A while back I wrote about some things I was doing with cast iron. I spent a long time following those steps - seasoning my pan with flax oil, not cleaning it with soap, generally fussing over it and babying the pan.

I don't think any of that worked. The surface of my pan was never smooth; instead, I think the oil leftover from not washing with soap baked into layers, especially around the outside, and this buildup would occasionally flake off.

So I scraped all of the buildup out with a metal spatula. I started washing it out with soap and a scrubby brush, and stopped trying to season it. The harsher I was the better it seemed to work. I found articles to justify this, even, like: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-truth-about-cast-iron.

So, in short: the cast iron is good, but being fussy didn't help me. I have a 12" skillet and a reversible griddle/grill that I use all the time. They're great at home, and for camping. The Rome waffle iron hasn't seen a lot of recent use - the seasoning has held up on it, but the waffles I've made have been disappointing.

If I bought something fancy (I've had a skillet from Field on my list for a while) maybe I'd feel differently.