I think a lot of hit has to do with availability. The first real pool hall I went to as a teenager had quite a selection of Viking, Joss, McDermott and some customers cues. My first cue in 1991 was a Viking PJ that was $140 give or take. Cousins Custom Cues were the nicer ones I recall from that hall, Buffalo Billiards in Cotati, and the owner Lee liked them. I think the PJ was $300 from CCC. I tried a few and bought the one that I played best with, the Viking.
It wasn’t until I was maybe 26/7 that I found a shop in the Portland area, Billiards N Bagels, that had a huge selection of custom cues. Jim was cool, you could try whatever you wanted, and I was able to play with vintage Joss, Coker, SW, Sailor, Runde, Schon, Jacoby, Black ….. That was 20 years ago.
I have never been to another shop that had a selection to try before you buy. When I see league, it’s a sea of carbon fiber. I was talking with a buddy a week or so ago about how good shaft wood, I mean the good old stuff that was common from 60-90’s cues, is hard to find and people like the idea that they can play well with carbon and they don’t need to worry about a cue warping.
Another thing, I remember Jim complaining about new cue makers, mind you this was 20 years ago, complaining about new cue makers asking high dollar for cues and the maker had no real pedigree.
There are many layers to why people spend what they do on cues, and these are just a couple of ideas.
