Anyone hear of or try Balabushka chalk

Received the chalk a couple of weeks ago. It is Blue Diamond chalk, privately labeled as Balabushka!
Sorry it took so long for the update!
 
I found a piece of APA labeled Master chalk on a table. Will there ever be an end to creative (deceptive) marketing? How 'bout Trojan chalk? "We got you covered." :cool:
 
I tried the new Balabushka chalks recently. I read the report about it being soft. I can confirm that it's true. But honestly, I'm not happy about it at all. I've been testing it for 4 days now, daily 4-5 hours of play and I have to say, I'm not one bit happy about it.
The only good part is that is smears very thin and cleanly. However on my tip, I noticed after a single shot, there was only few chalk remaining.
So I continue testing it to find out what the fuss is about.
Also I know in some cases the tip may cause the combination chalk/tip not being right. But I tested the Ball-Teck, Goldstar, Blue Diamond, Gabriels, Master and Ceulemans Chalk (by Tweeten) on it and they all held longer.
My first cube of Kamui chalk is arriving this Monday, but of all chalks I have ever tried, including Blue Diamond and NIR, the Ball-Teck is the best to of all of them. Holds well, medium smear, nice dry grip on the ball; I love it.
 
I tried the new Balabushka chalks recently. I read the report about it being soft. I can confirm that it's true. But honestly, I'm not happy about it at all. I've been testing it for 4 days now, daily 4-5 hours of play and I have to say, I'm not one bit happy about it.
The only good part is that is smears very thin and cleanly. However on my tip, I noticed after a single shot, there was only few chalk remaining.
So I continue testing it to find out what the fuss is about.
Also I know in some cases the tip may cause the combination chalk/tip not being right. But I tested the Ball-Teck, Goldstar, Blue Diamond, Gabriels, Master and Ceulemans Chalk (by Tweeten) on it and they all held longer.
My first cube of Kamui chalk is arriving this Monday, but of all chalks I have ever tried, including Blue Diamond and NIR, the Ball-Teck is the best to of all of them. Holds well, medium smear, nice dry grip on the ball; I love it.

What make of cue tip do you use?
 
Currently, I have a Hirano M installed.

Most pigskin tips are chemically treated resulting in a less porous tip. Sniper/Onyx (boar hide) tips are NOT chemically treated, and are much more porous. The porosity of the tip determines how well it will hold chalk. I prefer the Sniper because it holds chalk better than any other tip. Milk duds (made from Elkmaster tips) are quite porous too! The "milk" makes them more porous and the pressing makes them harder.
Try one of these tips and I think you you'll find them to be superior in their chalk holding abiltities as well as their ability to "grip" the cueball...regardless of the brand of chalk you use!
Pooldawg8 sells milk duds here on AZ for about $3.
 
Last edited:
I tried the new Balabushka chalks recently. I read the report about it being soft. I can confirm that it's true. But honestly, I'm not happy about it at all. I've been testing it for 4 days now, daily 4-5 hours of play and I have to say, I'm not one bit happy about it.
The only good part is that is smears very thin and cleanly. However on my tip, I noticed after a single shot, there was only few chalk remaining.
So I continue testing it to find out what the fuss is about.
Also I know in some cases the tip may cause the combination chalk/tip not being right. But I tested the Ball-Teck, Goldstar, Blue Diamond, Gabriels, Master and Ceulemans Chalk (by Tweeten) on it and they all held longer.
My first cube of Kamui chalk is arriving this Monday, but of all chalks I have ever tried, including Blue Diamond and NIR, the Ball-Teck is the best to of all of them. Holds well, medium smear, nice dry grip on the ball; I love it.

Kazoom is the only online retailer for those chalks you mention. I tried ordering some and noticed shipping is 24 pounds! roughly 32 dollars!!! shipping for a few pieces of chalk that HIGH is just a no-no for me.

Anyway do you know a USA source for these Ball-Teck products I am certainly interested. You may be from europe and get local shipping charges!!!!

KD
 
You are right, I'm from Europe indeed. But the local shipping charges are barely lower. I bought some packages with some other purchases. So it weren't charges "just for chalk".
If you want, I can send you a cube of mine by regular mail. It won't cost a thing, that way you can test it out atleast. Pm me for that.

About the pigskin tips, yeah it's true, I even noticed that when I played with Moori's and Kamui's. Most pigskin tips suffer from that. I played with some Elkmasters and Snipers in the past, they don't have this problem. They can hold about any chalk as well as can be.
I was just merely pointing out that on my own specific tip, the type of chalk actually makes a difference. It doesn't bother me as I'll just use the chalk that works best. But from an investigative point of view, I thought it would be worth mentioning that the Bushka chalk doesn't do its trick here.

Update:
I received my Kamui chalk today so I could add that to my own study. While the Ball-tech chalk does its job best so far, the Kamui is something totally different.
I'd now say that the Ball-tech chalk is the best "traditional" chalk. I tested my Kamui 0.98 (hoping to get a piece of 1.21 soon) and the main difference is that "Kamui does all that".
What I mean is that I consider myself a slightly above average player and I noticed that I was able to throw more english on the cueball with less effort and my draw shots came back further with less effort. The only thing I didn't like was that we use an electric blue cloth and the Kamui chalk (being paler) sure leaves its share of dirt on the table.
First rumours I heard is that the 1.21 chalk is a bit harder (less clay-ish feel) and leaves less mess behind.
To me I think I'll just end up keeping a 0.98 and a Ball-tech chalk in my case.
 
Last edited:
You're going to want to send that chalk into Pete Tascarella for verification of authenticity
 
I have been using this for about three years it's very easy to get in the USA from many online dealers. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see it offered in blue and tan.

I was told by industry folks that this is not the same as Blue Diamond. That it has a proprietary formulation that makes it unique. I can not remember who the manufacture is.

Anyway I really like it...

http://www.seyberts.com/catalog/Assorted_Billiard_Chalk-10126.html
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    77.7 KB · Views: 163
Back
Top