Brief interview with a new ebonite supplier

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:31 am

sethile wrote:Rats, my samples never came. I may try again, but it sounds like they may be swamped at this point.

John, did you get your large order? If so, how does it look?

Any one else get an actual order of rod in?

Last I'd E-mailed with them Cumberland was in the works. Anyone have any updates on the status of that?

My order has yet to arrive. I did get an invoice a little over a week ago stating the order was paid and shipped on the 5th of March. They said it was shipped DHL. Apparently, according to DHL ( the guys with the big yellow trucks ), sometimes packages from Germany are listed as DHL but are not sent through them but the Deutchepost which is the German postal sysstem.

I emailed SEM last thursday about a possible tracking number (In case they used the private company DHL) but have not heard back. Last email I got from them mentioned two weeks delivery time. That was 21 days ago. I will just have to keep my fingers crossed.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:24 pm

@John
Most of the time when Germans refer to shipping via DHL, they mean the regular German postal service.

sethile · Post by **sethile** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:13 am

Thanks for the update, John. Let us know when you get your order, and how it looks. I'm sure it's a bit nerve racking as well a bit confusing having to wait, and having DHL turn out to meen the German postal service and not the DHL or the yellow trucks (they're great for international shipping, but not cheep). It's also easy to confuse USPS with UPS here, and must be especially so for Europeans.

I'll wait till the end of this week to see if I get my samples. It sounds like they have really been swamped. Hoping they get caught up soon, and will also have time to work on some Cumberland.

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:34 am

Frank wrote:@John
Most of the time when Germans refer to shipping via DHL, they mean the regular German postal service.

Yeah, that is what I hear. Funny thing is though... the sample I got in the mail came in the big yellow DHL truck. I imagine I would have gotten it in days rather than weeks though if it were shipped the same.

bluesmk · Post by **bluesmk** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:38 am

I got mine in a week...and it was shipped Deutsche Luftpost.
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:23 pm

bluesmk wrote:I got mine in a week...and it was shipped Deutsche Luftpost.
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

Fuck

TreverT · Post by **TreverT** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:32 am

They ARE alive still - I just heard from them today. Apparently they are having problems getting the colored rod casting going smoothly and it's causing hangups. But, at least they haven't vanished.

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:42 am

I have spoken with a couple guys I know who send and recieve packages internationaly all the time. Apparently the 3+ weeks for me to get this is not unusual for govt. postal systems. I guess it all depends on where you are located and such. So, I will stop worrying and hope it will arrive any day now.

The posts about Briar Grain shipments being lost and such and Dan getting his in a week had me worried there for a bit

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 4:24 pm

@John
The stuff from Germany is the ebonite.

The stuff from BriarGrains is the briar from Algeria. Rumour has it he's under siege from the French Foreign Legion. They still can't decide whether to "March or Die"!

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:25 pm

I understand that BriarGrains is briar and SEM ebonite. I was just making reference to other problems that had been had with international shipments in general.

RadDavis · Post by **RadDavis** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:02 am

John,

Are you sure that the stuff from SEM is Ebonite? Are you sure that Briar Grains isn't selling Manzanita?

It could be that you don't understand anything.

Rad

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:04 am

Don't make me come down there Davis

bugsy · Post by **bugsy** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:16 pm

john ..have you received your ebonite yet?

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:03 am

Not yet. I am thinking of holding a contest where whoever guesses closest to the date of arrival gets a free half meter rod.

LexKY_Pipe · Post by **LexKY_Pipe** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:41 pm

Just got my ebonite from SEM. The stuff looks very good.

sethile · Post by **sethile** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 5:59 pm

I received my small order on Thursday, and yes, mine looks great too! I'm really glad these guys are up and runing. I hope to get some Cumberland when they have it ready, and will likely order another larger batch of Ebonite at the same time.

Oddly enough, my samples never did come, and it was sort of surprise that this order happened. It was actually not intended to be a order at all, but a request for a quote that included both the Ebonite that they sent, as well as some Cumberland, which turned out to still be in the works. Apparently they thought it was a firm order and shipped the Ebonite. I received an invoice for that a couple of weeks ago. No matter, as it's great stuff at a very good price, even with the shipping and handling charges for a small order. They are also set up to take PayPal, which makes it much easier and cheaper to pay them than using a wire transfer, or getting a check made in Euros.

I'm a surprised but happy camper

Leus · Post by **Leus** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:16 pm

sethile wrote:I received my small order on Thursday, and yes, mine looks great too! I'm really glad these guys are up and runing. I hope to get some Cumberland when they have it ready, and will likely order another larger batch of Ebonite at the same time.

Oddly enough, my samples never did come, and it was sort of surprise that this order happened. It was actually not intended to be a order at all, but a request for a quote that included both the Ebonite that they sent, as well as some Cumberland, which turned out to still be in the works. Apparently they thought it was a firm order and shipped the Ebonite. I received an invoice for that a couple of weeks ago. No matter, as it's great stuff at a very good price, even with the shipping and handling charges for a small order. They are also set up to take PayPal, which makes it much easier and cheaper to pay them than using a wire transfer, or getting a check made in Euros.

I'm a surprised but happy camper

I'm not that happy. Shipping charges were about 80 euros!

The thing is that I requested a quote, then I got the invoice, then a big package of ebonite that I wasn't going to receive, but it was received anyways in my name...

Well, I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and just pay it, because I cannot send it back now without paying a ridiculous amount of money. At least the ebonite is really good.

staffwalker · Post by **staffwalker** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:52 pm

[quote="sethile"]
I received my small order on Thursday, No matter, as it's great stuff at a very good price, even with the shipping and handling charges for a small order.

[quote="Leus"]
I'm not that happy. Shipping charges were about 80 euros!
The thing is that I requested a quote, then I got the invoice, then a big package of ebonite

Pardon my questions if they are too personal. What size orders are we talking about? Scott, you don't say how much your shipping was nor how big your order was. I have been delaying making a small order of about 5 to 10 meters of ebonite but the 80 euros Leus had to pay is rather frightening. Could one of you give me some info to guide me?

bob gilbert

sethile · Post by **sethile** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:43 pm

Shipping and handling is expensive, but in my opionion it's worthwhile.

They charge a 25 Euro handling fee for small orders (under 100 Meters). S/H for my 5 stave order was 68 Euros (more than the Ebonite was, which was 49 Euros). My total cost was 117 Euros. Using PayPal it cost me $163.30 USD. This order was sort of a mistake, but like I said, I'm happy!

Keep in mind that these staves at 1 meter are almost twice as long as the ones PE is selling, and at less than 1/2 the price (i.e. this is less than 1/4 of the price). So the shipping and handling is high, of course, but well worth it. The price list I got is different than the one CKR received, so perhaps they have had to raise their prices?

Anyway, check it out. I'll be ordering again when their Cumberland is ready, and depending on the price will get some more Ebonite too. If your scared of the shipping you can get some from ArtGuy after his next order, but don't expect the same price as going direct.

One thing's for sure.... Pipe making is not cheap

RadDavis · Post by **RadDavis** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:07 am

Hey Scott,

Did they ship your order as full meter rods, or were they cut in half?

Rad