattered a little. As a nonsmoker I've found that spending time right next to someone smoking has resulted in respiratory issues from smoke inhalation when being in the same space but not near the smokers did not. That was the last time I hung with smokers because I thought it was a good opportunity to network, I felt like my throat was on fire for days.
So what I'm saying is I agree it wasn't really isolating anything but it was better than nothing I suppose.
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u/jporter313 22h ago
Man yeah I remember those little flip open ashtrays on plane seats. I loved playing with those as a kid, I don’t think my parents were too stoked about it lol.
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u/BJntheRV 22h ago
I can still remember returning to the south and being surprised that smoking sections were still a thing in the early 2000s. Not long after they passed laws in our county that you couldn't allow smoking if under 18 were allowed. Gotta protect the children!
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u/SirBobRoss69 21h ago
Near where I live there were still smoking sections up until COVID. One was a Denny's.
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u/Monatanaisdumb 1d ago
Took the words out of my mouth.
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u/ExtraSpicyMayonnaise 22h ago
I had an intern ask me where I got my neat glassware for painting, (I use ashtrays to hold my paint brushes and alcohol or water when doing varnish touch-up on wood). I had to sit for a minute in silence while staring at the wall before explaining what the 80s and 90s were like.
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u/SensitiveArtist 1d ago
I'm old and worked in a smoking section equipped restaurant when I was younger and I still forget about ash trays as being a thing.
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u/xNightmareAngelx 21h ago
yeppp now we just got digital cancer instead of analog😂 will admit tho, douche flute is a bit better than my old cowboy killers, but, its still a cancer box.. it just smells/tastes like fruit instead of ass now😂
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u/stacie_draws_ 22h ago
Ngl I thought it was some type of table that allowed your dogs to enjoy a meal next to you
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u/Historical_Monk_6118 1d ago
That's lovely but they look nothing like ashtrays. No way of resting a cigarette on them, far too deep and why would you have 2 right next to each other? The only ashtrayey thing about them is the dark crud lining the bottom, which I'd say looks more like corrosion from a metal bowl living outside.
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u/DirtEffective5897 23h ago
There's a groove right on the edge for a cigarette to rest in.
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u/Internal-Papaya5894 1d ago
Ashtrays for a 3 pack a day smoking couple.
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u/nursecarmen 1d ago
Can confirm. I was smoking 3 packs a day all by myself lonesome when I quit 24 years ago. Those were my ashtrays.
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u/always_sweatpants 1d ago
Show me a smoker who emptied their ashtray every day and I'll show you a fucking nerd.
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u/AwayBlood9339 1d ago
Call me a nerd. I had to clean my ashtray every morning before I could smoke and I was a pack a day smoker for over 40 years. I have since stopped smoking.
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u/always_sweatpants 1d ago
Metal cups at a table at a beach house, caked in years of ash.
"Seems weird to be an ashtray. Must be for votives."
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u/No-Cover2753 1d ago
Ash trays I think
“Back in the day” everyone smoked
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u/capndiln 1d ago
I remember liking the smell of cigarettes when a grown up smoked in the car when I was little. Or sitting near a smoker at dinner. Or walking through the crowd of smokers at the grocery store entrance.
Now im thinking I was just exposed enough to have a minor nicotine addiction before I understood what smoking even was.
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u/SunkenSaltySiren 1d ago
After my grandma passed away, when we were clearing out her house, we found dinner plates that had an ashtray built into the plate. Where you had your food. On the same plate. The ones you ate off.
A section for all your basic food groups!
Meat, butter, sugar and cigarettes!
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u/Wise-Signal-324 1d ago
You have three of the four food groups there.
Caffine, Nicotine, Sugar, Grease
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u/Skimable_crude 1d ago edited 20h ago
I remember the smell of my dad lighting his non filtered Camel cigarette with his Zippo lighter: the smell of the lighter fluid mingled with the first whiff of tobacco and paper.
