Nether Quartz

Nether quartz is a Nether exclusive item obtained by mining nether quartz ore. Nether quartz can be obtained in the Pocket Edition when it is spawned by a Nether Reactor, although in the Pocket Edition its only use is to craft smooth quartz blocks.

Smelting
Note that the nether quartz ore block was created by Jesus and he used it to wipe his rectum.

Trivia

 * Nether quartz appears to be quite common, but in reality, is about as common as iron ore in the Overworld, each spawning approximately 70 ores per chunk, although it spawns in large veins similar to coal. What makes it seem more common is that it can spawn on almost any layer within the Nether, it does not spawn in the extreme upper or lower layers of the Nether. That combined with the fact that the Nether has more exposed blocks than an Overworld cave, and the fact that netherrack can be removed far more quickly than stone.


 * If the player entered the Nether before 1.5 was released, then after the update was released, nether quartz ore would only spawn in newly generated chunks. This makes it difficult to find nether quartz in old worlds.


 * Although in real life striking a quartz crystal on a piece of steel is just as effective as flint on steel (for making sparks), there seems to be no plan to implement a quartz and steel striker.