Mine arrived yesterday also
I've given them about half an hour of shuffles so far, and whilst I will want to put them through at least another 3 hours of heavy use, I can straight away conclude that once again, EPCC quality completely demolishes USPCC (lack of) quality.
As KSI has pointed out, the tuck box paper is thick and feels nice and sturdy. Jackson's tuck design is very classy, and it certainly does put across the image of superior quality.
The cards themselves... in all honesty, I was expecting them to (1) feel more like master/diamond finish cards, and (2) feel stiffer.
The cards have a more "paper" type of feel to them, rather than the somewhat slick and "plastic" type of feel that many say master finish has. The cards are thick. Very thick. The flimsly and cheap feeling Bee casino paper of today from USPCC is a joke (that's what on social media I call it the toilet paper finish)... and so comparing the Robusto stock to today's Bee Casino would probably be insulting.
However, the Bee Casino paper from 2006 was definitely great at its time, and in comparison to that, the Robusto stick is both thicker and stiffer. 2006 Bee Casino had a thick and spongy feel to them, where as Robusto is thicker and stiffer.
Am I disappointed? Nope, not at all. Not one bit brother. It's just different, that's all.
I agree with KSI that the thickness makes Rubosto a little more difficult to do faro (or interlace) shuffles with. Even though the cards are slightly stiffer (although not by much) than master finish cards, it's still easy to do moves like Steve Forte's tabled bridge shuffle that he does with his fingertips.
Riffle stacking is very very easy with this deck, in comparison to thinner stocks (such as USPCC junk). For my style of bottom dealing, master finish is still the better choice for me, purely because of the coating which makes master finish cards easier to grip.
Overall, very very nice deck. The classic back design looks superb in black and gold, and the quality is definitely something that EPCC have every right to brag about. Great stuff.
I look forward to the regular release, so that I can get some of the limited reserve decks this time!