I think if you mentioned to some of the employees at a premium rod builder like Sage that their rods are "mass produced graphite rods" in a tone I think I hear in your post you might get an unfriendly argument back. I have toured the Sage facilities and their rods aren't what I would classify as mass produced. Are they good enough to warrant a price tag of over 700 dollars? Apparently they are. I own several and so do many other people. Sage has been getting top dollar for their rods for sometime now. I would say they must be doing something correct whether that be producing a product deserving seven to eight hundred dollar per piece or good marketing. Something is working for them.