Quote from: Chip Douglas on July 01, 2013, 06:23 amThey say "shards doesn't mean purity", what about "clear shards" as opposed to "cloudy" ones. It may be mind over matter, but the clearer the shard, even if it's a miniscule piece, but it seems the cleaner the Meth. I honestly don't know what to say to that. I've seen exceptions to basically every little tell that people like to use to assess quality. Sometimes clear as glass gear is awful. Sometimes cloudy gear is great. Sometimes it's mostly cut. Sometimes the stuff that smells like cat urine is bangin'. Sometimes it's just nasty and weak. Sometimes gear that takes half the strength in my fingers just to snap a shard and that breaks off cleanly like a twig does nothing for me. Sometimes it has me going like the energizer bunny.I said it once before, and I'll say it again because it's still true: I basically just ignore what the stuff actually looks like. I mean I even ignore whether it's a shard or not too -- if I can't trust something to always mean a certain thing, if there's more than just one or two exceptions to the rule, then wtf use is the rule? I've had pretty fucking great gear that was practically as crushed up as sand on a beach too.Really the only thing I don't think I've ever seen an exception to is the taste. The more horrible, bitter, and God awful the taste, the more potent it is. And I mean *God awful*, not just the bitterness of a tylenol or something. That and the amount of heat it takes and how it reacts to that heat seems pretty reliable... not even the pattern when it goes from a puddle to solid again is reliable as far as I can tell.There are lots of people here who say differently, and they could be right for all I know. But personally the only thing I pay attention to is the taste and how much effect I get from whatever dose I take (I always measure my doses to the milligram). And how it reacts to heat and also to a little bit too much heat, but I almost never vape, so... shrug.QuoteTake care. ChipYou too man. Off to bed for me as well, actually.