A tidbit of my unqualified observations.

I have been playing with Master chalk forever and a day. I am one of those guys that thinks that if something works, there is no need to re-invent the wheel. Professional players used Master chalk for decades, and did not seem to have a problem with chalk residue on the table, chalk marks on the cue ball, residue on the hands, etc. I do not see a problem with chalk residue as long as the tables are maintained on a frequent basis and I am fairly good at maintaining the older cues with wooden shafts. Chalk residue is not an issue for me with my newer cues as I have switched to CF shafts on my playing cues. My break cue shaft is maple. The tables where I play are well maintained also. As far as conventional chalk is concerned, Master is king. The chalk sold at the wally world or academy sports does not hold a candle to Master chalk.

So, when all these expensive chalks show up it is natural to be skeptical about things such as "is it really worth it?". Or "does it make any difference?". "Is the difference in cleanliness, tip coverage or chemical composition of the chalk big enough to contribute to playing better and make you miss less shots, or is it in our minds?".

I got curious and ordered a piece of green Taom V10 a bit over a year ago, along with a round chalk holder. That piece of chalk is far from being done and I play 2 hours, at least 6 days a week. In all honesty, I would have gone through at least four boxes of a dozen pieces of Master chalk in the same period of time, maybe more. Make the math, expense wise.

I am a stickler to pre-shot routines and I always chalk before every shot regarless of the chalk I use, while I am figuring out angles, position, where to stand, what bridge style I will use, etc. Yes, Taom is cleaner. It does not leave residue on the cue ball. No noticeable residue on the cloth. But, I can tell it leaves some very fine, gray residue on my "euro finger wraps" I use on my bridge hand. So while I do agree that it is less messy, I do not believe it residue free like some fine folks tend to believe. My carbon fiber shafts also get wiped after every session and I find the same residue. Now, the residue I am finding playing with Taom is less than Master chalk, no question about it. So yes, shafts, balls, finger wraps, hands and the tables are cleaner in general.

As far as performance goes, I do not think Taom is better than Master, or vice versa, for my purposes. I can see myself playing tournaments with both and having no issues. They both do the job, and they do it well. I cannot help to wonder what kind of chemical sorcery Taom came up with to make a piece of chalk that while it provides absolutely great coverage on my playing cue tips, there is obvious transfer of material to the tip, but it barely wears out. It is pretty amazing really. But apart from wear and longevity of one piece, I cannot say one works better than the other. I have relegated Master chalk to my "classic" custom leather cue case with my older cues that I used in competition 20 years ago.

The one instance that I can see a difference in performance is on my break cue. Master adheres and covers plenolic tips very well, but I cannot achieve the same result with Taom. I've had to become very, very aware of tip placement on the cue ball when breaking to avoid a miscue. I rarely miscued with Master using phenolic tips. I am hoping to get a new break cue soon and it will have a leather tip on it, probably Samsara.

I am happy with Taom and Master, so I will continue to buy both. Taom is my daily chalk, then Master for the old timey setup whenever I bring it out to play with friends on the weekends once in a while. My reasoning for switching to Taom is simple: one piece of Taom lasts longer than several boxes of Master. I do not suscribe to the voodoo-hoodoo that some people have ingrained in their minds that Taom will make them better players. To me, it is purely financial advantage, as it evens out the playing expense scales. That might seem dumb to some people but living in an area where there are 0 places to get supplies from, everything has to be ordered, the shipping fees for things like chalk on a frequent basis add up pretty quick. I am not broke, but I am also not rich, being retired on a fixed income. Those shipping charges can buy a meal for the family, or saved little by little to finally upgrade my break cue to a CF shafted cue. The extra cleanliness of Taom is an added benefit.

Just my 2 cents.

Eddie

couldnthinkof01 said:

Strange question. Do you know if most of the Chinese players are local?
I see quite a few Chinese sounding last names but can't imagine they would travel from China for a $50 tournament.

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A lot of them are. I would personally only recognize a Chinese name if they were a top 15 player though, so can't say for sure if there are any Chinese pros playing.

GideonF said:

I’ve watched Alex play a lot and his stroke is always short...

