#1115: Buttbough

I stayed at a hotel in Birmingham recently where I witnessed a biggish fire in an outside ashtray. The staff seemed not to care less, which was their default viewpoint on everything.

Today’s invention is a safer ashtray for those determined to continue lolling about entrances whilst smoking.

It’s in the form of a hollowed-out tree branch with a wooden lid. The branch end and lid are angled to allow the container to be pressed into eg a flowerbed and also so that rainwater will flow in through the hole in the top. This hole is small enough to stop people putting waste paper etc in but just big enough to admit a cigarette.

Before use, some funghi spores are dropped in so that the whole system will be converted to compost -suitable for digging directly into the flowerbed, once full. The rainwater helps the funghi grow and greatly reduces the chances of a fire starting within the branch.