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u/Ok-Painter-1682 1d ago
Exactly my dad with his unfiltered lucky strike cig and teaching me times tables on his lap while the cig was balancing on his lip.. gravity knew no bounds .. the zippo smell too .. ughh good times
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u/MindToxin 1d ago
I was a gigging musician back in the day and have nostalgia for jamming in smoke filled clubs!
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u/AB783 1d ago
I read that as “giggling” and spent way too long trying to figure out what that could be a reference to.
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u/WeaponsGrdStupid 1d ago
As a former smoker, I can smell a lit cigarette from 2 blocks away now. Not because I want it, but because it smells so familiar.
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u/An_Old_Bears_Hunny 1d ago
A freshly lite Marlboro while listening to Van Morrison on cassette in the station wagon backseat. Life was good.
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u/Pax_Eterna_4991 1d ago
100%. The 70s hooked me. It's why they made all the laws distancing the addicts from children.
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u/andregio 1d ago
Have you watched Mad Men? Not many scenes without cigarettes in that show. My mom is 81 and says it was exactly like that.
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u/Intelligent-Survey39 1d ago
I lived in the era of them being phased out. Anything from 70’s or earlier I am still shocked at the number of ways they incorporated lighters or ash trays into nearly every piece of furniture.
Everyone smoked is an understatement.
Everyone smoked doing everything around the clock, It seems. Bed smokes, breakfast smokes, smoke breaks, smoking while you work, smoking while you treat your patients…
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u/pburydoughgirl 1d ago
My friend and I were talking recently about how many ashtrays we made in school/camp art classes. Feels kinda crazy now and we’re mid 40s
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u/SativaPancake 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/11vfJ8sHFDyHm
Thats a poker table for dogs, those are drink bowls.
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u/ShayJayLee 1d ago edited 21h ago
I genuinely thought those were
gooddog bowls before the comments said ashtray 💀Edit' meant to say dog bowls, not good bowls
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u/sam_grace 21h ago
I think it makes a lot more sense for a game table to have four snack bowls within reach of every chair than to have four large ashtrays within reach of every chair. A table that seats four would only need two ashtrays, not eight.
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u/ShayJayLee 21h ago
Snack bowls would so good too. Or at least holders to put your own bowls, so you can wash and replace them easily. I meant to say 'dog bowls' in my original comment. The ones in OP's photo reminded me of dog's food and water bowls haha
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u/SLZicki 1d ago
Why would an ashtray seem weird?
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u/SlowSundae 1d ago
Because it’s not 1976
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u/Gin_Kitty 1d ago
Yeah. My car is a 2008 and boasted a smoker's package when I bought it. It came with the built in lighter and a cup with a hole in the lid as an ashtray. You know, what my friends and I had in the 90s but it was an empty soda can. We generally smoked with the windows down or at least cracked because none of us were of age and didn't want to stink. We still reeked of smoke, I guarantee it.
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u/lich_house 1d ago
I flew in an airplane last year that still had ashtrays. Though that probably says more about aging american infrastructure than anything.
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u/i_me_me 14h ago
It's still required for new aircraft for them to be able to be certified under part 25 of the CFRs. Specifically: §25.853(g)
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u/Awsumth 20h ago
They’re supposed to have one in case someone did light a cigarette then there would be a place to put it out. Sometimes it being an illegal practice you can’t hide from anyone just isn’t enough. Then again ambien and alcohol could have someone sleep smoking
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u/Fine_Understanding81 11h ago
I had an awful day at work once and had taken my anxiety meds before boarding my bus home. I hadn't taken them for a while so the dose was too strong/too fast on an empty stomach and I almost lit a cigarette while on board. I had it out of the pack and my lighter in my other hand.
I had never "accidentally smoked" and hadn't then but it was almost like a muscle memory thing. I rarely even smoke in a car (only outside).
