I've been buying china glass from private sellers in bulk. I can buy glass in bulk that costs $400 retail for $35 shipped a piece when buying 50 pieces. Shipping does take a month, unless you want to pay more than it is worth. The quality is the exact same as the original piece. The lines and color stripes might not be as professional, but overall it's the same thing. I will never buy anything from a headshop again. But there are plenty of sites online that sell quality glass pieces for cheap that are US made. But most head shops carry a huge amount of china glass, unless you go somewhere high end such as smokies. And most roors, even in some head shops, are fake. They are thick as the real one, 5mm thickness as well as have the exact same label. Nothing wrong with china glass, except when you buy glass made in china from a US seller, you are getting ripped off. aliexpress.com, dhgate.com, alibaba.com to find the suppliers
Dude, I guarantee you, those china glass bongs are the EXACT same things you find in your head shops. your tantrums about how we have to buy "only the best quality bongs" is getting really annoying and repetitive, so i'm glad we could stop, nothing can fix your stubborn mind.
Nothing's wrong with it but shit to some people a piece is more than just a pipe it's art, a collection of people creations. I like buying it personal from glass blowers or at least reputable glass blowers pieces. That being said my daily driver ATM could probably be called "China glass" but it's awesome And has its purpose. but still I appreciate real glass art pipes for more than what they are ..pipes. Sent from my iPhone 5s using Grasscity Forum..💨⛽ï¸
Same, my daily driver i from Oregon so i'm not china boy, but i learned everything i know about rigs from china glass purchases. I messed up and bought china glass from american companies a bunch before i bought from dhgate... i feel dumb now. My grand plan is to buy one minitube in the $6-800 range and then never buy another piece again. but that's years from now and i'm probably going to have to get it custom. I'm really digging sasha hess' work lately, i like fuming more than anything. So much depth to look into, not just at.
Borosilicate is a mix, different formulations exist for different purposes and depending on manufacturer. Pyrex is a US brand, Simax and Kimax are european. All 3 are high quality and most reputable artists (if not all of them, I'm talking about artists like elbo, coyle, burtoni etc) use only US or european boro. China doesn't have the same quality control, you don't know if their specs really mean anything, you don't know if there are contaminants. So the starting material no matter where the bong is actually made is worse simply because of the source. Add to that that some china bongs aren't borosilicate and are soda-lime (soft glass) which doesn't have the same coefficient of thermal expansion. You can take pyrex, pour boiling water into it, and set it on a ice cold counter and it'll be fine, it's boro so it doesn't expand/contract with temp changes like soda lime glass. The soda lime glass piece will likely shatter around the base due to the rapid change of temps. Also pieces made in chinese shops don't have nice clean welds that just look a lot nicer and are stronger, they also might not be annealed like any reputable US company would do. There's a right way to make stuff and a wrong way, most of the time China uses the cheapest way....which is usually the wrong way. Will they both get you high, sure, but the china one prob looks like janky shit and will be less durable. I also see a lot of china companies using really stupid perc designs...they don't care, they prob don't even smoke.
That's all why it's all up to the buyer to find something that's still quality. My little sidecar had almost invisible joints, fire polished slits, and everything placed to perfection. It was better than most pieces in local headshops and it was $38 with free shipping. There are stupid perc designs in american glass sometimes too, it's up to you to know what you're looking at and find something decent. Now, you'll still never know about the quality of the glass, but i haven't place a boiling hot rig on an ice cold counter lately, and if i drop any rig it's going to break. Just treat your glass kindly. You should anyway. I still say have a variety in your smoking apparatus, some cheap ones for beating up, and a couple nice ones to enjoy and show off.
Just to let you know, those "stupid perc designs" were not designed by the glass blowers in China lol. And actually, most do a damn good job at it. Not all american glass is good, and not all china glass is good. Example grav labs is an american brand. (well apparently now, they are getting china made glass) but the welds suck and the glass is so damn thin. If you're spending $400, obviously buy an american made piece, but if you are spending $50, get that same piece that costs $400, same logo and thickness of glass, maybe "not as clean" welds but for the price only an idiot would buy the real piece. Now higher end brands that cannot be replicated would be what I recommend. Roor, Pure, Grav Labs, Silica glass you can get a supplier to make you the same product for wicked cheap.
Grav labs blows, they source their boro from china. But you don't know if it's quality because china has shitty quality control for the boro. Unless you can test the boro yourself. Which is my point, you say "you'll never know about the quality of the glass". I do know the quality of my glass, it'll all up to US/Euro specs, that's the point of quality control, so you can have faith in what a company puts out. I knocked over a ms fab egg, 3 ft drop onto hardwood...it was fine. The base is like 1in thick. That and the siren apparatus I had were seriously heavy pieces for the size. I like having a variety of smoking apparatuses, I just like to have all of them be nice.
Maybe you can afford a bunch of very nice rigs, but not everyone can. I have a couple nice pieces of glass along with some cheap glass. I have nothing against nice glass. And you knocked a fab egg on the ground...? I don't want to believe that. If you dropped a fab egg i'm sure it would be fine, but if you dropped a fab egg that was mine i might chop your hands off... I said you'll never know the quality of glass in china glass, i was agreeing with you. My rigs were all fine. None of the things you said exist on china glass were on my china glass. Not all of it is bad. I'm sure defects exist though, but for $30 i wouldn't care so much considering the same piece costs $300 in a headshop. Just buy another until one works. The simple thing is, why spend $300 on something, when you can get the same thing for only 10% of the cost that functions just as well? Maybe it's thinner, but it works. I prefer quality, i've said it a bunch, but there's nothing wrong with buying china glass.