evil_lurker - 8-1-2006 at 14:49
Found a good (read cheap) source of non-glazed raschig rings in the US.
http://www.brewhaus.com/Distillation-Supplies.asp
$11.75 plus shipping (USPS so its cheap to ship) for 1/2 liter of the little buggers.
They are the perfect size for column packing and could probably be crushed or used whole as boiling chips. 
Enjoy!
lordmagnus - 10-1-2006 at 19:35
Another good source is the local pet store that carries aquarium supplies. I believe the name of the company is PRO-AQUATICA (black and dark blue box
with material photo's on front) the market a whole line of filtration media's one of which are hexagonal unglazed ceramic rings for capturing large
debris (course filtration) and nitrifying bacteria colon growth, I washed a couple of handfulls of these rings in hot water to remove dust, and tried
them as column packing, they work pretty well, or could be crushed some for a finer matrix.
I am posting a pic of a similar product (round pipes) by another company
neutrino - 10-1-2006 at 20:05
Can you post a picture of a handful of these rings with a nearby object for size comparison? I've never seen anything with this description before
(hexagonal unglazed rings).
Darkblade48 - 11-1-2006 at 04:06
Oh yes, I am quite familiar with these ceramic noodles that are used in the aquatic hobby. Depending on what manufacturering brand you get (many
companies make these ceramic noodles), the sizes of these noodles will vary. I've seen ones for Eheim that are ~ 0.5 a cm in diameter by ~1.0 cm in
length.
Another type of ceramic noodles I have is made by sera, and they are ~1 cm in diameter and 2 cm in length.
lordmagnus - 15-1-2006 at 16:54
Yep, those are the things I am talking about. I bought some mostly to use as boiling chips for now, I have a 200mm vigereaux column, and both a graham
condenser, and a anhilin condenser as well. I plan on doing a little ABSINTHE DISTILLATION.
Glass beads
MadHatter - 16-1-2006 at 10:04
Personally, for reflux columns, I use these 6mm glass beads that I found at an arts & crafts
shop. The hole in the center of them helps increase the surface area and they're cheap !
The best column packing material I've ever used !
[Edited on 16-1-2006 by MadHatter]