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

[Poker Zombie]

All of my CC's are holding up quite nicely. Milanos are ~ 4 years old, the CPS are what, 2 years old now? None get super-frequent use as I have a primary CPC set, and the Milanos are a travel set, but I will say this:

• Milanos, as a travel set, have been used by players that I would not consider friends. That group was extremely prone to "high splashing" of the pot (Teddy KGB style). Zero detectable damage.
• 4 years accounts for any time factor in deterioration, and I see no appreciable signs of wear.
• The Milanos appear to be more sturdy compared to the CPS chips, but the beveling of the CPS chips is the likely culprit of this perceived frailty.
• China Clays have a noticeable "odor". Odors are gasses. Gasses are created when the a solid goes through sublimation. Thus, any China Clay giving off an odor after any significant amount of time is likely decomposing right before your eyes (nose). People have said that oiling has knocked down the odor. Perhaps it is sealing it in, or preventing air from breaking down the chips - I can only theorize.
• All of my CC's still have the CC scent. It's very mild now compared to new, but it is still there. I would not expect these chips to become heirlooms, but I don't see them turning to dust either.

 

[MillyS]

• Milanos, as a travel set, have been used by players that I would not consider friends. That group was extremely prone to "high splashing" of the pot (Teddy KGB style). Zero detectable damage.

I don't know how you deal with this, it would Erk me to no end. I would use dice chips in this scenario!

 

[Poker Zombie]

I don't know how you deal with this, it would Erk me to no end. I would use dice chips in this scenario!

That wasn't the least of the offences...

• They actually decided that they preferred dice chips
• moving a player for table balancing was decided by vote
• cheap fold-out toppers that were wider than the tables, so if someone leaned on it... AVALANCHE!!!!
• Pay structure for 20 player, $20 buy-in with rebuys: 3rd $20 - 2nd $40 - 1st everything else.
• Fee to play (I think it was $20 a year)
• No rules of etiquette followed

I poached the most personable players.
Their game died.

Poker Sorry.

 

[MillyS]

That wasn't the least of the offences...

• They actually decided that they preferred dice chips
• moving a player for table balancing was decided by vote
• cheap fold-out toppers that were wider than the tables, so if someone leaned on it... AVALANCHE!!!!
• Pay structure for 20 player, $20 buy-in with rebuys: 3rd $20 - 2nd $40 - 1st everything else.
• Fee to play (I think it was $20 a year)
• No rules of etiquette followed

I poached the most personable players.
Their game died.

Poker Sorry.

wow, they clearly have no appreciation for quality!

lol, not surprised their game died!

 

[Poker Zombie]

Well, I did poach the host as well...

 

[dickzapper]

My purple Milanos showed some fading on the faces after a bit of use. It was pointed out by a friend who shuffles chips incessantly so that may have been the cause. I'm not a shuffler, I just like to arrange and rearrange my stack.

 

[Matt G]

I have had the Desert Palms for 4 or 5 years. Lots of use and no problems. Everyone likes them due to good weight. Did have a couple break in half when I first got but none since. I have got lots of CC samples and Desert Palms are always chosen. Too bad they don't make them anymore.

 

[200 Motels]

I think there may have been runs of Pharoah's Clubs that were prone to flecking. I bought a tourney set which we played the frig out of with no flecking. Bought some used $25s and they flecked really quickly.

 

[krafticus]

I bought my wife's cousin a set of the pgi 8vs about 3 years ago. They are used every Saturday since, and look and feel great.

Look in the live stacks thread for my post.

 

[Rhodeman77]

Here are a couple of pics from this past weeks game. If you look close you can see how bad the flaking is on these chips.

 

[CraigT78]

View attachment 41710 View attachment 41711

Here are a couple of pics from this past weeks game. If you look close you can see how bad the flaking is on these chips.

Wow - that is terrible! It's like they are disintegrating right before your eyes.

 

[mummel]

Yeah sorry man, that sucks.

 

[72o]

Damn. Well I certainly don't need that shit at my games...no one does honestly. Too bad cause I love the look of these chips. So typical...a product not made to last.

 

[shaboo]

I still have a set of the very first Dunes CC from the Chiproom, bought during the pre-sale, six or seven years ago. They're still in great shape. No flaking at all.

 

[suited67]

I can concur with Shaboo. I have a set of the first Dunes CC from the Chip room (presale)

No issues at all, one of my favorite economical sets

Jeff

 

[moose]

So I held an outdoor tourney today and so I got out my 8V compression molded chips and damn if they weren't flaking like crazy. I think the 8Vs came from the chiproom. I've only used them maybe a half dozen times.

