Well, I just got my first glass order from China. I got the inline to HC (
http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6014715509.html) and this one:
(
http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6014715510.html), both from Kathy on AliEx.
Unfortunately, there are lots of problems with the glass and with my order. First of all, I didn't receive one of the sets of nails/domes/adapters. (I was supposed to get two sets) The glass itself is scratched in places, has what looks like little cracks in a couple places, the gong joints don't fit properly (considerable amount of movement- I don't think the removable mouthpiece on the piece pictured above even fits to the bubbler with an airtight seal), and the stemless joint on the HC is very crooked. (although my cloud does balance on top of it with a claisen adapter in between them)
Having said all that, I just tried the HC and it's very functional. I milked the hell out of it with my fakeCloud+. It's my first time using a HC so I can't compare it to the earlier aliEx HC or any other HC, but I may be the first one here to get this new HC design with the stemline so if anyone has any specific questions I can try and answer them.
I'm kind of disappointed with what I got, although I'm pretty new to glass so I'm not sure how much of this is just par for the course when ordering from these chinese glass blowers. I'll notify Kathy of the problems and see what happens. Also, I'll try and upload some pictures and/or videos later.