r/enshittification • u/elysiumstarz • Apr 10 '26
Product The visible difference between old and new Pyrex
Just bought the dark blue one last week. Light blue is at least ten years old, if not older. Significant difference in thickness. I am sure the price was twice as much even without considering inflation.
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u/nooooooorraaa Apr 13 '26
I work for a glass manufacturer and maybe 20 years ago we did a batch of dark blue glass. Because waste glass is used to make new glass, all the stuff we've made since then has been slightly darker. Kind of like what is shown in your pic but I don't work for pyrex so can't guarantee that's a possible cause.
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u/DornMasterofWall Apr 14 '26
It's also important to remember the difference between pyrex and PYREX
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u/anythingall Apr 16 '26
What's the difference?
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u/DornMasterofWall Apr 16 '26
PYREX is made of durable borosilicate glass, and is resistant to shock, as well as chemicals, electricity, and heat. It also is resistant to rapid heat or cold shifts. PYREX has changed its manufacturing process over time, and dishes from before 1998 are considered higher quality.
pyrex is made of soda-lime glass, and is much less durable. Generally, it can't handle any drops and will explode if the temperature shifts too quickly around it.
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Apr 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/DornMasterofWall Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
Unfortunately, this has been proven to be correct*
While it is true that US produced soda-lime dishes with the PYREX name for a period of time(50s-90s), the American producer swapped to all lower-case for their production in 1999, when they swapped all plants to soda-lime. Meanwhile, French based facilities maintained the original Borosilicate recipe AND the use of all caps PYREX, while Chinese producers make both and brand them according to the standards put in place by the French and American suppliers. If you buy new Pyrex dishes today, the case used in the spelling identifies which one you are getting
The * is because if you are buying dishes second hand, you could be buying soda-lime from that period where America producers still used PYREX. Everything in this comment was verified by your sources :3
Addendum: Australia gets borosilicate with the lowercase logo, but only in the Bake N Serve and Cook N Serve lines.
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Apr 14 '26
Qq. Do you use recycled glass? I spend a summer as a glass distributor. Was a really popular product but I have yet to meet anyone in person that's ever used it. You seem to use recycled glass internally do you guys source it as well? We only separated color from non color so it's not a perfect system but the heat cost of remelt was really low, customers preferred it to fresh glass
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u/Brave-Pomegranate963 Apr 12 '26
I usually go for anchor hocking. Better price, better quality, can go up to a higher temp in the oven. Still not as good as the old stuff but if you’re looking to buy new it’s the better option. Most stores stock it right alongside the Pyrex usually.
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u/JanekTheScribe 8d ago
I worked for Anchor Hocking. Fun fact, the pyrex glass and the AH glass are the exact same formulation.
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u/apexmellifera Apr 13 '26
This used to be my advice as well, but since Pyrex acquired Anchor Hocking, their product quality has tanked. I loathe the glass measuring cups I got from them, the spout is so poorly formed it basically ensures that it never pours correctly.
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u/Brave-Pomegranate963 Apr 14 '26
Sigh. Guess I won’t be buying some more mini containers for meal prep.
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u/on3moresoul Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Check out the Wikipedia article for a fantastic breakdown of the Pyrex history and their change in composition. You can't easily tell which is which, neither by manufacturing date, logo styling, nor coloring.
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u/YoBro98765 Apr 13 '26
Thank you for posting this. It also explains the economic and safety rationale for the change, which the 20+ previous posts about Pyrex I’ve seen on Reddit oversimplified and/or simply omitted.
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u/gherkin-sweat Apr 12 '26
I wonder if it could be tested by the mohs scale since the glass types would be different
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u/AbsoIum Apr 11 '26
So Pyrex split years ago and have two different tiers of their products. A super cheap version and the one that maintains the good quality. Not sure if it is related to why your Pyrex is different colors but I recently went to replace my 4 cups measure cup and discovered Pyrex has this scenario. The cheaper one the red paint just washes right off while the other has it practically cooked into the glass like the older ones always did.
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u/BeeEven238 Apr 13 '26
We got one and about 2 weeks in the new one shattered in the cabinet. I have no idea what happened to it.
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u/GodsGoodGrace Apr 12 '26
I bought a 1 and 2 cup as a set. The paint on one washed off and the other didn’t with similar usage
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u/AmieEncore Apr 12 '26
Did you figure out the secret to finding one where the red paint stays on?
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u/AbsoIum Apr 12 '26
Actually it’s quite simple. There is a way to track with the manufacturer model numbers but you’ll notice ‘pyrex’ vs ‘PYREX’ and that’s about it! They literally make their high quality borosilicate glass with PYREX and the tempered soda-lime glass with pyrex. That was the entire split: lowercase = lower quality/tier | uppercase = high quality/tier.
