How do you know it's imported?

[Emmett's Glass]

How can you tell by looking if something is imported or made in the usa? At many of the shows I've been at this summer I've seen lots of crappy work made from plastic crap that if I were making stuff of that quality and material I'd hope someone would shoot me in the head. It has me fooled that it was really made here, I guess I am expecting more from americans.
Emmett

[3 rip min]

do you mean glass pipes or other things??? i dont know what you mean by plastic crap....

most of the imported glass i see have really heavy fume and just lines of color, mostly reds and blues... i have seen some little dicro spoons that are imported....

[Greymatter Glass]

The guy I work with makes "imported" spoons and sherlocks.... they LOOK like the shit brought in from India and Mexico. It's low quality, poorly annealed, butt-fugly $4 spoons, American Made.

It's hard to tell imports from domestic....that's why there's laws about country of origen labels.

*shrug*

-Doug

[slinger]

there is mad clean chineese prodo flowing thru Vancouver BC. Its really decent, nice fume, worked well, nice i/o patterns, reversals.... the Indian shit i see in Van is crap and barely functional, but the Chineese are rockin it; there are a fair share of "local" blowers who still dont have there pieces as clean as the Chineese.

google "red eye glass" and you can most probably find examples of what im talking about....

and Red Eye Glass, although it is imported, uses a Canadian leaf logo in their logo to insinuate that the glass is "canadian". I think that is pathetic.

chineese prodo ala Red Eye (http://www.planetarypride.com/item226.htm)

[IrieGuy05]

Man those fuckers are biting on my color scheme... prolly stole it off glasspipes.org..

[Mr. Wonka]

How do you know it's imported?






















When somebody posts a photo and everyone has to chime in to bitch about it.


Was that the answer to the riddle? :rollin

[smutboy420]

:tongue: LOL
good one tom.

[slinger]

the only thing that bothers me about Red Eye is that they market there glass like it was locally blown. Ive seen it on websites before listed as glass made in beautiful British Columbiaand their logo is misleading. Otherwise, they have a quality product, i cannot dis the craftsmanship of most of their glassware. This other indian stuff though, sucks because it has too small bowl holes, too small constrictions in the stems so it barely draws, they dont stand up well, and the seals are not done proper, they have big seams. It sucks if someone buys one of these pieces and then it breaks easy and they spread the vibe that glass is not worth getting because it breaks easily. Honestly, some local blowers have huge technical flaws in their work that bothers me too when i see it in stores. ahhh....whatever......

[IrieGuy05]

I was just kidding... I hate some imports tho..

[Udai Hussien]

Something I have noticed about cheap imports is, the fuming (well the silver fuming) looks like maybe they are using sterling to fume, so it has a dark PEE orngish/yellow hue to it. It looks dirty. and any lenses, (or is it lensi?) always have bubbles in them like they are boiled out, like trying to make a lense with yellow crayon or something. and I have never, ever seen an import with a centered bowl hole or eound mouthpiece (well PERFECTLY round at least). lastly , they use wierd off the wall colors you cannot distinguish what it is. Its sorta like turbo, but it has a slight green hue to it.. I know you guys have seen that before... anyway, thats my $0.02

[chayes]

It sucks if someone buys one of these pieces and then it breaks easy and they spread the vibe that glass is not worth getting because it breaks easily


true, imports just makes glass look bad.

[Emmett's Glass]

This post isn't just about glass it's about all art/crafts. I was at a show this weekend where I thought 2/3 of the stuff was imported at first glance. I then went around and looked at the stuff close up and talked with some of the supposed makers. I do think most of the people made the stuff they were selling to some extrent.
When the application of the show I'm at has this:
Vendors are limited to those who have designed and crafted the items they will sell. AF reserves the right to determine the eligibility of all materials, and at their option, remove any objectionable materials. e.g. Resale merchandise, imports, mass produced items, fabricated kits, other items as determined by ARTS FAIR.
I expect to see a few nice things at the show instead of some shit on a stick.
E

[homer]

I know a place you can get tube pulls for reversals premade from Thailand. All 1st quality GA and NS colors...the same place the spoon bodies are appearing from. The spoons are all wigged but no carb and no bowl, and they are still on a blowtube....crazy shit. and to top it off they are DIRT CHEAP. You can also get "bead curtains" from this shit that are little I/O bats all strung together with a wooden bead between each one.....you cant tell if it is imported or not.

Homer

[Fire on the mountain]

throw it against the wall and see how pissed the owner gets.

[slinger]

that's mature.

[steven p selchow]

juired art shows or craft dont hold the same meaning anymore. I do a lot of art shows during the year, and most require slides, which are scrutinized, but now a days, the booth fee takes priority, i'm of course talking sculpture, not funtional.

