Sorry brother, nothing can convince me that a quartz banger of all things is worthy of $230. lol It's like any other product, there are methods, materials, techniques and so on that make the prices go up. I don't doubt at all the quality of these bangers. I just could never justify spending that much on "design" alone. It's ludicrous to me. My $40 4mm deep dish banger has performed just as well as my friends $120 banger. Design isn't the same, I do like his better, but for what it's worth, if I'm able to get the same smoking experience/taste I personally cannot justify it.
Maybe if I made a lot more money than I do, I wouldn't mind. I would purchase the
pukinbeagle if it came with a male 18mm end at $130ish.
You misread what I meant my friend, the design may be part of the reason for additional labor, but I am saying the main justification for the additional cost is this additional labor. I am a firm believer that if somebody works longer hours and produces something nicer, then they have every right to charge more, commensurate with the extra labor/functionality. I prefer to give my money to this kind of worker. Having used the product in question as well as many cheaper ones and other expensive ones, I can tell you that in my view, the cost is commensurate with the functionality increase at the time over other comparable quartz on the market. It is not the same experience and it definitely achieves better taste and quicker, more even vaporization (only than last gen quartz! remember, this is a last gen product, definitely not top of the line anymore!).
However today things are different - there are better options for less. Obviously it is a different story and the price seems outlandish now
Ya I definitely take less issue with Pukinbeagle's prices as their designs get a lot more elaborate.
Interesting to see your take on quartz has changed. If I were to buy a halo I would probably get the sic just for durability/longevity.
That's right man, I've no doubt that there is overpriced quartz out there, but PB aren't the culprits - they work hard, produce by hand and produce some very impressive and innovative shit.
Their products have been imitated more than pretty much any other quartz I know of except maybe the QCB's. Especially the original PB jointed nails (with the floor of the dish mid way up the barrel coil instead of at the bottom like early, terrible quartz enail designs) got copied by everybody and their mothers!
There's a lot to be said for that additional durability too, SiC is the ultimate backup nail even for those who own a sapphire halo (yes, I have broken one before!).
I should qualify my later comments in the post you are quoting about quartz not tasting as good as SiC or ceramic do not apply to the dnail quartz halo, which is an exception to the quartz rule, but still IMO not as good as the SiC overall (in no small part for the durability reasons that you outline - it may be some of the toughest, best manufactured quartz for the job using bleeding edge technology but it is still quartz lol).
I haven't really changed my mind all that much about the quartz halo in recent times. I still think it is the best quartz out there, just also think that the best quartz nail does not equal the best nail - and that it hasn't for a long time now. Quartz has had its time in the sun IMO.
Still, in earlier times I definitely did find that I got tastier hits with the quartz halo over SiC, this was because of my use of the heater retaining nut in between coil and SiC changing the required temp and my not having dialled it in right. Persistent comparisons (especially once I started using the heater retainer below the nut) have brought me back to SiC being better overall for a while now.
A d-nail quartz halo at equally low temps to the SiC will taste marginally better for most kinds of extracts, but at the expense of major trails/reclaim/incomplete vaporization. There isn't quartz that lets you get into the low 500's range of temps without major trails. The quartz halo does let you go lower than any other quartz I've ever owned/used (and that is a serious swathe of the available quartz out there) without trails though.
SiC's major advantage is that you get almost the same quality of flavor as quartz does at equally low temps but with quicker and more complete vaporization, way better durability (than pretty much anything except Ti), less money and FAR better torch functionality (SiC halo is definitely the best torch nail I've ever used bar none). SiC is also much easier to clean. It tastes better throughout the hit too than quartz.
Hopefully this clarifies. A/B/C testing the quartz/SiC/sapphire halos has been quite the learning experience!
