I just saw the new Cuetec "Nineball" series in collaboration with Matchroom WNT on Matchroom’s Facebook page and in videos from the Hanoi Open and the Philippines Open, and it looks amazing, at least to me. Plus, the whole cue (with a Cuetec carbon shaft) is under $1,000, so I’d definitely get one LOL. Yes, I know I should only spend $50 on a cue but heck LOL.

I’ve been playing with a 13mm wood shaft, then switched to Predator (Vantage and 12.9 Revo) for years, and I still can’t run out a single rack of 9-ball on a 4.75mm pocket table yet, definitely because of the cue, so I’m switching. WATCH!

https://www.cuetec.com/product-category/cynergy-nineball-series-cues/

My question is: the Cuetec Cynergy Nineball Series looks incredibly good, at least in pictures and YouTube videos, but is the design on the butt just decals/stickers, or are they actually pieces of inlaid wood and other materials? Sorry, I don’t know the proper cue-building terms. I'm gonna get 1 no matter what, just wondering...

Just received it today, I have posted about using the Sandman shaper tool and how well it works so when Bulletproof Billiards came out with a tool of their own I was intrigued but I mistakenly thought they were similar in design so I didn't get one right away, they are very different, the Sandman shaper is super aggressive but if you use it lightly it will really rough up the tip so it holds chalk well, the Recoil tip tool has 2 sides 1 is more aggressive but not quite as much as the Sandman, the other side has a unique pattern that is hard to describe but their website has great pictures of it, I chose to try this one first, my tip was not totally slick, the tool did not rough up the tip as much as the Sandman but to my surprise the tip held chalk better for longer, so far happy with the results, this is a very well made tool, both scuffer sides are Stainless steel attached to an aluminum body, there are 3 radius guages and 3 different radius shapers, after taking the tool out of the package the 1st thing I noticed is how sharp these scuffers are, they weren't as deep as the Sandman shaper but they are every bit as sharp, maybe even sharper, I was happy I had a little zippered case to put it in before putting in my case, played for about an hour and a half and I think it is holding chalk even better than with Sandman shaper, I'm really glad I made this purchase, I know they designed this for their Recoil tip but I bet it would work great on leather tips as well, it's only day one, I'll do another one in a month.