Just for a laugh, check out the texture of some of the cheap cast iron in stores these days. You could file your fingernails on it.
I've said this before in other threads, a while after I moved out of my parents' house my father decided he preferred non-stick and they threw out all of the old cast iron I grew up with, without telling me first. I've had to build my own collection, and because of that I have some pieces we never had when I was a kid, like a dutch oven, an oval casserole (aka "The Lifeboat") and a square skillet.
I think it's funny when I use cast iron in the smoker, then the next time I bring it up to temp in the oven it "blooms" smoke aroma and it smells exactly like I have a campfire going in the kitchen.