What's your favorite Impromptu trick... mine is "ashes to hand"

I'm not familiar with that name, "Ashes to hand," so please pardon any ignorance in the following questions.

What is the plot? What is the presentation? What are its sources? What makes it impromptu? And most importantly, why is it your favorite?

Would you provide few more details beyond the name? Doing so would, in my humble and uninformed option, promote a more meaningful discussion.

Your mileage may vary, so feel free to ignore.

Respectfully yours...

"Ashes to Palm" very old trick, in lots of beginner books. My favorite version is Jay Sankeys' with pool chalk.

Guastaferro's "Clairvoyance" is killer if the deck is Faro-worthy. (Brainstorm DVD part 2)
Josh Jay's variation of Sankey's "Back in Time" triumph is also great. (VanishingInc lecture) Uses the Goodwin display and omit's the Slop Shuffle.
Jon Armstrong's "Opening Act" is wonderful as well. (2010 lecture notes)
Don England and Richard Kaufman's "Vanishing Aces". (Richard's Almanac in Magic Manuscript, Vol. 4, Iss. 5)

All wonderful effects from a shuffled, borrowed deck.

Thanks for your suggestions and references. I love Back in time..I saw Josh perform it on the fly, not but don't remember the variations from the original. I'll check out the extra and the other effects.

Josh's uses Krenzel's mechanical reverse and Tenkai's Optical Revolve to set up the wonderful Goodwin display to show face up/face down cards "genuinely" mixed together. It fools the eye even when you know the secret.

Magic with my wedding ring. I always wear it so if someone wants to see something on the fly, I can easily do that!

My favorite is the iPhone calculator number prediction effect, very organic relatable mentalism.

Ah yes, Toxic. Love it, but overexposure has taken it's toll.

Disjointed by Graham Russell

I always think that answers to these questions are a great reflection of when you started doing magic. Here is the window into the genesis of my magical journey. My favorite impromptu effect is Recap by Greg Wilson. It used to be talked about a lot, now it seems to be buried under a decade of new tricks. However, it is a blast to perform and most definitely baffling to the audience.

Incidentally, I like the handling ending in AoA the best. I love the routine because appropriate pens can be found anywhere and the ending described in AoA takes advantage of that. However, the pen cap and ear handling is the best from his On the Spot DVD.

David Copperfield's stage intro effect of twisting hands.

I like doing Pinky thing-Nick locapo and Breaking point-Johannes mengel. Both are finger magic and require no props.

I have never been let down by the good ol' fashioned eq****que!

One Coin Routine

I guess it depends upon what you mean by 'impromptu'? I often carry some tricks with me wherever I go, do those count? If so, then spotty paddles and/or B'Wave are very hard to beat.

If you mean FSDIU cards, then there's loads I love - probably Gemini Twins for its ease-to-punch ratio.

If you mean propless, well ... I'm never without props, lol

Also a one coin routine. it allways amaze people. The MB one coin routine is a must know.

My favorite used to be a "two in the hand, one in the pocket" routine with coins. But I've replaced it with a one-coin transposition called Primary Movement and subsequent vanish (the name of which I can't recall) that I learned from Ben Earl at Magic Live last August. Very few magicians seem to know that trick, but it's great for impromptu magic. You can borrow a coin. It's very fast. And it's very strong, especially with the vanish afterward. No setup, no gimmicks, borrowed coin (or ring) if you like, hits hard, happens right under their noses, and the magic is immediate and fast, and then it's over.

I like to divine thought of ESP symbols. Or b****t reading if I'm somewhere that's got paper and pen handy.

Crazy Man's Handcuffs