RooR .US no longer exists?

[awood]

Is this true? Someone at my LHS told me that RooR .US no longer exists and Zob is trying to get the rights to produce RooRs.

[ja rasta]

yeah this is tru, check out sheldon black glass

[DCALLSTARR]

eah i heard sheldon black ( an ex blower for Roor.US) is making roor quality tubes, steamrollers, etc..

[bghjkl]

eah i heard sheldon black ( an ex blower for Roor.US) is making roor quality tubes, steamrollers, etc..

I heard that RooR.us changed their name to sheldon black to reflect the sudden upgrade in their product (6arm removable stems, etc) and Zob now blows RooR.us

if only a reliable source could say what really happened....

[Unhallowed420]

I have a pretty reliable source (know someone at roor), and the RooR.us factory did in fact stop making RooR tubes. A part of the switch over to Sheldon Black was due to all the fakes and issues with counterfeit pieces. The last shipments of RooR.us pieces should have already been sent out from what I was told.

Not sure if RooR.de has a hand in this as well, as I saw something on their site saying they wanted to have the same pieces world wide with easier buying in the US and etc. So they may have pulled RooR.us' rights to produce on top of it.


If you havent taken a look at the Sheldon Black pieces, I highly recommend it. All of the quality of RooR.us with new designs and improvements.

[Infamous]

I heard that RooR.us changed their name to sheldon black to reflect the sudden upgrade in their product (6arm removable stems, etc) and Zob now blows RooR.us

if only a reliable source could say what really happened....

No sir, ROOR .us and Sheldon Black are owned by completely different people.
They are made in the same glass factory, in Southern California.
The rights to the ROOR name for North America have been switched, correct. The same person that has owned the name, for the past 10 years or so, has given it back after him and the heads of ROOR in Germany couldnt see eye to eye.
The rumor is the name has been sold to the people that own ZOB. That hasnt been confirmed yet, though.
ROOR has announced though, that they are now one entity, no longer ROOR u.s and ROOR .de, they are now all the same, presumably putting out the same products. So we'll see what that means for the ROOR line.

EDIT: I see unhallowed has now posted...
I dont believe that ROOR .us was "closed"/sold because of counterfeit issues; that is ridiculous, I read the memo also(not saying you didnt hear that from the people at ROOR), but I think that was just an excuse to try to cover up the fact that they couldnt get along with each other[which they also mentioned]).
I believe they would be the first company EVER to shut down because of counterfeit issues. (And I would say that just shows the lack of recent quality control and innovation)

[Unhallowed420]

Not saying counterfeits were the only issue, but a HUGE part of the problem soiling their name. If you're in SoCal, you can hit a smoke shop in almost ANY town no matter how small or remote and find fake RooRs everywhere. The fakes as well as RooR.de's issues are the reason they switched to their own brand, Sheldon Black.

[Infamous]

Again, they would be the first company ever to close because of counterfeits(even if it was only half the problem). It doesnt happen, the company either deals with them or makes their product to a state in which its not easily/economically copied.
It just doesnt happen. Much more expensive to go create another company entirely, than to change up the manufacturing process.

And again, they were being copied by China sweat shops, doesnt that say something? Im all about ROOR, praise them all the time, but come on, you supposedly close because China sweat shops are copying your shit. I think that speaks volumes of the product theyve been putting out for the past couple years.
I like ROOR more than SG or Toro or any other brand, but lets be honest, do we see Toro/SG fixed stems, 13 arm tree percs, giant bubs or anything of the sort being counterfeited? Why not? Certainly not because they arent profitable. Do we see ROOR .de being copied? Any flame polished logos on these fake ROORs? Any reducing sections, crowned mouthpieces, gilded ice pinches? Nope. None. Why not? Too much for China to copy, thats why.
How hard is it to copy an 18in ROOR straight tube? Quite easy, as we've seen.

[Unhallowed420]

Just relaying what I was told by a good source bro, I know how to fix counterfeit issues.

[fornoone]

you guys think sheldon black is a real person?