Why isnt there a wider variety of china clay poker chips in the market? (1 Viewer)

[MrPOKA]

Its seems to me that quite a few people in here own/buy china clays as an affordable alternative to real clay chips (Paulsons/CPC)

Truth is, in contrast to ceramics or ABS, CCs have a little bit of that chalky feeling that real clay chips have and seeem to be able to absorb at least some mineral oil if they are oiled where as it is useless or even catastrophic trying to oil ceramics or ABS
Personally i own an Apache CCs Bank set , Tiky kings from BRPro, a set of Ceramic EPTs from Mandy Chips and three metal slug sets and i do preffer my China Clays above all although ceramics have their own "charm" when thrown on the felt + you can be sure your great grand children will inherit them and will stll be playable...

If other people also feel that CCs are an ok alternative to real clay chips and the prices are indeed affordable why isnt there a wider variety of them in the market?

 

[Machine]

Personally, I prefer BRPro blanks to CC, but for more than just the physical properties of the blanks.

Mandy chips are slugged and basically the same thing as dice chips. I wouldn't say CCs are an alternative to clay, they are an alternative to dice chips or ciggerettes, they are often a value or budget chip that have some pros and some cons to other options.

It's a bit like saying my Chevy Malibu is an alternative to a Porsche. Sure they both perform some of the same functions, but I wouldn't have the same expectations of the two.

You might spend a bit more time on the site, the variety is huge, if you don't want to make your own, and no one is willing to share a design that you have seen, just reach out to the manufacture, they will be happy to share all of the designs they have with you for free, they often will even edit them slightly upon request.

 

[detroitdad]

Personally, I prefer BRPro blanks to CC, but for more than just the physical properties of the blanks.

Mandy chips are slugged and basically the same thing as dice chips. I wouldn't say CCs are an alternative to clay, they are an alternative to dice chips or ciggerettes, they are often a value or budget chip that have some pros and some cons to other options.

It's a bit like saying my Chevy Malibu is an alternative to a Porsche. Sure they both perform some of the same functions, but I wouldn't have the same expectations of the two.

You might spend a bit more time on the site, the variety is huge, if you don't want to make your own, and no one is willing to share a design that you have seen, just reach out to the manufacture, they will be happy to share all of the designs they have with you for free, they often will even edit them slightly upon request.

I was going to say because China clays suck. Your post is said way better. I agree with pretty much the entire thing!.

 

[upNdown]

I was going to say because China clays suck. Your post is said way better. I agree with pretty much the entire thing!.

Yup, me too.
I will add that at their price point, I don’t think China clays have any place in the market at all - you can get better quality chips for cheaper. But to be fair, my opinion of the quality of China Clay chips is very low.

 

[BirdCage]

I'll take a crack at the answer...

Multiple reasons, including:

1) The development of a new China Clay mold likely took a significant financial, time, and chip run quantity commitment. I believe all prior China Clay molds were "sponsored" by a commercial entity.

2) China Clay sales were pretty good, but not great. Perhaps both a combination of few designs and poor quality reputation from the earlier production runs.

3) The advent of ceramic and now Tina Hybrids, with their similar cost and effectively unlimited design potential, has leap-frogged the value proposition that China Clays once represented.

All that being said, I personally own sets of both and like each for their advantages ( for instance, the color of China Clays is more than skin deep, while Tinas offer design flexibility). I feel a modern China Clay chip (like Dunes via Apache) is competitive with current Tina hybrids.

 

[allforcharity]

Competition has drove most of the CC manufacturers out of the market. Better quality ceramics for comparable price, the sting of early poor quality control (and later poor consistency), and a limited customer base.

 

[MrPOKA]

Mandy chips are slugged

That is a semi true statement. Mandy chips offer metal slugged + ceramics.
I dont know whether you have had the opportunity to see and feel upclose their ept (european poker tournament) ceramics but the quality control of the set i got is above average . Completely flat chips ( no spinners) , bright colors ( ie very good "printing") and consistency in weight and thicknes although each chip is 3.4 cm instead of the universal 3.3 cm thus only 49 fit in an typical 50 chips per row case...

