I was scrolling through Amazon in The Netherlands and came across this Captains Choice Bowl clone and I couldn't resist giving it a shot as I want to give it a shot before I buy a real one (import/shipping to The Netherlands is quite expensive). For as far as I can see, it has the same sizing and design. Anyone that has an experience with it? When it arrives, I'll post a review as well
As I said in the original post I'm going to leave a review, I sadly do not have a captains choice to compare it to but I know a few of the features that the Captains Choice bowl has so I can at least say what it has as well. First, these are the pictures: It has Chinese letters on the box which means that it came from China, duh. After a quick search on AliExpress, you can find the bowl for about the same price as I found it on Amazon: Now for the design, I really like it but it misses the Captains Choice logo on the front. I might ask a friend if they can make a cool drawing on it with a permanent marker as it's really plain now: Now, it's time for the lather test! I'm not super great at lathering yet but as you can see, you can easily whip up some lather with it. It's a lot faster than a normal bowl, for example, a soup bowl so that's a big plus! It's made of clay/stone and looks really nice. As it's probably machined instead of hand made, it has straight curves in the bottom of it. It also has a slight dent right under the top of it so your lather doesn't flow out of it which is a great plus as well. Overall, I like it a lot for the price! For those that want to give a bowl like Captains Choice a shot but live outside of the US so shipping is expensive, this one will be perfect! They also have it in a dark green color, which looks really fancy as well! I'm probably going to get a real Captain Choice in the (near) future as I love this type of bowl already. Let me know what you guys think of it!
I would look for a pewter medallion of some type and glue it over the blank spot, or alternatively, send it to a sandblast glass/ceramic etcher, and get a custom design engraved. Initials, perhaps? I wonder if the Chinese copied the Captain's Choice bowl or if the Captain's Choice bowls are made in the same factory? Edit: Apparently Captain's Choice pottery bowls are made in the USA. I dug mine out, and visually they are very similar. I have mixed feelings regarding cloned products. When I first started vaping, I tried a lot of different vaping devices. 99% were clones. I found the clones I liked, then tracked down original ones. By trying the clones, I found what I liked, then was able to buy the originals with the money I saved by not buying originals in the first place that I may or may not have liked. If I was going to buy a Feather or Kai shavette, I would buy the CJB clone first, just to give it a try. It's the same shave with a slightly worse handle, finish and materials. From what I can tell, your bowl has all the things I like about the CC bowl I own, and it's one of the more practical shaving bowls out there.
The girlfriend of my brother is really good at drawing so she's going to drawing something over it, it's going to be cool I hope! I'm planning on getting a real one as well as I really like the clone, but the shipping is just the same price as the product itself to The Netherlands so kinda expensive
Totally understandable. I have friends across the water on this forum who use a remailing service. They do their American orders which get sent to an American address, and then the orders are all packed in a single shipment every three to six months and shipped to the overseas address. It cuts down on postage costs considerably. You might want to send a PM to @efsk and ask him how he does it.
Ah! That's a good idea! I have family in the USA so they might be able get some US products and ship them over to me!
I found the best package was a large USPS flat rate box, specifically the one designed to hold two Milton Bradley board games. It cost about $50 to ship, but I was able to fit a massive amount of shaving stuff in it.
