Looking for some advice?

[Frederick McGuire]

You can get some honestly nice china glass if you are on a budget.
Its not gonna be spectacular, or particularly awe-worthy, but they'll function well enough.

Do I prefer my higher end stuff? Yes.
But the china stuff still works.

I picked up a blaze 11 arm ash catcher for $45 a while ago, and it's a really nice, little portable water tool when teamed up with my 7th floor j-hook.

If anything else, it's a good gateway into the better stuff.

I started off getting china stuff because I thought it was STUPID to buy anything over $100.
Then I got a few pieces, and began to understand the value of proper glass a bit better.

Was it an expensive lesson?
Not really IMO, since I still find every piece I have to be of its own particular value...

I still think its silly how expensive some plainstraight tubes and beakers are, but I guess they're worth it to whoever is buying them.
My

 

[Nycdeisel]

LOL actually it didnt even cost half of that. But I digress.... Just stay away from china glass its too low quality most of the time to be worth your dollars

Besides, there is cheap, quality American made glass. Why, just look at SSFG for a great example of that. Under 100 bucks you can get a great quality setup for a very reasonable price. and you dont spend lots on overseas shipping either... just my

 

[VapeNStone]

LOL actually it didnt even cost half of that. But I digress.... Just stay away from china glass its too low quality most of the time to be worth your dollars

Besides, there is cheap, quality American made glass. Why, just look at SSFG for a great example of that. Under 100 bucks you can get a great quality setup for a very reasonable price. and you dont spend lots on overseas shipping either... just my

Not from what I seen. I looked on that website and the only things that are under $100 are just plain ole straight tubes. I want some sort of diffusion and that can only be accomplished with the cheaper alternatives. But I thank you for your opinion.

 

[Frederick McGuire]

LOL actually it didnt even cost half of that. But I digress.... Just stay away from china glass its too low quality most of the time to be worth your dollars

Besides, there is cheap, quality American made glass. Why, just look at SSFG for a great example of that. Under 100 bucks you can get a great quality setup for a very reasonable price. and you dont spend lots on overseas shipping either... just my

Well, for those of us not in the us (I'd guess a decent minority?), Intl shipping is a given...
And the Cheap quality American made glass is a simple beaker or straight tube.

For a straight up plain beaker or straight tube, yes, there are a few good quality entry level pieces that fit within a budget (SSFG, RXIndustries, [not US, but] EHLE for example) but there is a serious level of discrimination against Chinese glass around these parts.

I have yet to find a cheap, quality American inline tube (for example) for under $100.
The closest I could find on SSFG was an inline A/C for $100.

The cheap quality American glass is still generally a Price level above the china stuff.

I used the $100 figure because that's just the number I had in my head at the beginning.
but that doesn't mean I thought anything under $100 was worth it...

I saw a nautilus for $75, or a plain beaker for $55...
The nautilus looked like I got way more bang for my buck.

EDIT:
For the price of my mobius matrix bub, I could get

1. Black leaf nautilus
2. Blaze 11 arm A/C
3. Weed Star Double showerhead Bubbler
4. Black Leaf Beaker w/6 arm tree & dome perc/splashguard
5. Black Leaf 8 arm A/C
6. 7th Floor Sherlock Arm

I can see how that would be a better option to some people...

Another EDIT:
Here's that nautilus water level vid:

 

[WatTyler]

but there is a serious level of discrimination against Chinese glass around these parts.

I couldn't agree more Fred. It's simply not true that Chinese glass is going to be bad quality and not worth your dollars. I think a lot of these myths were started by the US glass bong industry themselves, as a protectionist measure to justify their high cost against the competition. Plus there's the political issue, which is not insignificant here at all, about Americans supporting American production. Add that to a devoted glass artist fan base and I can see why the myths perpetuate.

I don't doubt that perhaps at some point in the early days all the glass bongs coming from China were poor quality, and perhaps these weren't myths originally, but things are constantly progressing. Nowadays it's simply not true that the welds will be poor, the glass will be poorly annealed, the piece will break as soon as you look at it, the diffusion won't fire, or that it was made on a sweatshop production line by unskilled, underpaid labour. These could happen though, with any glass (remember we've got crooked, leaky premium american hydratubes). And off course there's no denying there's some grade difference between the finest german boro and that that's likely used in a mass production factory in china, but that doesn't mean that the latter is sub standard for bong making (a fairly low stress application for boro, comparatively). Evidence says it's not.

Ultimately I think that you have to judge each piece on it's own merits, rather than the country it came from. The last piece I got I find is 'better' overall than the US piece I bought at the same time (apples to oranges perhaps- bubbler to oil rig- but it's still a comparative experience). Maybe the glass isn't as thick, but it stands up in most other aspects, and actually kicks the arse of the US made piece when it comes to functionality- it works much better. Most obviously it also kicks the arse of my American piece severely in terms of value for money.

I personally would at least consider high end Chinese models before I blindly went with low end American again. I've got my eyes on a mobius bubbler too one day, but it's a luxury 'art' brand purchase rather than a functionality motivated one.

 

[dorkus_molorkus]

I have the same Nauti as well. I love it, for what it is, it does the job nicely. I purchased from Gc as well about 8mths ago. Back then it was spend $200 get free worldwide shipping, now its $250. I paid with my cC & it arrived within two weeks to oz.

Its a nice solid piece that I use as my daily driver. I use a cheap 6arm ashcatcher with it as a visual aid so i can see how much vapor i am taking in. Now while I havent dropped it or anything, I am a bit of a clutz & the nauti has escaped unscathed from a few knocks that possibly other pieces would have sustasined some damage.

As much as i would like some quality american glass, I just cant afford it. Hell I cant even afford any cheap china glass ATM.
I hear that even weed star is starting to lift their game regarding the quality of their stuff.

For me not that long ago spending any amount of $$$ on a bong was nuts, then of course a bong consisted of a plastic bottle, some garden hose, and a brass bowl.

Now i want some nice glass, I just dont have the funds for the classy shit.

But i will get there, its just an evolution.

 

[Frederick McGuire]

Also, for use with a J-hook, I'd say go for the Blaze 11 arm over the Black leaf 8 arm.
The black leaf 8 arm is pretty small.

 

[VapeNStone]

Yea I was going to go Blaze anyways because they only have the 14mm weedstar j-hook in stock.

 

[WatTyler]

If it's the weedstar piece with the wide mouthpiece then it doesn't stand up even with the blaze 11 arm.

(see thread http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/suggestions-on-how-to-better-balance-my-bubbler.4062/)

 

[VapeNStone]

Oh I don't care about it not standing up. I just wanted to get that one because its thicker glass than the black leaf one. I'll be using it as a mouthpiece in conjunction with the pre-cooler with my Da Buddha. Then on occasion I'll use the pre-cooler with the bong.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

my cheap ass 80 dollar 100 bucks with shipping black leaf 6 tree arm w/ diffused downstem
got it today! happy 4/20!

 

[VapeNStone]

Nice!! I ended up getting a piece locally. Blown Glass Goods 7mm glass, 15 arm tree I believe, diffused downstem, ice pinches, beaker bottom. Its the absolute shit. Here's a vid and some pics.

You have to click on the picture to view the video

 

[VapeNStone]

Happy 420!!!!