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I heard him say he keeps the backstroke short to avoid coming off line. Here is Alex in a recent match. He does have a medium-length backstroke on power shots. He also has a sort of two- or three-part backstroke. He seems to add a little more just before he comes forward on power shots. I never noticed that before. At least once in this match, it fails him.

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kingwang said:

Bracket: https://pub.joy-zhongba.com/racingchart?id=2081937013681987585&outMode=2

It's 128 double elimination stage 1, 64 single elimination stage 2. There's actually 4 extra entrants (probably a clerical error or something), so there's a mini playoff for 4 spots tomorrow morning.

I was there about 45 minutes ago for players practice. It was really nice and still being built out. 17 brand new Joy tables, lounge seating, lockers, and more.

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Strange question. Do you know if most of the Chinese players are local?
I see quite a few Chinese sounding last names but can't imagine they would travel from China for a $50 tournament.

TeddyKGB said:

Honestly, the worst part about buying a custom cue is dealing with the cue maker. Theyre usually slow to respond at best, sometime unresponsive altogether. If I could order a cue from someone who communicated and had less then a 6 month wait I'd be buying 2 cues a year just for the hobby of it.

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I can understand and agree with you about demeanor but that is just poor selection by the person looking to have
a pool cue built. There are very reliable cue makers that are as courteous and reliable as you could ever imagine or
hope to do business with. When I became acquainted with Bob Owen back in 2012, he was working at Shurtz Cues
and he also built custom cues under his own name. Since then, Jack retired after sellling the business to Bob and his custom cue building zoomed to the top of the charts due to his flawless workmanship and demeanor. When I call the shop, Bob still answers the phone and regardless of the passage of time, it’s like talking with an old friend.

Now where I strongly disagree with you is looking for a cue maker with less than a 6 month wait. How long should a cue take to build a cue versus how long does the best cue makers take building a cue? A well crafted cue needs to stand the test of time and the design determines how long it will take. Cues are rated in Levels and the higher the level, the greater the number of inlays and veneers aren’t inlays. But veneers take a lot longer to create because of drying time. The best cue makers let the veneers sit for a long time. The intricacy of the design can be laborious to undertake.

There’s also CNC programming time that can take many hours as Bob found out building my cues that have ornate designs. And how many orders should a cue maker have underway at the same time and remember cue making still requires hands on involvement. Some of the best cue makers are 1 man shops or at most 2-3 people. From start to finish a cue can take anywhere from 10-18 months.

So while your cue is underway, the cue maker still has to juggle all the order orders and stage them. Custom cue makers have slots and groups of cues, not a single order awaiting to be placed. The number of cues in each slot is determined by the cue maker’s equipment capacity, number of machines, etc. so when you call and place an order, don’t be surprised to hear there’s a waiting list and the more popular the cue maker, the longer the wait. It is that simple. It’s that way because of supply and demand.

Unless or until the cue builder decides to increase capacity, presuming it seemed feasible or was even desirable when they seem okay with the status quo, you shut up, place your order and wait. If that doesn’t work, shop the secondary market and see what your can find. Hopefully the cue would have the specs you wanted and of course, the design appeals to you since you’re settling and likely paying more too. Yeah, paying more because the longer the wait period, the higher the asking price becomes for a pre-owned cue. Joel Hercek is like 7-8, maybe 10 years wait to start your order. Call Southwest & see their time. It makes Hercek look like a Grub Hub order in contrasting turnaround time.

I want my cue maker to have a waiting list. My custom cues by different cue makers took 12-16 months to build. You just add that to the cue maker’s wait list time and if I don’t like the number, I don’t order the cue. I’m 80 yrs. old so screw that. I don’t want to have the cue delivered to the funeral home. I ain’t got time to waste. I’ve become an instant gratification buyer in most everything. If I have to wait long, I’m too impatient since I dunno how more sunrises are in store for me. Nope, if I want a cue, I’d want to buy it and get delivery within 48 hrs. for satisfaction sake and also fast moving shipments tend to get tracked better and delivered has been my experience.

Production cue companies have cues underway at various stages all the time so finishing a cue is faster than selecting the wood and starting a cue. So if you want you cue built that fast, contact one of those firms and see if they have a custom order section. The larger firms probably do and the turnaround time will be more to your liking.

You could easily say go play pool and disappoint 6 holes...lol