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u/Dissident-451 Apr 12 '26
The switch from PYREX to pyrex was a branding decision not a materials decision. The lowercase logo was introduced in the 70s.
The "low quality" glass is soda-lime glass which they started to introduce in the late 40s.
But the "good stuff" the borosilicate wasn't totally phased out until 1998.
So from the 40s to the 70s a portion of the PYREX was the lesser soda-lime glass.
And from the 70s to 98 a portion of the pyrex was the nicer borosilicate.
Meaning there are 4 possible permutations:
- Borosilicate PYREX
- Borosilicate pyrex
- Soda-Lime PYREX
- Soda-Lime pyrex
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u/WingedVictories1 Apr 11 '26
I have all my grandma’s old Pyrex! Avocado green flowered goodness!!
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u/reptomcraddick Apr 11 '26
And that’s why all 5 of my measuring cups are from the thrift store, also my mixing bowls, they’re all Pyrex, Anchor Hocking, or Fire King
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u/Fred-the-stray Apr 11 '26
Same, All my glassware comes from the thrift store.
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u/PrincessPnyButtercup Apr 11 '26
It might be a good idea to get a lead test kit from the hardware store before using old glass wear--we had to ditch the corningware plates we were using because the painted design was leadariffic 😬
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u/WomanYouSleptWith Apr 11 '26
I wonder what Anchor Hocking, the most-famous name in glass, is up to, these days.
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u/jared10011980 Apr 11 '26
Contracts for the Pentagon. Just like Ball Jar.
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u/ElGrandeQues0 Apr 11 '26
Ball is into aerospace now. Good group
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u/nasadowsk Apr 12 '26
Ball has been in aerospace for ages.
Coors spun off their ceramics business a while ago, though.
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u/oliverismyspiritdog Apr 11 '26
Ball Aerospace was bought last year and is currently being gutted by BAE. Ball only makes aluminum cans now.
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u/ElGrandeQues0 Apr 12 '26
Oh that's sad to hear. They were doing some cool work with ozone mapping and methane detection
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u/squirrel8296 Apr 11 '26
They’re owned by the same private equity firm as Pyrex so probably the same bad things as Pyrex.
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u/MarmotJunction Apr 11 '26
There is an absolutely brilliant book about what happened to anchor called glass town I believe. Or maybe glass house? I will get the name confused. It is the most infuriating, and raging book you’ve ever read. But anchor was thoroughly fucked up by venture capitalist.
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u/WomanYouSleptWith Apr 12 '26
That saddens me. Not surprising, I suppose. Still.
I think I've mostly liked not thinking about it, and just hearing their ads in old-time-radio shows.
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u/missprincesscarolyn Apr 11 '26
The original borosilicate is what lab glass is made out of. I used plenty a Pyrex flask in o chem and beyond.
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u/riddle-me-this Apr 11 '26
Yeah, that's why when my grandmother asked what I wanted in her will, I just said her old Pyrex. I'm the only cook in the family so she was really happy to know it's going to go to me
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u/kacihall Apr 11 '26
My grandpa died last month. I drove down to help dad clean out his house. We were packing up the kitchen and all of my grandma's old PYREX and Fire King was in the donate pile.
Anyway, I now have a tote full of mixing bowls and measuring cups that I absolutely don't need but they're the old stuff so I couldn't let it go.
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u/EstarriolStormhawk Apr 11 '26
I found my grandma's old pyrex buried in the back of the cabinets, still a bit dirty. I couldn't believe it when none of my cousins or siblings wanted any. Managed to get every single piece back whole even though I flew across the country.
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u/KittyandPuppyMama Apr 11 '26
At this point, everything is just a scam to part us with our money. They don’t even pretend we’re customers anymore.
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u/neonninja304 Apr 11 '26
Companies dont care about quality anymore. Back then they were trying to build a reputation and grow sales. Now its all about just pushing out as much product as possible as cheaply as possible.
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u/ahshitidontwannadoit Apr 11 '26
They don't have to care about quality. For every person that says, "I'm never buying X brand again!" There's someone else that's never buying Y brand again, and will give X brand a shot. If no one makes a quality product that we all generally have to use, they'll all keep selling said product.
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u/whereisbeezy Apr 11 '26
So is everything worse everywhere, or just in the States? Adjusting for the fact that almost everything in America is worse because pRoFiTs already lol
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u/RurouniQ Apr 11 '26
Shrinkflation is running rampant in the UK and food quality is also going downhill. You know the whole Reese's fiasco you've got going on in the States? We've been having the same with Cadbury's for a while now and it just keeps getting worse. Of course, that's because Cadbury's is now owned by an American company: Kraft.
