Review on Chemex Filter - 100 CT - Natural Square Coffee Filters for Enhanced Brewing Experience by Debra Hernandez

I bought a Chemex for Prime Day and decided to get a box of these filters to go with it. When they got here the box looked like it had already been opened - the lid was open and the tab was folded back into the box. Having read another review suggesting these filters might be fake I decided to get another box from my local hardware store to compare. Here's what I found: - First of all - a box from my hardware store cost 8.99 net, about 70% of list price at the time of writing. Walking down the street was also good for my health. =)- The box from the hardware store contained exactly 100 filters, while the box from the online shop contained only 95. This is within reasonable margins of error, but it added to my questions as to whether this box had been opened before. And I'm never happy when I get less than what I asked for. =(- The filters from the hardware store were more evenly packed than the filters from the online store - compare left and right in the first picture. The filters from the hardware store were smoother, while the filters from the online store were blurrier and rougher - you can see the difference in the second photo where the top filter has no lint compared to the bottom.They were the same size and both smelled about the same chemex.I filled each filter at 212 degrees twice to the top of the chemex handle, dried the Chemex after each filter and waited for it to cool.The average time for a fill to go through a hardware store filter was 13 seconds, while it took 16 seconds to fully drain an e-home filter, which the hardware store sucked waters up the sides much quicker than e-home shopping filters which adds to my impression oh they were thinner/thinner also although both previously smelled like paper this one has The e-home shopping filters odor transferred quite clearly into the water, while the filters from the hardware store did not seem to be a problem. So, ultimately, it's my impression that the filters sold here may have been made differently than what you might call "standard" store-bought filters. But at the end of the day, they're all just paper and you have to be a pretty big coffee snob to take care of them. I'm giving this a low rating due to lack of filters and high margins from retailers.