Mr. Smoke No More said:
Let's just hope they bring in some more sweet artists to make beautiful, functional tubes (which I'm sure they will)
I think people will be surprised at the quality of the in house HT's that will be produced. And since it's a scientific production facility, the connection tolerances will be spot on, every time, without any additional attention needed. I don't think there's any way that 3 artists can keep up with HT demand, not consistently. They have other glass to produce too. The company needs a source that can reliably handle its order demand.
I'm assuming the following info is still accurate. It's certainly the best way to go for a company like this.
From sm's post #979 in the original thread-
"re - new HydraTubes
These are actually made in house by a scientific glass blower I had the pleasure of meeting a few months ago. For those that don't know, glass blowers come in two flavors, art and scientific. The difference is fairly obvious, the art guys make vases, pipes, bongs, sculptures, and scientific guys specialize in making stuff with super tight tolerances like what you would find in a typical laboratory.
A lot of people have sent me emails asking if there were any cheaper alternatives than the Sovereignty, StoneGlassWorks, or Vertigo HydraTubes. VapeXhale has invested funds to extend the capabilities of our scientific blower so that we can produce HydraTubes comparable in quality at a cheaper price.
There have been some additional benefits as well, the glass on glass fittings that the scientific community has access to that hasn't found its way into the art world can be seen by the flush mounted seals. The ones in the pictures are called "dewer seals" and are GonG fittings that were designed to be flush mounted. Because these were designed to be flush mounted, the glass blower doesn't need to reinforce the seal like SGW has done with our beta HydraTubes thus saving time AND money
This will allow us to keep prices down for folks that want a kick ass set up without spending more on high end glass, and this will also give my guys more time to create worked HydraTubes with all the color patterns that people love so much like "fire and ice" "rasta" or whatever the popular color pull of the month is."
And #998 -
"We are estimating that the inhouse HydraTubes will be about 20-30% cheaper than a "name brand" HydraTube. So if a SGW Showerdome is $200, then a VX ShowerDome will be around the $150 range. Glass is one of those funny materials that you just can't automate. Each HydraTube requires a human to shape it, mold it, and conform it until it resembles what we see in the pictures from the previous page. There is just no way of getting around paying labor charges for superior glass.
What we can guarantee is that regardless if it is one of our name brand or inhouse glass pieces, we will be using the highest quality borosilicate and everything is blown in California. We don't outsource our glass or import any cheap Chinese alternatives."
And pics-
http://www.fuckcombustion.com/viewtopic.php?pid=84828#p84828
) the SGW 1/2 because I don't really need another tree perc'd piece, an 1/2 because I like the look of the recessed joint, and that it seems that it would sit on a tabletop far with far more stability than the vertigo which would just be sitting on the female joint.
I love my stereo matrix. would love a mobius HT!