Kinda just breezed through a few of the latest replies and saw some comments regarding marketing for
CPC. Ever since I got into the hobby that has always been in the back of my mind. Their website looks like it hasn't changed since the early 2000's. And a few years ago before I even dove in, I watched Adam Savage's video when he received his set of Rounders replicas and he mentioned that just by happen chance he came across ASM/
CPC when he was looking for a company to replicate the chips and when they agreed to provide him a set, they did not want their name to be disclosed. Thought it was odd at the time, cause what company doesn't want their name out there for promotion? Especially when "Tested" had millions of subscribers already. I chalked it up to them being a movie prop company that didn't sell to public consumers.
I made another comment before about how I thought it was weird there is only one clay chip manufacturer and seemed like most people contended that there just isn't a market for it. I accepted it as an "agree to disagree" topic cause I think almost any niche can be marketed these days. There just seems to be something a little more secretive when it comes to these clay chips. My opinion, anyway.
As far as comparison between clays and tinas, to me, there shouldn't be. I came here to this forum trying to decide between
CPC's or BRPros as my first set purchase. The Rounders set was the "premium" set I wanted and when I learned what Paulsons were I said no way I'm spending thousands on chips. Discovered what
Tina's were shortly thereafter and started collecting inspiration photos/logos for my custom set. A few weeks after I joined I had
CPC, Ceramics, Hybrids, & China Clay samples in possession, no paulsons. The
CPC's alone made up my mind after alot of back and forth debating between budget and quality. Part of the reason why I joined and went looking for chips was chasing the feeling of playing with the BJ chips in Vegas for the first time in my life this past summer. I still really want a custom
Tina set just for the personalization you get, but I know it won't get any play now that I have two clay sets.
Its a weird way to put it, but the
Tina's get about 80%-90% there, yet at the same time, once theyre in your hands to manipulate, the difference is night and day in my opinion. BRPros feel like Pogs, China Clays feel like little vinyl discs, & Tinas to me are just a gram or two too light, not sharp enough, and still remind me of plastics. We'll all have different reasons why we would lean towards one offering vs the other, for me, I needed that authentic casino feel and my bank account is suffering for it, lol.