How are your China Clays holding up after a year? (1 Viewer)

[GenghisKhan]

I previously had Pharaoh's China clays, bought the year they came out. After a while they started to crumble on the edges. Every game I had to vacuum my poker table to clean up all the little slivers breaking off my chips. My friend still has his set bought at the same time, and it's getting ridiculously bad. We're swiping aside chip pieces off the felt mid game.

A lot of China clays have been made over the years, especially in the last few.
I'm looking to hear from people that have OTHER types of China clays and had their chips at least a year. Or if less than a year and your set has seen heavy use.

Please describe your set, frequency of use, and if you or your players have noticed any issues with the chips such as starting to "chip" on the edges etc.

Thanks.
(This is not a thread to bash any chips, just looking for honest feedback on quality and endurance).

 

[mummel]

Wow I didnt know this. That sucks....... Who manufactures the Pharaohs? Arent they one of the better chips out there?

 

[mummel]

I previously had Pharaoh's China clays, bought the year they came out. After a while they started to crumble. Every game I had to vacuum my poker table to clean up all the little slivers breaking off my chips. My friend still has his set biught at the same time, and it's getting ridiculously bad. We're swiping aside chip pieces off the felt mid game.

A lot of China clays have been made over the years, especially in the last few.
I'm looking to hear from people that have OTHER types of China clays and had their chips at least a year. Or if less than a year and your set has seen heavy use.

Please describe your set, frequency of use, and if you or your players have noticed any issues with the chips such as starting to "chip" on the edges etc.

Thanks.

Found another thread about someone complaining about the Pharaohs.

http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/threads/how-durable-are-china-clay-chips.69776/

 

[jbutler]

As one data point, back in 2007 or 2008ish I ordered some of the original china clay compression Dunes commemoratives to use after I'd sold off all my chips to fund my first custom ASMs.

The ASMs took about 6 months to arrive and during that time the Dunes chips were in play an average of 20 hours a week (we played a lot). There were never any issues with those chips and when my ASMs arrived, I sold the Dunes chips to another player in my game who continued to use them about 10 hours per week for the next 4 years where they showed almost no signs of wear.

Long story short - I can vouch for the Dunes china clays. No breakage, no dissolving of the chips or any other bullshit. Hopefully @Apache gets these back on the menu and they are of the same quality as the ones previously available through @TheChipRoom.

 

[Rhodeman77]

I mentioned my friends experience with his Dunes CC in another thread, but I will state here it as well.

The set was bought about 4 years ago during one of the Chiproom sales when they were on sale for $.25 each to clear them out.

They have been used 2 to 3 times a month for about 8-10 hours each time. They are really starting show wear now. Like stated in OP above, they are flaking very badly now. The table has to be vacuumed after every game. The chips are also sticking together very badly. It is not unusual to try to pick up the top chip and get 3 or 4 to come along with it.

The chips were a great deal for a quarter each but for the amount we play used casino chips would have been a better investment at the time. Now that is pretty cost prohibitive.

 

[mummel]

How have the Milanos held up?

 

[Trihonda]

How have the Milanos held up?

Owned a set for 3-4 years now. Pretty large set. They've seen regular tourney use, 2x per month. With around 20-30 people. These have held up with ZERO signs of wear. There is no flaking. However, the pink 5k chips have shown some signs of fading (only one of my barrels is like this (about 20% of my supply). I've notice similar overall fading with the yellows. However, the yellow 1k chips haven't faded as much, and it's been consistent across all the chips, so it's not as noticeable. Otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Milanos. Great chip IMHO.

(for the record, chips have been stored in a cool/dark cabinet).

 

[mummel]

Owned a set for 3-4 years now. Pretty large set. They've seen regular tourney use, 2x per month. With around 20-30 people. These have held up with ZERO signs of wear. There is no flaking. However, the pink 5k chips have shown some signs of fading (only one of my barrels is like this (about 20% of my supply). I've notice similar overall fading with the yellows. However, the yellow 1k chips haven't faded as much, and it's been consistent across all the chips, so it's not as noticeable. Otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Milanos. Great chip IMHO.

(for the record, chips have been stored in a cool/dark cabinet).

Do you think re-oiling them will help?

 

[Trihonda]

Do you think re-oiling them will help?

Playing with them often kinda negates the need for re-oiling them. If there's a rack that doesn't see a lot of use, I'll run the barrels through a mineral oil infused rag (as a touch up).

 

[mummel]

Sweet. I'm really glad you like the Milanos. Can't wait to get mine, if they ever come back in stock.

 

[mummel]

Playing with them often kinda negates the need for re-oiling them. If there's a rack that doesn't see a lot of use, I'll run the barrels through a mineral oil infused rag (as a touch up).

Oh and how many can you fit in the chip trays? Is it a consistent 20?

 

[moose]

Pics of the wear?

 

[BGinGA]

I previously had Pharaoh's China clays, bought the year they came out. After a while they started to crumble on the edges

I mentioned my friends experience with his Dunes CC in another thread, but I will state here it as well. ...They are really starting show wear now. Like stated in OP above, they are flaking very badly now.

^^This makes sense from a materials perspective. The original Dunes, Desert Palms, and Pharaoh's Club china clays were all made by the same manufacturer, and it would seem logical that if one line is experiencing issues, they all would -- given similar usage, storage, and UV exposure conditions.

Acccording to Joe @ PGI, recycled materials are used by that manufacturer (unlike the original PGI/greek key china clays and recent CPS/tower mold chips, which used all-new materials supplied by PGI).

Dunno who @Apache is using to produce the Majestics/crown mold chips, or if he supplies raw materials to them. No info on who/what Trademark/Claysmith is using for the Milano chips, either.