I have no opinion of their metal slugged since i never got samples

 

[MrPOKA]

I'll take a crack at the answer...

Multiple reasons, including:

1) The development of a new China Clay mold likely took a significant financial, time, and chip run quantity commitment. I believe all prior China Clay molds were "sponsored" by a commercial entity.

2) China Clay sales were pretty good, but not great. Perhaps both a combination of few designs and poor quality reputation from the earlier production runs.

3) The advent of ceramic and now Tina Hybrids, with their similar cost and effectively unlimited design potential, has leap-frogged the value proposition that China Clays once represented.

All that being said, I personally own sets of both and like each for their advantages ( for instance, the color of China Clays is more than skin deep, while Tinas offer design flexibility). I feel a modern China Clay chip (like Dunes via Apache) is competitive with current Tina hybrids.

Thank you for your answer. If all is true it explains the "why" in my question....

 

[LeLe]

CCs are an ok alternative to real clay chips and the prices are indeed affordable

That's a very nice way of saying CC is a cheap knockoff

One might be satisfied with 1 knockoff set but to wanting to own multi knockoffset is rare

 

[MrPOKA]

Competition has drove most of the CC manufacturers out of the market. Better quality ceramics for comparable price, the sting of early poor quality control (and later poor consistency), and a limited customer base.

I am not really sure if we should be comparing ceramics and CCs as alternatives to each other except maybe when talking about pricing....
Different sound, different feel.
Let me explain :
In terms of sound my CCs are closer to real clay and to the metal slugged i own... Yes, some metal slugged have a more "muted" sound closer to CCs and real clays than to ceramics...
In terms of feel CCs seem to be closer to real clay than to ceramics or metal slugged . Metal slugged have a plastic feel although the metal insert makes the chips feel much better than cheap crappy dice chips + in some cases the plastic material is much much better than the majority of dice chips
My two ceramic sets have a clingy sound which is bit annoying to me, i preffer more muted chip sounds, In terms of feel they come second after my CCs set. There is a possibility that i will be soon purchasing a CPC set that will definately be the king of my sets... (I do have have missed the end of April deadline to order from the current owners - waiting to see what will happen with the new owners)

What i dont like about CCs is the smell..Yes , my Apache "the Bank" chips do smell.....
John hobby has also mentioned that in some cases CCs tend to crumble after maybe a decade... Even he is not sure why that happens or under what conditions ( temperature, humidity etc) that happens...

 

[MrPOKA]

That's a very nice way of saying CC is a cheap knockoff

One might be satisfied with 1 knockoff set but to wanting to own multi knockoffset is rare

I dont think you will find anybody disagreeing that CCs have been an attempt to simulate ( to an extend) real clay chips...
Is that really a bad thing though?

 

[LeLe]

I dont think you will find anybody disagreeing that CCs have been an attempt to simulate ( to an extend) real clay chips...
Is that really a bad thing though?

I get it that that’s a group of people who will buy / used faked LV bag but you don’t see them buying a cabinet of faked LV bags which is my point of why there is no greater variety of CC


You can talk and say how good how affordable how close fake LV bag are but end of the day they still fake and not in greater demand even if there is greater variety

 

[MrPOKA]

I get it that that’s a group of people who will buy / used faked LV bag but you don’t see them buying a cabinet of faked LV bags which is my point of why there is no greater variety of CC


You can talk and say how good how affordable how close fake LV bag are but end of the day they still fake and not in greater demand even if there is greater variety

So you are saying than eg Apache poker chips is a company that is trying to sell the equivalent of Fake LV in poker chips ??
I have the feeling that Apache poker chips is a quite respected company in this forum , that is certainly true of John Hobby if you watch his videos...
Nevertheless its your right to have your own opinion and although i disagree with it , i respect it....