Back, much of the cost of a top end graphite rod is "overhead" and goes to a company and advertising and such. You pay for the development process, the price of a guy making the rods that works for the company, and everything that goes with this.

Bamboo, you pay a fisherman to make your rod. You can break down the cost and see where the money went and the craftsman is working pretty inexpensively at just about any price point. There are names in bamboo just as there are names in graphite but with bamboo, you get more than what you get, dollar for dollar than you get for a plastic rod (fiberglass, what ever)

BTW, Mark Steffen, I would place him in the bamboo craftsman group even though he makes composite rods...

You pay pay pay for graphite.

Bamboo is not a money thing for me, it's an investment, not in money, but in my fishing and in the community.

My experiences come from observing huge groups of both types of anglers over the years generating and conversing with makers and fishers, graphite and bamboo.

This web site is one example.

I'm not looking for one single person to agree with me, just writing thoughts.