Old picture from back in 2010

 

[RainmanTrail]

^^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.

Josh told me that the Majestics are made by the same company that made the Pharaoh CCs

 

[mummel]

Josh told me that the Majestics are made by the same company that made the Pharaoh CCs

The Majestics and Milanos have supply issues until July. I suspect the Milanos comes from the same factory too. Who is the manufacturer?

 

[ChipTalker]

I have a sample set of Pharoahs and Milanos as well as a full set of CPS and Majestic. I have never seen any issues until last week I picked up my sample set of Pharoahs to find one edge crumbled. They hardly ever get touched and were just sitting in a rack with nothing on top. It was the bottom that crumbled so not like something chipped the top.

 

[72o]

Amazing! These factories must have used typical inferior or untested materials meant to only last a couple of years and/or this clay-like concoction they used was never tested long term to see if the materials do indeed become one.

Either that or you all live with mice.

 

[Forty4]

I have the ultimate testing of extreme conditions. My boys love to throw poker chips into the trampoline and jump with them in there because of the noise it makes. Lucky for me it's sample sets of poker knights, scroll, nex-gen, but they also got a hold of the china clay samples from PGI. A few didn't survive and broke, most others look like they went to war with slugged chips. Fortunately, they didn't get any of my other CC or CPC samples.

 

[mummel]

What were the first China clays made who was the manufacturer? I would be curious to hear how those held up.

 

[Poker Zombie]

The Majestics and Milanos have supply issues until July. I suspect the Milanos comes from the same factory too. Who is the manufacturer?

What were the first China clays made who was the manufacturer? I would be curious to hear how those held up.

We never deal with manufacturers directly with China Clays. At best we deal with importers or re-sellers (Claysmith, Apache, PGI). There was a GB attempted (CPS v0.1) where some members tried to deal with the manufacturer directly. That buy ultimately failed and the reasons why were kept somewhat private and I respected that privacy.

If you really want to dig though, check out AliBaba.com. Chances are and the manufacturers of China Clay chips are all Chinese names that would mean little or nothing to anyone but an importer or wholesaler.

 

[BGinGA]

My boys love to throw poker chips into the trampoline and jump with them in there because of the noise it makes.

Not usually a fan of homicide, but there are always exceptions......

 

[BGinGA]

What were the first China clays made who was the manufacturer?

Imported by da Vinci, the first china clays were produced on the spirit mold by Eastony Industries. The 'spirit' mold marking is the company's logo, and is often confused with the similar logo used by Sprint.

da Vinci offered two chip lines on the spirit mold: Pyramids Casino, and Casino da Vinci.

http://www.davinciimports.com/pyramidscasinocasinopokerchipset.aspx
http://www.davinciimports.com/casinodavincitri-colorcasinopokerchipset.aspx

 

[Meddler2]

I've owned several cc sets. Sorry to say but the safest bet is to not buy cc. Save you monies and buy quality real clay chips. You'll save money in the long run especially when you consider the cost of custom art and label fees.

 

[Wils]

• Thus, any China Clay giving off an odor after any significant amount of time is likely decomposing right before your eyes (nose). People have said that oiling has knocked down the odor. Perhaps it is sealing it in, or preventing air from breaking down the chips - I can only theorize.

And so I guess another question is:

If they ARE decomposing (big if), how do you stop that? Keep them somewhere dark/cool/well oiled etc etc? Or (assuming this is actually happening) is it inevitable?

 

[mummel]

Its doesnt make sense to pay 30-50c / chip if these things decompose after a few years. Thats crazy.

 

[Poker Zombie]

• Casino chips eventually wear down with play - assuming you can find minty ones to start. Cost $$$$
• CPCs Nearly bulletproof, feel very hard, some find the sharp edges unpleasant. Cost $$$
• Ceramics wear out in time, especially on the edges, leaving an ugly white ring. The image is never as sharp as an inlay or label. Cost $$
• China Clay breaks down in time. Cost $

Saying it's crazy is like saying buying a used car is crazy because it won't last as long. Unfortunately, not all of us have a gigantor pile of money sitting around, so we buy what we can use now, and save up for the nicer one later.

 

[jbutler]

I'd like to hear from more people who use the PGI 8V chips. Would be great to know whether flaking is occurring, but also the amount of use that the chips have seen.

Don't want to start a whole other thread, but have only heard from a few 8V people in here: @manamongkids (negative); @mooremo (positive - apart from pink spotted chips); and @krafticus (positive).

Anyone else? I know at least @TheBigTater and @ttttubby had sets and obviously many more.