[MarkMarine]

You see a similar thing with the glass chemex. There is a healthy market on eBay for pre-1980 models that were hand blown from great quality glass. My wife got me one for a gift and the difference in feel is remarkable. New ones feel fragile, this feels solid and strong. I’ve broken two of the newer versions and it’s dangerous. The old one is still standing strong in my house, surviving trips in my RV, and generally doing it’s job. I’m sure I sound like a curmudgeon but they don’t make stuff like they used to

[anamexis]

They still make high quality ones, you just have to specifically get the "handblown series" (at 2-3x the price of the regular).

e.g. https://www.chemexcoffeemaker.com/eight-cup-handblown-series...

[MarkMarine]

I am aware of those, but from what I understand the pre-80s ones are still better. I’m sure given a little time someone who is chemex expert will chime in and give a definitive comment.

[DougBTX]

Even if the manufacturing process is the same, pre-80s ones may be better on average due to survivorship bias: the weaker ones broke already.

[ngcc_hk]

Could they be different ent … use say lead … like some lens use radioactive material.

[jghn]

This feels like it might be similar to the difference between PYREX and pyrex [1]

[1] https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-the-difference-be...