First off, hi everybody! I haven't been around here in a while, but have mostly kept up on the conversation, and am happy to be back!
Well, it seems I might have taken one for the team. In a very late night, d-cycler fueled fit of impulsiveness I decided to drop 80 bucks on this guy, just cause it looked cool:
http://www.dhgate.com/store/product/bong-glass-recycler-2015-new-glass-bong-oil/241193290.html
I've since seen it cheaper, but I'm trying not to think too much about that
I got it from "glassartist" (
http://www.dhgate.com/store/20015547#st-navigation-storehome) who
might be the same as Kathy1578, or just stealing their pics and designs, dunno. Ah, the dangers of untested sellers... Nonetheless, there's still some hope for good things to come out of this deal for me.
Before I even talk about the piece though, I have to say a word about the packaging. It blew my mind... It came in a box labeled "Pure Glass" like a legit US glass company, complete with pamphlet, stickers, and a bowl with their "Pure" logo sandblasted into it. It also had a holographic "sticker of authenticity" on the side of the glass, but fortunately no sandblasting on the piece itself. Still, by far the nicest and most professional packaging I've gotten from DHgate yet, if you don't mind a box clearly marked "Pureglass420" arriving at your doorstep.
The piece itself was defective, however. The perc wasn't sealed to the downstem and so vapor doesn't make it into the perc at all, just bubbles straight into the main can. Even if it weren't defective though, I still can't tell exactly where the return is (even with the damn thing in my hand), but I'm pretty sure it's the 3 large holes right above the percs, which are two rows of uneven holes along the bottom. If that's true it means the return is above the perc, which makes the recycling very inefficient. On top of all that, I can't get it to properly vortex, and when I pull hard water goes straight up the mouthpiece. That all might be different if I had a properly functioning one though, hard to tell.... All that said though, the glass is super thick and it does look pretty cool
The seller has been pretty responsive to my emails, and made me the classic offer that they'll replace the piece if I buy another from them, so that they can ship them together. I'm skeptical, especially since they're still so untested as a seller, but there are indeed two more pieces from them that I'm interested in. They even offered to give me a discount on another piece, after I explained to them that I felt this was a gamble.
The first I'm interested in from their store is this guy:
http://www.dhgate.com/store/product/bong-glass-recycler-2015-new-glass-bong-oil/241281302.html
I know I've seen others mention it on here, but people were hesitant because of the untested-ness of the seller. I requested a function video from them, and they made one and got back to me within a day:
Dunno.... I'm really tempted, as I love the aesthetic of this piece and the idea of a straight-fab that isn't just another MS clone, but I have no reason to expect quality at the moment...
The other is this one, a half-size version of the d-cycler:
http://www.dhgate.com/store/product/2015-mini-glass-bong-most-popular-heady-water/243478341.html
(next to a pack of Chinese smokes for a size reference, haha)
I love the d-cycler so much, and would think a mini version for travel, and even more flavor would be awesome. The only concern with this one is that, in the video, it looks like the perc is too high and that vapor won't percolate at all, just rush out of the perc and straight too the return tube. Maybe if the water was a bit higher? Dunno... What do you all think?
So, yeah... Not sure which to try. I'll probably end up getting that straight fab as the function looks more on point, but I'll be risking more money to potentially get another dud. Either way I'll report back on what I get when I get it, of course. Can't experiment with Chinese glass without sharing every detail with all you awesome people!