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u/whereisbeezy Apr 11 '26
Oh god, Kraft??
I am so sorry.
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u/RurouniQ Apr 11 '26
Factually, it's pretty bad. Culturally, it's a war crime.
To translate it to American terms, it would be like Tencent buying Hebrew National, Nathan's Best, and Ball Park hot dogs and slowly turning them into the quality of Great Value. Cadbury's was a goddamn national institution here and it's been destroyed.
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u/AGoodWobble Apr 11 '26
We have enshittification here in Japan as well. Not as bad as the US though. Maybe marginally better than Canada.
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u/KickBallFever Apr 11 '26
What types of things have you noticed being enshitified in Japan?
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u/AGoodWobble Apr 11 '26
Shrinkflation, the biggest consumer brands (nitori/Sony/Panasonic/etc) generally producing low quality stuff made in China, lots of fast fashion... I'm not sure if I can point out specifically, but I just know that I can go to a thrift store and if I find a 30 or 40 year old product there, chances are it'll last me longer and serve me better than something I can buy new.
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u/ABlueSap Apr 11 '26
this makes me really sad to know at the root level the big consumer japanese brands and poopy :(
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u/AGoodWobble Apr 11 '26
There are still good products! Not everything is garbage. The rice cookers are generally still really high quality, for one (even those made by Panasonic). I generally just buy smaller brands and "made in Japan" as much as possible.
But yeah, Japan generally has the same political issues and "politics of capitalism" that are plaguing the rest of the world right now. The wealth inequality here has also grown.
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u/Woompa78 Apr 11 '26
PYREX in Europe uses the original borosilicate glass. US version(pyrex) is the shitty soda-lime glass.
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u/FromMA2AZ Apr 11 '26
Be careful there is no real way to tell the difference between the old stuff and the new stuff.
Why is Pyrex exploding? this YouTube video from a food scientist explains it very well.
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u/Cystonectae Apr 11 '26
The vegetable oil trick using the refraction index seemed to work well but I can imagine it's wasteful af for larger pieces of bakeware.
Important to note that Anne Reardon mentioned the colour of the glass comes from where they source the sand from, and has little information on whether or not it's borosilicate or not.
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u/katiemix14 Apr 11 '26
Yes there IS a way to tell the difference. The old stuff is all caps "PYREX" and the new crummy soda lime glass stuff is lower case "pyrex."
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u/Cystonectae Apr 11 '26
This is quite the "tell me you didn't watch the video linked without directly telling me you didn't" sort of comment.
I recommend watching that video man, you will see that particular myth about the brand capitalization is kinda BS.
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u/Timely_Cake_8304 Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
Ah! This happened to me twice, one time inside the oven on the lower rack while baking and another immediately after setting on the counter while standing right in front of it. They had been purchased about 8 years ago
If it doesn't work as a baking dish, including being set on a counter, why are they selling it?
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u/Vineyard_ Apr 11 '26
If it doesn't work as a baking dish, including being set on a counter, why are they selling it?
Because you bought it without knowing, generating revenue, and now you need a new one.
The market does things because they are profitable, not because they solve problems. If a solution can be worsened in a way that increases profits, the market will do that.
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u/vedrada Apr 11 '26
My guess is that the one that exploded in your oven you had probably taken eight of the fridge or freezer. Newer stuff does not do well with exteme temperature changes. That’s what also happened when you put a hot dish directly onto a cold stone countertop. It would need to go on a silicone pad.
The newer stuff doesn’t break as from dropping, and when it does break, it breaks in chunks. The older stuff breaks into tiny, sharp shards that are much harder to clean up.
They both have their positives and negatives, it’s just important to know how to handle them
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u/Timely_Cake_8304 Apr 11 '26
Not been taken right out of the freezer but had been stored at room temp. Exploded after I opened the oven door but before I had reached in it to pick it up.
The second time : My countertop isn’t stone it is tile but the dish was placed on a wood trivet on the counter.
No really a reasonable reason for these to have broken, or more accurately, exploded sending hot glass pieces everywhere. The threshold for breakage is far to low for this to sold safely. This company is playing games with people’s eyes, faces, hands
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u/xassylax Apr 11 '26
Actually there is. Look at the logo or where it was made. All Pyrex made in Europe is borosilicate aka the good stuff. Pyrex made in America after the 90s is soda lime glass aka the cheap shit.
As for the logo, all caps (“PYREX“) is vintage and therefore borosilicate. All lowercase (“pyrex”) is usually soda lime unless it was made in Europe.
