Clermont Lounge: ASM Smooth Plain Mold ***Round 1 of Pr0n Added***

[B.C.]

These came out looking great. Congrats!!

[jbutler16]

thought i'd add a little longer review of these chips now that i have a minute. driving home yesterday, knowing they were waiting for me, i was honestly a little nervous. i had very high hopes for the set and i ordered 1700+ chips, so if for some reason there were significant problems (whether with my color choices, the design, or maybe even manufacturing issues that could come from a mold that hasn't seen heavy use in quite a time) i was afraid i'd be pretty bummed even though i'd steeled myself for some minor defects. i was concerned that the light blue would look too gray or that the purple just wouldn't look right with the set, etc.

as soon as i broke them out of the box and started going through them, i was totally blown away. everything i'd hope for was there and they honestly looked better than i'd imagined. the gradient used to "age" the inlay, which doesn't come across that well in the pictures, looks fantastic. the inlays themselves are perfectly crisply printed. i've only seen one single noticeably off-center inlay in the set.

the mold renders a predominantly smooth chip. there is a very light texture, but it is truly subtle. the smoothness of the chip results in a bit of a slight suction effect at times and stacks are very stable. i didn't experiment with stacking heights or anything because i was pretty busy last night with work stuff, but i'll get to it. i have no doubt they'll stack as well as my HHRs, which are the best stacking ASMs i have. shuffling isn't super easy yet, but only due to the sharp edges.

getting dressed this morning i glanced at the clock on my nightstand and saw the red clermont chip next to a red BPOE chip and they looked so similar in that glance. that's gratifying because it was my fascination with BPOE chips and the stray antlers chip that really got me dying to get this set made a while back.

the photos really do not do the light blue, dark green, and purple justice due to the mediocre quality of my camera and my crappy photography skills. the light blue is a great, great color. i know there have been batches that resulted in the slate-type tone that i feared, but i think ASM has worked this color formula out because these chips and the light blue in several sets i've seen lately have looked phenomenal. i'll have to do some side-by-side comparisons, but without those i'd say it's closest to BCC's horizon blue, which i love. the dark green isn't as dark as it appears, but has a great deep tone to it and the purple is a bit brighter than it appears. i'll have to get scans of these chips up to show the colors. maybe one of the sample set recipients has a better camera and better skills than me.

i know a lot of folks are not that fond of ASM's yellow, but obviously - given which chip i chose for my workhorse denom and how many i ordered - i love its mustard tone. the only regret i have is that i think i might should have stuck with retro lavender for the $25. i was concerned about the weight, but i think retro lav would have just worked better with the other colors. in fact, i might put in an add-on order for some retro lav replacement $25s before jim uninstalls the mold.

i'd definitely recommend this mold. it's not one that will work for every set, for sure, but it is perfect for these. i'd really be interested to see one with spots.

i'll count up exactly how many extra chips i have tonight and see how many sample sets i can get together apart from those already promised. i think it will probably work better if i just send one or two chips to those considering the mold or just curious about its feel. the funny thing is the denom that i got the most extras for was the $100 and i'm a little less inclined to send out a ton of those since these will have cash value. i'm sure there's nothing to worry about but we'll see.

[BPTDirector]

They came out beautifully Jack!!

And J5 is the man - another great inlay design. There are many other talented designers here as well, but J5 seems to ring the bell quite often with his insight and artistic touches.

Best of luck with them -

BPT

[JM]

Wow those look FAWESOME! Congrats Jack! Can't wait for you to bring these up to your home away from home (new england) so we can have large stacks of them in front of us while we fondle them!

Hopefully you got enough extras for samples for your northern homies (hint hint).

[courage]

Good to hear the additional thoughts, Jack. Now more pr0n!

re: retro lav. vs. purple, I like how the purple balances the set with a deep color to match the .50 and nice contrast to the "gold/mustard" yellow chip. Ret lav would also work but just be a different look. Personally, I like your choice of purple since I haven't seen it used much.

[DubleDex]

That's a good looking set.

I'm always amazed when someone posts mock-ups of a design or mold that I'm only "so-so" on... and then the final product arrives and it blows me away. I would never have thought I would like the no-mold (especially smooth) and then I see these all stacked up and looking gorgeous. Dang.

Nicely done on the color choices, the design and all.

[jbutler16]

Originally Posted by courage

re: retro lav. vs. purple, I like how the purple balances the set with a deep color to match the .50 and nice contrast to the "gold/mustard" yellow chip. Ret lav would also work but just be a different look. Personally, I like your choice of purple since I haven't seen it used much.

yeah after a little more thought i doubt i'll change it up. i remember now that my thinking when i chose purple was that not only would it be weighted, but it would also be one of the three most used denoms - $1, $5, $25 - and i thought that retro lav would look too close to light blue. i wasn't really worried about not being able to tell them apart in a pot, more just the aesthetics of having the three denoms on the table further from one another on the color spectrum.

i should also mention that they all came oiled. i know ASM does this as standard practice now, but man do i love it. i probably would not have oiled them myself just because it would have taken too damn long with that many chips. now i get all the benefit with none of the work

@JM i got you covered! we talked about it a while back so i already had you down for one.

[JM]

You da man! Can't wait to see these in big pots.

[denizzz]

Perfecto! cant wait to see those in hands!!!!

[JJ83]

Ready for round two!!!