I met Swanee at College Billiards El Cajon Blvd. when I was passing through San Diego in ‘92. I took a table and started hitting some balls and he strolled over and asked if I was interested in a game.

On the wall next to the table I was on there was a huge picture of him at a table over a shot. I told him I didn’t need a game with a guy that had a poster of him on the wall. He laughed and said “I’m sure we can match up somehow, I’ll give you the 7 to start but you’re going to have to bet it up a little to get it”. So we played a race to 11 for $500 with him giving me the 7 and I edged him out 11-9. He wanted to adjust and I didn’t, I told him I thought the score indicated the spot was right, so he just shrugged and paid me and I went on my way. Odd thing was, he went into the bathroom and came out and handed me an envelope with the cash in it. Seemed a nice guy, played jam up.

Super late to the discussion, but Ive tried schmelke kiel, Hsu 1.0, lucasi cf infuzed kiel.
The lucasi seemed to have the least deflection, but was lacking feel. It has more feel than cf shafts minus the fortis, but vs'ing the other kiels I tried & Ld maple I got (wx900, z3) its feedback is muted. Despite that ,its a really good stiff playing shaft once you get accustomed to it.
I actually prefer it over the z3 because its less whippy, thats saying alot , because I was team z2&z3 for over a decade.