Finksburg, MD here (most say where is that... so I say Westminster)
Welcome, to the forum... and awesome that you are taking in lots of info, is there anything yet that catches your eye? How about sharing the story of what brought you to the forum, long time poker player tired of Dice chips is the typical story but not always! Haha
As I have told others the awesome part about joining in a densley populated chipping area like the DMV is that there are so many chippers around. If you ask many will invite you to a home game and you can check out all kinds of chips without having to buy samples. That obviously doesn't mean that everyone has a ton of old samples (or lower end plastics aka sluggos) sitting around (I do) but you can definitely check out all kinds of real clay, Paulson, CPC, BCC, TRKs. Also Tons of different ceramics, hybrid ceramics, Tina China any many other types of chips around the local area.
We have a DMV connection thread, I'll find it and post a link, should be a good way to get an invite to come out and meet some fellow chippers.
Always around if I can ever be of assistance.
Fellow Chipper Ben