Their getting better my friends, and don't hold it against them for that reason alone.

steve

[rumplephorskin]

Well; as Americans we need to protect our interests and chase our competition off the block. And Emmet Im sure you can find some fine examples of imports at Shamus's University Smoke Shop on 42nd and university. Shamus used to always lie and say he was getting his glass from Oregon but Im sure it was more like New Delhi. LOL

[Mr. Wonka]

The debate on imported items (art or not) boils down to the bottom line- cost and profit margin. Here's a "non art" example of a decision I made last week:

I needed 25 additional folding chairs for our demo area, and I had a catalog from a company in California (?) that had them listed for $18 to $26 each plus shipping. The catalog boasted "American made", and had the flags plastered on just about every page. Then I checked out Staples, and the same chairs sold for $9.00 each- with free shipping.

As much as I would like to support American companies and workers, do I spend $225 on the Chinese product, or $500 - $700 on the American counterpart? If I was independantly wealthy it wouldn't matter all that much. Since I'm not, I had to go for the imported chairs.

The American company had a delivery time of 5 to 10 business days, and Staples got them here in 3 (they were delivered today). In addition to a better price and delivery time, I have a Staples "advantage card" in which I get a 2% - 5% refund on my purchases every 3 months (the percentage varies depending on the item).

What choice would you have made in my situation?

It's the same choice that store owners deal with when they order their merchandise... It's the same choice all of you deal with when buying things. Do you really care that your shoes were manufactured in Thailand? Maybe you do, but you paid $10.00 instead of $40.00 for an "American made" product, and you based your decision on how much money you had in your wallet as opposed to who you would like to support.

My apologies for taking this thread a bit off track. We all want to support American companies and workers, but we also have to support our own families... and the cost of goods is definitely a factor for everyone.

[steven p selchow]

Damn right...I'd buy my gas from a bum on the side of the road with a gas can if it was $2.50 a gallon.

I use to ride bikes, a harley at that, and all I heard was fuck the jap bikes, having an american made bike, I wasn't into all that anyway, when I heard some dude critisize a rice rocket, I actually stuck up for him and said, yeah, ride your harley, then ride it home and turn on your japanese tv, and your japanese stereo while your at it...I don't like double standards, but I put made in america stickers on all my glass shipments...go figure.

steve

[skip]

... Now if the crappy chinese seats break and Tom gets sued would you of wanted a better chair?

[IrieGuy05]

Chairs aren't pipes...

[slinger]

pipe or chair, its irrelevant, to a businessman its all a widget.

[jiminyrootkit]

... Now if the crappy chinese seats break
not a certainty.
the chinese are pretty proficient at metal these days, it's just all about what the person importing it wants to pay.
if you want a cheap fucking widget, you will get a cheap piece of shit widget, but you'll get it for next to nothing.
if you are willing to pay a little more, you can have things built to a better spec. and you can have some real nice chairs...
....guess what most american importers go for.
-f

[skip]

I hear ya Frank....I was entirely fueling the fire here. I have only been in a Walmart once( my son needed diapers on a road trip) but I own many imported items. My TV was put togethor at the Sony plant in San Diego though.. hmm...

[Stagger Lee]

they use wierd off the wall colors you cannot distinguish what it is.

I've used 2nds that looked like that. :ohwell:



As for the buy American............ I use to ONLY buy from NON communist countries. And I'll tell you it's HARD!!! Try and buy a vinyl shower curtain or a unbrella or even excerise wieghts. YOU CAN'T!!!! It's all made in CHINA!! If I have a choice I'll buy USA but sometime you don't. Then you do have to factor in the $$. IF it's only a few bucks more I'll diff go with a locally made product. Whats a few bucks when you know it going to your nieghbor. I'm wierd like that.... I like to support my nieghborhood. An example would be I like going to the little crappy hotels, motels and mom & pops instead of the BIG ASS fancy dancy corporate shitholes..

[steven p selchow]

as consumers, we want a lot. I want a lot. I actually reveiw consumer reports on a lot of purchases..come to mind, my first review back in 78', I bought a microwave oven, a panasonic, huge monster, when they first came out basically, I know now their $50.00. I paid $398.00 back then, because they were a new product, but guess what...that thing has been dropped, abused, and 27 years later with not a problem, it works and not one repair, because I researched it, and american made back then wasn't an issue like now.

These foreign companys put out a quality product, and yes, I do pay the extra buck for an american made item now, I actually factor that in as stagger said if its only a few $, but not outrageous.

steve

[sprout]

I think that there are two pipe markets. First there are the people who just want a bowl to cram full of sticky goodness. They dont really care if its a wrap and rake. They dont care if the ruby turned all livery. All they care about is that it cost them less than 20$$. Then there are the people who will pay ANY price for sic ass glass. Thats all they want and they notice if bowl isnt polished or if the colors are well done or not. The way I see it, I dont want to spent the rest of my life making what the rest of the world is trying to copy for a profit. I want to grow and develop and I just want to make sic ass glass.(with alot more practice first :o )