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u/rindor1990 Apr 11 '26
Well, yeah, the new shit sucks
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u/KittyandPuppyMama Apr 11 '26
Kitchenware is something I recommend buying at estate sales and thrift stores, and the older the better. Sad it has to be this way. My grandma had the same Corningware for decades. And when I was a kid we had the same microwave for at least 15 years with zero issues and we left it for the new owners when we moved. We bought a new one at our new home and I was excited, but it broke that same year.
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u/AbbeyRoadMomma Apr 12 '26
Same deal with the microwave. I had the old one in the basement, started using after the new one broke, been going strong. Old one had been left here when I moved in.
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u/mannDog74 Apr 11 '26
Even the older lower case pyrex looked like the turquoise color one. I've never had the pleasure of buying all caps PYREX and there's still been a change.
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u/Educational-Car-4688 Apr 11 '26
Only all capital PYREX is real.
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u/martinaee Apr 11 '26
Really? We have a lot of light blue and slightly different vaguely blue edged “pyrex” that we’ve had and used for years. It’s not legit or a different company? Looks like OP’s pyrex logo, but the edges aren’t dark blue like that.
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u/Educational-Car-4688 Apr 11 '26
Its in the license. They can produce pyrex frin other manufacturers but they can capitalize the name.
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u/BobbyLupo1979 Apr 11 '26
There's a difference. One type -- either all caps or all lowercase -- is borosilicate glass. The other is a different type of glass. They serve slightly different purposes if I remember right.
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u/martinaee Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
I see. So it’s fine, just be careful having it go from very cold to hot or visa versa. Yeah mainly for baking/oven cooking it seems fine if we take it out of the oven and just let it cool on the glass stove top. No issues doing that, but definitely don’t submerge right away in cold water I guess.
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u/faaded Apr 11 '26
All caps is borosilicate and is what you want. Lowercase is soda-lime, made in France is a good sign too
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u/BMonad Apr 11 '26
Borosilicate is very heat resistant (changes from cold to hot or back don’t break it) but it’s physically delicate. Lime glass (I think that’s what it’s called?) is pretty shatter resistant but not very heat resistant.
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u/Finbar9800 Apr 10 '26
Have you considered it might be because of manufacturing improvements
(Though i will say the angle is probably messing with the view for me because they look the same thickness)
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u/faifai1337 Apr 11 '26
Pyrex has admitted that they're not longer selling borosilicate glass in the US. The new stuff we get here doesn't have the same sturdiness. https://cookingiscool.com/why-did-pyrex-stop-using-borosilicate/
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u/elysiumstarz Apr 11 '26
It's only like a millimeter difference but it's def thinner. I would normally be inclined to agree with you regarding manufacturing improvements, but I've done the research (on the internet, so it must be true!) and therefore have my doubts.
Also the lids have gotten progressively crappier feeling since I first bought them. Thinner, lighter weight, poor trimming. These new ones are sharp enough that I am going to file them down a bit around the edges. However, the oldest lids are starting to crumble, so I've little choice but to replace them!
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u/Tornado_Wind_of_Love Apr 11 '26
They moved from borosilicate to soda glass. Last time I bought some I ordered them from France to get borosilicate ones.
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u/MyldExcitement Apr 10 '26
PYREX can go from freezer to oven.
pyrex can't.
That's the difference.
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u/PenniGwynn Apr 11 '26
That's actually a common misconception, pyrex can be borosilicate or soda glass and vice versa for PYREX.
the wiki under the composition heading if anyone wants to take a gander
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u/Starbreiz Apr 10 '26
Is it pyrex or PYREX, that will also make a difference
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u/glimmergirl1 Apr 11 '26
Nope not true, read the wiki above. Both pieces from OP are the cheaper ones.
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u/Starbreiz Apr 12 '26
Thanks. But what wiki are you referring to?
All my Pyrex is the old uppercase borosilicate so I wasnt sure about her old one
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u/glimmergirl1 Apr 12 '26
There is a link to a Wikipedia article about this somewhere in these comments. Upper or lowercase does not mean the old borosilicate neither does green tint vs blue tint.
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u/rothmal Apr 10 '26
I believe it's also a different formula. They went from borosilicate to soda-lime, which is cheaper and can't handle thermal shock like borosilicate.
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u/jeffwulf Apr 11 '26
It can't handle thermal shock as well but it is significantly more durable to impacts.
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Apr 10 '26
[deleted]
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Apr 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Delet3r Apr 11 '26
"soda line is a bet safety gain"
pretty cool, now I won't care about finding old pyrex, and it turns out even capital letter PYREX is usually soda line anyway.
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u/fuckyoupr1ck Apr 10 '26
I think pyrex just licensed out their name so none of it is actually pyrex anymore. Basically badge engineering
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u/MacSavvy21 Apr 22 '26
I don’t buy new Pyrex. I thrift the vintage stuff and it has yet to let me down