I think China clays are decent alternatives if one doesn’t wanna break the bank.
Exactly. I own some nice clay chips (some leaded) I've either bought or were gifted over the years, but no way I'm using these as a "family set" for 'barbarian play' during holiday get-togethers like Thanksgiving and Christmas (poker and board games). I currently use sluggos for this target market, but I wanted to upgrade to something better. I tried some chip samples/friend's chips out before finally deciding on a
CC set. When I first went in, I was sure I was going Ceramic.
One thing I really, really hate is flash (primarily edge flash) and it's pretty well a standard on cheaper slugged plastics (the ones we currently use have smooth edges with some label flash/nipples), and even with ceramic, no matter how sanded they were from the company, I was still finding slight edge nubs/depressions or edge discoloration here and there, even on the expensive ones - some of the cheaper Ceramics have more flash than a Flash Thompson + Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five collab. The CCs are nice that way because they inject from the top (under the label) and even when switching a few labels to get additional denominations, I didn't find any flash at all.
In terms of sound, Paulson clay is my favorite, but I like
CC over Ceramic, and the "feel" of a
CC is better (to me) than a Ceramic - Both are forms of plastic, but I like how the CCs just 'feel" softer. And some Ceramic chips are quite slippery and can get worse over time as the 'tread' is lost. The wealth of designs for Ceramic are great, but for me, there are as many pros as cons. As for the
CC smell, I have a very sensitive nose, and while I can smell plastic sluggos from a mile away, the CCs I tried out never bothered me. The Hybrid chips are a nice compromise, but the ones I've seen still have slight flash/nibs on the edges, which bothers the heck out of me.
Personally, if you need an inexpensive set, especially if it's going to be used by non-Poker people (kids, uncouth friends/relatives), and you still want a "better than plastic sluggos" level of class, and you hate flash, then
CC is a good choice as these are both inexpensive and readily available. And they don't have flash.