Buying Yixing pots online

I think it's so hard to know the quality of pot by online, to do this, one not only needs understanding of yixing 101 but also subjects go far beyond abstract athestic value and subconsciousness I think.

Everyone has different opinions and different preference, I wrote some humble(should be) opinion the other night according to my preference.

Light-Oolong (Taiwanese or TGY) - I prefer thin-walled Zhuni, reason is 1) Zhuni is very good at protecting aroma 2) thin-wall let the leaves uncooked (you know 'spinach' taste..)

Dark-Oolong (Wuyi) - Southern Chinese traditionally preferred Zhuni pots according to GongFu scripts "Mengchen pot (zhuni) / Wuyi teas / Ruoshen (thin, small cups)", I personally like Zhuni cos it can protect aroma and 'Yan Yun'.

Shu and Hongcha - I like 'breathing' clay with sand texture, like Benshan Luni, Di Cao Qing or Huanglong Shan Zini type..

Sheng - for young ones I'd pick 'breathing' clay above, for Gushu and aged ones I'd pick Zhuni. Because I like Zhuni's honesty, which means it just brews as it supposed to be (like porcelain) without any missing, just good for retaining heat.

For Duanni, I don't know..original Duanni is really rare, even Zima (sesame) Duanni is. Most of Duanni is a result of mixing a lot of clays together or none-Huanglong Shan clay. Good Duanni (Benshan Luni as well) actually doesn't get blot or stain, cos minimum temperature required is just over 1200C, these clays, you don't need a towel, just a bit of water erases all. Other good clays, all very easy to handle, clays with lots of stain and unglossy are low temp fired ones and not sandy.

Zhuni is known for not breathing, other clays sand-texture (sand here means quartz silica(like glass) not unfiltered mesh clays) clays breathe well, clay-texture clays don't do that well. Huanglong mountain clays are mostly sand-texture clay and high temp-fired.
Temperature of firing, also affects breathing. Low temp-fired one breathes well, but it leaks heat and breathing stops at some point.
It's just something I heard, don't accuse me so much :)

your comment "a sort of satin finish (not waxy)" - not sure about that, I don't know the exact reason of making pot out of kiln waxy, one thing is high temperature of firing, some story has it it depends on kiln (for example, gas kiln).
On the antique and price.. antique doesn't really have to be expensive if it's after ROC or CR. I just don't like to take after something pre-used without having fun of making new pot into antique.

I think best way is to use them and learn by oneself.

I think most pot collectors would like to own at least one or two pieces of genuine zhuni. As far as whether it's the best clay, I think it depends on the tea... I haven't seen anyone who is claiming it is the best clay for *all* types of tea. Everyone has their own theories about what pots match well with what teas; in general, I think it depends a lot on whether you're trying to soften the taste of the tea and mask any flaws it might have, or whether you want to enjoy the tea (hopefully one with very few flaws) as it is. Of course, at that point, porcelain or silver might be as good (or better) choice; our friend Marshaln mentions his thoughts about this here:
http://marshaln.xanga.com/698160666/wha … anyway-iv/ (this whole series of posts is worth reading if you haven't already)

So given that a genuine old zhuni pot is both beautiful and rare, it stands to reason that anyone owning such a pot would come up with any reason possible to use it (as would I).

While zhuni is less porous than a lot of other types of zisha, I don't think it's true that it doesn't absorb anything. As far as the pot smelling of tea or not, I think this depends on the individual pot as well as the type of tea brewed in it; I have pots which retain tea smells for quite some time after use, but others which don't smell at all even after frequent use.

I have also read that red clay (whether zhuni, hong ni, or local Chaozhou clay) is considered lucky in parts of Fujian because of the color; regardless of the reason, red clay pots are traditional for gong fu in certain geographic regions.

Is the pot you have modern zhuni?

Would someone please take a look at this.

I got it online from Pure Puerh (who are great people), described as new pot from old clay. It has a chop on the inside side wall that I can't photography and a small chop on lid. It feels a little thicker than some. I feel like it's hand made at least in part because of tool marks on the inside.

Does anyone have a suggestion what tea to try? I'm thinking Taiwan oolong.
Does anyone know if this shape has a name.

Any and all info appreciated.