Oh, there's an ARTICLE....well, who "reads" articles anyways?

Not Red, apparently

and PS - I just reviewed a Tempered Glass toy

I've never broken a glass sex toy, but I have broken more than one Pyrex glass dish. In all cases they broke into large pieces, rather than shattering into dangerous shards.

I guess my thought is that glass, regardless of being resistant to breakage, IS glass and should be treated as if it WILL break (i.e. store it safely and avoid dropping or banging it into other glass or metal toys). Hopefully that will reduce the likelihood of breakage.

lmao

Oooh. What company is using tempered glass?

The toy was from WHK GmbH

If you read eden's materials guide for tempered glass, it suggests that it is pyrex. I currently don't believe that is true, as the toy recently reviewed said tempered glass on the package and never said pyrex, and I kind of feel like toy companies are all over declaring words like "Pyrex" when they can.

Anyways, if you look at a lot of the cheaper glass toys, you will notice that their material is listed as tempered glass...

?

I was just looking around online and it almost seems like tempered glass would be safer. It seems if a small break occurs, it's designed so the whole thing will just sort of crumble into pieces without sharp edges, as opposed to what DBD's toy did.

How odd.

I'm going to have to do more research now.

Glass and bleach. On my list! Lol

Pyrex glass is actually a brand name, and should technically only be used if the manufacturer or artist purchased glass from the company that owns the name Pyrex. It *should* be borosilicate glass, regardless - all pyrex is borosilicate, but not all borosilicate is pyrex!

Shattering is one thing; according to Adam from Xhale glass, who I interviewed for my article, the issue that can cause health issues is from microfractures and scratches in the surface of the glass that can (at best) trap bacteria, and (at worst) cause internal (to the user) scratching & bleeding.

Most glass toys aren't labled, but the info can usually be found out if you call enough people back up the food chain. There are a number of locally-based people who make glass sex toys and sell w/o a lable or brand - some of their items are perfectly safe, some are a bit iffy (I saw one that had a color applied to the outside of the glass - ooh, that'll be nice when it flakes off in my body - ack!).

NOT all Pyrex is borosilicate, at least not anymore in North America. Originally the Pyrex brand name was only used for borosilicate glass, but the current North American manufacturer of Pyrex cookware uses non-borosilicate glass for it's cheaper lines. All of their laboratory glassware is still borosilicate and all Euoropean Pyrex is still borosilicate.

How that affects glass sold to third parties, I have no idea.

Many colors are in the form of powdered colored glass. During the manufacture it is melted into the body glass, so it is essentially one piece.

Thought as much - I've had one "Pyrex" measuring cup shatter in use (which borosilicate would not do), so now I'm a bit more careful.

Sir, it's not really about the manufacturer so much as it is about the artist who crafted the piece. I have posted in a previous thread that quality labor costs around $40/hr. Most full sized dildos take on average 45-60 minutes to complete...if not longer. So..having said that--if you see a full sized dildo retailing for under $50 or so, then the person who made it probably didn't have the experience to warrant the $40/hr labor charge. Assuming the retailer is only doubling the cost of the item from wholesale to retail, that would mean that a $50 dildo would cost $25 wholesale. Do the math..it doesn't add up. Another thing to keep in mind is that not all American "brands" manufacture all of their pieces in the US. It can be a bit deceiving especially with companies that have been known to be American brands selling American made products for so many years. I will be the first to admit that even XHale, as a company, has been tempted to import some of our goods, but just couldn't find the quality labor that our image and brand has grown to represent. Maybe this quality labor is out there somewhere, unfortunately we have been unable to find it as of yet....and trust me we have been on the hunt for years. Also, outsourcing goods to a foreign country would make it very difficult to maintain a high level of quality control (at least for us)..although frequent trips to Asia or Mexico would be quite nice!

yes
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Absolutely!

Hollyhox - Mr. Sauce is absolutely correct - at least 1 or 2 glass toys are a must!

We have at least 6 of them. When I ask my wife what toy she'd prefer, about 80% of the time it's glass. In the summer it's nearly 95% of the time because of the cool feeling on her hot skin. We don't get into putting them in the fridge - think about it - the glass is room temperature and your body is almost 99 degrees - so even at room temperature it feels cool. To make the glass more user friendly in the winter we take the chill off with a heating pad - but be careful not to get it too hot!

Having said all that - if you're still not convinced, you can always go with steel or aluminum toys like nJoy and Alumina. You get the weight & temperature play with no risks. The only down side is glass comes in many more combinations than the metal toys. The subtle textures, ripples and bumps of the glass are important for my wife.

Happy hunting.