Bought a $20 ceramic at the LHS the other day, pic below. Still looking to get my hands on a replacement quartz domeless (banger, castle, etc) and have ad in the classifieds if any of y'all have one to dispose of.
First impressions of the ceramic are okay. It was cheap ($21.xx with tax), required no seasoning, tasted better than expected and it works.
Cons are:
- It does have a poor fit in my 14mm joint
- No obvious ways to tell if at operating temp without thermometer. I love how the slits in my quartzcastle would glow.
- Requires LOTS of time to get to what I think is operating temperature. Using a torch the size of Vector miNitro. 3-4x the time of my quartz, and it leaves far more puddled and not vaped.
- Also concerned breakage is in near future, based on all the ceramic failures I have read about.