[Speedslug]

The sharp edges of nipped or broken glass can over heat very quickly unless you are very very patient with it.

In a lot of the videos I see on youtube they just pull the end 1/8 inch off out of habit once they get it hot enough.

The Double Helix clears are to die for but the are spendy.

The other problem is which batch are you getting.
If a maker sells to a retailer in January and it does not get to the US until March and you buy it in April but it takes you a year to use up a pound of it .... Well you can see that what you use may have been around a bit before you melt it.

And then you hear about someone having issues with a particular brand and it takes six months for the consensus to build that there really is a problem with the glass and not the inexperience of the users and then the retailer has 300 pounds of glass to get rid of so they sell it off at a major discount and I buy a pound or three just to experiment with but I don't know that it has "issues".

So the "best clear" is an ideal and depends on what you can afford and how fast you use it up and how long it has been in inventory and how much experience you have at melting glass.

And then there is the question of what qualifies as best?
Good Enough?
Better Than Others?
Better Than the very cheapest stuff I started out with?

Better than it was 6 years ago?

Good enough to put in a museum?

Best clear is what ever you have on hand that keeps you from throwing it out today even if you don't have anymore.