Does A Brand Name Matter?

chiefpuffaloe said:

I personally am not a fan of chaos but ill give ak some props on his bi polar work. His work is highly overpriced imo though.

Ill take some deppe for sure, however give me some CAC, Yoshi Kondo, Sable, Marcel over ak imo

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Most def chief. I agree that AK is generally over hyped. Deppe is in a league worlds beyond him in that top-tier class price range imo.
I have only had the pleasure of hitting an AK tube once though. It was a collector's "beater" Recruit(funny because it would sell uber quick for over at least a grand no problem). It was physically way smaller in the flesh than in photos and had its bowl loosely packed with a little nug or two of Jack Herer. I was a little skeptical given its tiny size, but one toke out of that think had me hacking up a lung like a total n00b. That damn thing packed a punch for sure! And it must of been Herer or something connoisseur because I was friggin' high of such a miniscule amount.

haha "beater recruit" wont hear that too many times

I would honestly love to have a bi polar ak mini destroy me

On a side note Guy Brush has been killing the mini tubes lately and they are a good price. Look very similar to ak's shaping. Been intrested. Check him out if you havent, something tells me you know who this guys already though

AK's tubes are underpriced, I think.

- Its made by hand (The entire thing)
- He makes all of his own millis
- He makes all his thumbprints
- He makes all his own *everything*

There's a difference between a pretty bong with some design on it, versus a FULLY WORKED bong. There is no "clear tube" on this bong. Its all melted entirely by hand. And its waaaaaaaaay more than a days worth of work let alone the skill, education, experience and time to have learned all of that to begin with too.



A class of its own................

Might I also add that one error while working the near thousand steps to make this piece would also ruin it completely........ Everything is *perfect* 100% on *every* piece he makes!

his work is great dont get me wrong his work is sick. That thing is atleast 7 to 10 k though. With a retail mark up thats 3500 to 5000 his making in several days. Pretty damn good money imo. Also this is kinda an extreme example of an ak. This is more common and it went for over 1300 on bm. I personally think other artist provide better work in my price range. All imo opionion though.

Overall ak kills it and no one can ever take that away.

I have to say, I dislike worked glass. I had to ask for the plainest piece I could get, that was my whole mission. I'm not really into the art side of this. Its all about function, and part of function is having clear glass so you know when to change the water and when to really clean it. Nice piezos tho, I just would never buy one Its all about the wax, glass is 2nd.

imo, sometimes names do matter in the glass world. I still cannot find any inline bubbler that compares to a HOPS. He measures everything perfectly and has the most consistent product.

Matt I think that if we made everything in clear we'd just get bored on the torch all the time. A little color dont hurt nobody

researchkitty said:

Matt I think that if we made everything in clear we'd just get bored on the torch all the time. A little color dont hurt nobody

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forget colored glass, i want advanced percolators for dabbing. im going to Revere Glass in Berkeley this weekend to check out the custom percs.

when you can make one of these, then you can go back to colored glass. talk about not bored...

[video=youtube;1osJUo_qV1Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1osJUo_qV1Q[/video]

You just need ms kitty to hook you up like this:

[video=youtube;DNvjrgZ8lsY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNvjrgZ8lsY[/video]

Funny you should mention it, a friend I met recently owns a shop with 3 people working it making bongs every day........ The owner has a scientific degree. He cant wait for me to show me the way of the lathe tomorrow at his shop and then over to my shop. They know nothing of line tube or color work or hand lampworking at all, so its a nice mix of skills.

We hope to put together some tubes with my color work and their lathe work.......

I'd kill for that pimp lathe with the built in oil bubbler. Thats bad ass.

researchkitty said:

I like Wal-Mart. I like Whole Foods. Two totally different places. You get what you pay for.

As a glass blower myself, I think that the artists who made the piece does matter, tremendously! Would you rather have an El Hefe slide or one that looks kinda like it? I'd pick the cheaper one usually, but not with glass! The better the name the better their work will be. The less imperfections you will find. The better the welds are. The better the mibs are melted in. The proper pulling of dichro without burning it out. Extremely even wall thicknesses. Few, if any bubbles.

Real glass masters can make a piece that will last a lifetime. The newer guys stuff is good too, but there's a *lot* to learn in glass to improve for decades.........

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As a guy who has worked and run smoke shops, its true you get what you pay for. I have sold glass from shitty china knock offs to high end illedelph, RooR, Zob, and HBG, i have to say after using over 200 different water pipes that I have owned and sold to friends from the shops, high end is stronger, more reliable, better Gog welds and fittings, thicker beakers and perks, better looking hole blown defused showerheads/inline perks. I do understand that if you are careful around your glass your going to be fine for a while with a shitty 5mm $90 WP but if you want to use it and know that your friends can use it too with out breaking it.. especially if your going to be smoking the KIND!! seriously pay the cash and get a nice HIGH END PIPE.. But that does not mean to go and get a shitty brand name like PHIRE, ROYALTY, HYDRO, Diamonds. brands like these have better prices but if you check the thinkness around the joints and the beakers you will find a 9mm water pipe and see its got 5-6mm beakers and welds. PHIRE is known for this and so is Royalty, diamonds, hydro, and most other china knock offs. Phire and diamonds and royalty and hydro are all examples from one company. that is why buying a known trusted name like mobius or ROOR is worth it.

dirtycows said:

that is why buying a known trusted name like mobius or ROOR is worth it.

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Almost ALL of the Roor's you'll come across today in LHS's are either the crappy American made ones or just straight out Chinese fakes. It can be really difficult to tell especially to the untrained eye. I'd say stay away from Roor period unless you really have a good knowledge of what you are looking for.

JJFOURTWENTY said:

Almost ALL of the Roor's you'll come across today in LHS's are either the crappy American made ones or just straight out Chinese fakes. It can be really difficult to tell especially to the untrained eye. I'd say stay away from Roor period unless you really have a good knowledge of what you are looking for.

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I would agree roor these days is shit.. 6 years ago maybe.. but now.. its too late.

Not to me, I break them all eventually lol

Depends on the items in question, some things absolutely require brand names because anything less is shite.
On some occasions you/me are simply paying for the name badge, Abel line snips £80 the exact same snips from Maxcatch £30 personally I'm not interested in the name in such instances because it's the very same item, I feel the same about led lighting provided its lm301 and a meanwell I'm happy with Kingbrite bargain lights.

Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten

Does brand name glass get you more stoned or is it just more impressive to the strangers that follow you on social media?

我不在乎品牌，只要真的好用又便宜就可以了。我就是这样

Condoms yes, pipes not really