[Flonche]

When I started on a Hot Head I also found that Lauscha soft clear was my favorite. I was aware not to use it in large quantities on silver glass (as in, no thick encasing) but it worked on everything else.
Now that I work in a very different flame (laser beam-like Cricket), I wonder if the wide radiant heat of the Hot Head was not a factor in keeping the whole atmosphere hot enough that the Lauscha was happy in it. I've had much more breakage and so I dug out my old stock of Vetrofond super clear, and, big surprise, it's absolutely perfect for what I do. I still use the Lauscha in small amounts, especially for stringer work and sparse dots.

Then I took a class with Barley recently and we used Effetre, both the regular 5 mm and the big fat 10 mm rods. The fat rods are a nice clear in my opinion and you can always pull them in thinner canes if you want. I think I'll stick to these as it is the most compatible brand on the market apparently.

The Diamond Clear I got was not good, I got micro bubbles and didn't give it another chance.

Because I live the Kugler 104 colors, I should probably get some of their clear too and see if it's at least compatible with itself... Same for Reichenbach and CIM. I haven't tried Aether and probably won't.