 

[Trihonda]

Oh and how many can you fit in the chip trays? Is it a consistent 20?

The trays vary in size. The ones I have fit my chips perfectly.

 

[CraigT78]

Sweet. I'm really glad you like the Milanos. Can't wait to get mine, if they ever come back in stock.

http://www.claysmithgaming.com/bulk-poker-chips/milano-bulk-chips

They are in stock - coupon code "grand" saves you 10%/

Or wait a few weeks and you can buy my used set

 

[Rhodeman77]

Pics of the wear?

I'm supposed to play tomorrow night at the friend's house that has the Dunes chips. I will take some pics.

 

[CraigT78]

I have roughly 1800 Milano chips that I have had for about 18 months now. One regular tournament a month and a couple pickup cash games a month of usage and they have held up good as new. I think I lost one label out of the entire set.

 

[Meddler2]

After a while they started to crumble on the edges. Every game I had to vacuum my poker table to clean up all the little slivers breaking off my chips. My friend still has his set bought at the same time, and it's getting ridiculously bad. We're swiping aside chip pieces off the felt mid game.

This is the exact experience I have with 2 sets of CC purchased from PGI (edgespot clays/Greek key). Seemed worse on the white chips so Joe kindly replaced them. Both sets were only used maybe 5 times. The other set is so bad they'll never be used again and tossed in the garbage.

 

[72o]

Wow interesting. I had a tourney set of Pharaohs from the original group buy and used them once a month for a few years. I never saw any sign of flaking at all. Not once. I loved those chips and is really strange to hear stories like this.

 

[BGinGA]

Yeah, same here. Gotta wonder how all of the different possible variables may have come into play.... different batchs/colors, oiled or not, humidity levels, temperature/sun/air exposure, saltwater sea breezes, who-knows-what.


I have at least three racks of cc samples of all kinds, and none of them are breaking down..... but they don't see regular play, either. Not that it seems to be a requirement for the problem.

 

[Blaster]

I had mentioned some colors fading, especially yellow and oranges, on my older PGI China clays in a thread earlier this year , & It seems that they "may" have become a bit more "crumbly" than when new as I have broken a couple with very little effort : ...

http://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/china-clay-observations-after-6-9-yrs.9823/#post-139426

 

[manamongkids]

I think lumping all the china clays together for their specking and flea bites is a disservice. Milanos look to hold up pretty solidly. I had the 8v PGI chips which flaked from the minute I got them.

 

[mooremo]

I had a set of the original great wall chips, the only issue I had was the pink spot. The pink spot would flake.
I sold those and bought another set mixing the original and the 8V, stayed away from anything with the pink spot and have had no
issues at all.

 

[mummel]

The trays vary in size. The ones I have fit my chips perfectly.

What trays do you have? I was going to get the Brybelly bird cage that comes with Brybelly trays.

http://www.claysmithgaming.com/bulk-poker-chips/milano-bulk-chips

They are in stock - coupon code "grand" saves you 10%/

Or wait a few weeks and you can buy my used set

Please keep me posted on your set. At the moment its cheaper to buy direct from Brybelly vs from Claysmith.

 

[GenghisKhan]

I think lumping all the china clays together for their specking and flea bites is a disservice. Milanos look to hold up pretty solidly. I had the 8v PGI chips which flaked from the minute I got them.

My goal is exactly that, I don't want to lump all China clays together. I know some people have had the exact same issues as me, and most others no issues. This thread was the opportunity to see which ones were more affected. Having the knowledge that more ppl had this problem with xx chips may become a factor when balancing pros and cons between 2 sets before purchasing.

 

[mummel]

^^This makes sense from a materials perspective. The original Dunes, Desert Palms, and Pharaoh's Club china clays were all made by the same manufacturer, and it would seem logical that if one line is experiencing issues, they all would -- given similar usage, storage, and UV exposure conditions.

Acccording to Joe @ PGI, recycled materials are used by that manufacturer (unlike the original PGI/greek key china clays and recent CPS/tower mold chips, which used all-new materials supplied by PGI).

Dunno who @Apache is using to produce the Majestics/crown mold chips, or if he supplies raw materials to them. No info on who/what Trademark/Claysmith is using for the Milano chips, either.

Both the Milanos and Majestics have out of stock issues. I suspect its the same manufacturer.

 

[pltrgyst]

Wow I didnt know this. That sucks.......

Yeah, it does -- and it's been discussed extensively before (on CT, iirc). I bought a cash set of over a thousand Pharaohs from the original buy, and gave them to my neighbor when I moved to FL three years ago. In weekly use, the $1s immediately started flaking, badly. All the other denoms showed no flaking at all.

The original batch of $1s were a defective product, period.

He got tired of vacuuming the felt every week, and replaced the $1s with other chips.

 

[BGinGA]

I think lumping all the china clays together for their specking and flea bites is a disservice. Milanos look to hold up pretty solidly.

That's probably because the Milano chips are more 'plasticky' than some of the other china clays. Also one of the reasons I dislike them for sound/feel.

 

[MegaTon44]

Both the Milanos and Majestics have out of stock issues. I suspect its the same manufacturer.

Hit up Straight Poker Supplies in Canada. They have Crazyhorse chips (Milano mold, different inlay) and they are usually in stock. There are some fading issues and I wouldn't put them near the top of the list in terms of China clays, but most of their denoms are in stock.

I have 1700 of these that I use as my travel set (700 for cash, 1000 for tourney). If you need something quick, I would hit them up. Good vendor to work with.

 

[mummel]

Has anyone tried the Milano blanks with Majestic labels?