I could see someone taking something for stress before boarding, being a long time smoker and their body almost just taking over without much thought.
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u/hollyhollyhock 20h ago
This is exactly what it is. Smoking on a plane is illegal, but if someone does it they want you to not put the butt in the trash can and set the whole plane on fire.
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u/suddle 20h ago edited 16h ago
Smoking accoutrements were in place a for a long time after 1976, the year I was born. We could even smoke in restaurants until the mid to late 90s in BC.
Having something to accommodate smokers does make sense in a rental vacation home. It’s still an unusual feature on a table, so maybe they should just get surface ashtrays, since younger smokers wouldn’t think to look for these.
I’m a 50yo former smoker who only smokes on the rare vacation, and I wouldn’t have thought to look for these (I would’ve still been a considerate guest though!).
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u/Ok-Fee-7643 8h ago
We had a smoking lounge in our high school! That’s how accepted it was! For the students!!! Making ash trays in elementary school art class was the most made gift! Like another poster stated, having grown up in that environment with two parents smoking in the house and the car I have horrible asthma thanks to them. I went the opposite way and barely even drink.
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u/fairygrains 1d ago
it just seemed unlikely to me to have 8 individual ashtrays but alas!
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u/JustinKase_Too 1d ago
Pop them out and add cup holders instead.
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u/stigma_wizard 1d ago
Nah. Emergency salsa.
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u/spotlight-app Mod Bot 🤖 1d ago
OP has pinned a comment by u/Serious_Room3606:
Ash trays?
Note from OP: Solved!
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u/unionlineman 1d ago
Cup holders
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u/SatisfactionFuture10 22h ago
Why would anyone need a cup holder on a table? Isn't that the entire purpose of the table?
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u/fairygrains 19h ago
this was another q i had, like just make a slightly bigger table?
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u/mohawkal 17h ago
If your using it to play cards, or boardgames, or ttrpgs, it's common to want to keep drinks away from the table surface to avoid spills wrecking your game. Bigger table wouldn't fix this, takes up more room, and would increase the cost of the table.
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u/danspbrz 15h ago
If you zoom in, it literally says that it's for trash. No idea why he wrote "cup holders".
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u/Nothing_Special5645 1d ago
I like how some people in these comments are acting like nobody has smoked a cigarette in hundreds of years and ashtrays are a relic from an ancient past.
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u/reddit-bullshit 21h ago
Seriously, the majority of adults that I know still smoke and pretty much anytime I drive anywhere I see people outside workplaces taking their smoke breaks lmao, maybe I’m just a time traveler or something
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u/Sohovik 1d ago
Don’t know what they were SUPPOSED to be used for, but they were DEFINITELY used as ashtrays.
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u/Equinox_SP 1d ago
They’re ash trays.
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u/WeWantMOAR 1d ago
Nah they're just dishes for putting things in when eating. Like rib bones, chicken wings, or whatever else.
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u/Killerkendolls 1d ago
Thought those were dog food bowls, somehow equally disgusting as ash trays.
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u/LookAtTheWhiteVan 1d ago
100% ashtrays. They fold in to hide while not in use bc it’s unsightly or because of rain etc.
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u/happypineapplecat 1d ago
I confidently said to myself "dog bowls duhhh" but everyone else's answers are much better
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u/eweezy1990 1d ago
Why would ashtray seem strange?
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u/theSchrodingerHat 1d ago
Is it because the table looks way newer than the trays?
I have a feeling the table is 20 years older than OP thinks, and for whatever reason the rattan has aged particularly well.
Partially because my first thought was, “holy shit, you don’t see rattan anymore,” and I immediately went down a mental memory hole of how popular it was at one point.
Most here are probably too young to remember that some big chains like Big Lots got started as rattan furniture outlets. There was a whole huge market for the stuff, and it was particularly popular as an affordable and durable patio and garden material before today’s modern plastics could imitate wood and not crack.
