This is a tougher topic and so many ways to agree with both sides, but I'm going to say I don't think Tinas kill the collector chip hobby in a significant way. Cheaper poker chips are usually the starting point. A small percentage of those people will eventually want to find better chips. Sometimes this is from visiting casinos/cardrooms and then searching around to find something better. I know that's what happened to me as I started to build a facination with casino chips I handled in Vegas and simply got tired of the non-denominated dice chips.
When I started to explore for something better, I went to ceramic chips and used those a few times. Overall I wasn't satisfied with how they handled, played, or sounded. I also explored bud jones plastic chips back in the late 2000s but again wasn't happy with the way they felt or handled and eventually got some clay chips. I've been stuck on clay ever since. I appeciate their feel and sound even at the higher cost. That higher cost though for me when I started was 1-2 bucks a chip and I was plenty happy with that for a while and lead me to having multiple chips sets of various rarities and price points. I'm mainly a person who enjoys playing poker but also I appreciate good quality chips. I would say I'm an edgelier for poker players where I continued to dig deeper into the chip collectables.
For poker players, they are plenty happy with something good enough. They won't be chasing sets which are $5+ a chip unless they are also as facinated by chips as they are about poker. Sure,
Tina's may cause some to leave sooner than they would have normally, but if they really mindset and love for much nicer chips I think they will return. I had two clay chip sets for 8 years before I returned again. My original chipping days were on the blue board but life happened (had kids and was too busy raising them) so I took as big haitus. Came back to PCF and jumped right back in. I don't think I'm the norm and the small % of people who will be of this same mind won't be happy with
Tina's for long.
I bought a couple sets of Tinas as well. One cash set I played with a few times but sold. I still have a cheap tournament set because I never play tournaments but it's there just in case. Would I have bought a tournament set instead that costs a few thousand dollars and would sit there. Probably not.
Even with the guys I know who go to card houses often, they absolutely appreciate playing with my clay chips. So much so that they refer to me as "The VIP guest". No it's not because of how splashy I play because I win just as much as I lose lol. It's because I bring the nice chips, the table topper sometimes and the nice cards which make the games more enjoyable.
TLDR: Give them time with their Tinas. If they have potential to be real chip fanatics like us, they will be back.