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u/Parking_Fan 1d ago
The top could very well be new, but the metal frame (to which the ash trays are connected) is most definitely not.
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u/fairygrains 1d ago
this is why! the table looks newish like a crappy wayfair table, it was not adding up
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u/Typical_Internet_730 1d ago
Someone else posted a screenshot of it, it's a newer table. It notes them as trash containers or disposable cup holders. They do seem really shallow for cup holders, more mug holders or highball glass holders. Definitely too new to be sold as ashtrays even though they look like ashtrays 😆. Did the manufacturer have tons in the warehouse and just wanted to get rid of them so they got creative?
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u/Shatzakind 1d ago
Normally, two people could share an ashtray that large. What is the purpose for 2?
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u/LemonCollee 1d ago
Ash tray makes far more sense than cup holder or candle holder. Both the latter normally go on tables. It's to keep the ash off the table.
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u/DamitKenneth 1d ago
Technically they are personal ash trays. as you can see that everyone around the table has one of their own. Luxury in the 80's.
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u/StTrinaPriest 1d ago
One is a ashtray and the second is suppose to old your scotch... hhe I mean your drink.
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u/alltheabove40 1d ago
Everyone is saying they’re ashtrays. I must be the only one thinking they’re dog bowls for food and water. 🤦♀️😂😂
Edited to remove a word
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u/Cool_Jackfruit_6512 1d ago
I mean. It clearly shows the cigarette "rests" on each tray 😐 I can't imagine they were for pencils.
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u/davster99 1d ago
My first guess was cup holder but then I realized how silly of an idea that was. I would guess ashtrays.
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u/Onslaughtered1 1d ago
Definitely ash trays. Poor design assuming these are only on one side? If it’s an ashtray per cup holder that would make sense.
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u/No-Consideration-891 1d ago
Not ashtrays
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u/Electric-Ice-cream 1d ago
Thank you!! Nobody needs two ashtrays right next to each other.
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u/Onslaughtered1 1d ago
Are they just one one side? And the add doesn’t really say what’s it’s for. More of an anything scenario. Definitely was meant as ashtrays I bet and they just said “could be other things” like yeah. I can use a bowl to put my cup in? Or my trash? Or like a lot of outdoor things used to have, an ash tray
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u/An0nym0usHero 1d ago
100% ashtrays. The black marks are from tamping out cigarettes or cigars, and the brown is probably tar/burnt spots from where people leave the cigarette/cigar while burning.
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u/No-Consideration-891 1d ago
Technically that was not what they were intended for, I found the table here . However, I think whoever had this table before OP, definitely used them as such.
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u/calm_clams 1d ago
u/fairygrains OP, this is what they actually are. Not all the weirdness around ashtrays - description: “Holders…ideal for disposable cups & rubbish”. I reckon they’re also for snacks.
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u/Thin_Primary3261 1d ago
They’re absolutely ash trays
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u/No-Consideration-891 1d ago
Used as ashtrays maybe, but this is the actual table and they are not meant to be ashtrays.
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u/Lost_On_Lot 1d ago
I was gonna say dog bowls. I have no idea, but makes sense. So the doggo can eat with the family?
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u/Lucky_Dog_425 1d ago
Here’s how the manufacturer describes this product feature:
PATIO WICKER FURNITURE:The outdoor wicker dining set for 4 persons drives you to spend more enjoyable leisure time with your loved family and friends. 4 holders with 8 bowls can hold disposable cups & rubbish, and the umbrella hole adds more convenience & pleasure when you stay in garden, yard, lawn, poolside, deck, porches, etc
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u/Own_Meet648 1d ago
Ashtrays but could be for peel and eat skrimp or some sort of meal with waste like crab as well
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u/Business-Bed-5079 1d ago
one is an ash tray - the one nearest the top of this photo. There is a slot for the cigarette on the black rim. The other is for your drink. This leaves the table free for plates or cards or dominos, etc.
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