With a little due diligence you can keep your cue white as new. 1.) Before you play every night, go wash your hands, then shake them off and dry them with a paper towel. Now you have a damp towel, also grab a dry towel. Then go clean the shaft with the wet one then dry it off with the dry one. 2.) Also do the above before you put it away at night. 3.) If you are getting a blue ring around the ferule, learn how to chalk. The chalk should not come in contact with anything but the tip. It should be painted on from the center outwards. You should never "drill" through the center of the chalk cube. 3.) If you nutice while playing your hands are turning blue from chald dust, do step one again. 4.) before anyone else touches your shaft, make them wash thier hands. 5.) before putting the shaft away at night clean off the tip. I usually just wipe it off with one of the paper towels i use in step two. 5.) if you do all this and it still darkens, go buy some white chalk. It will look like someone is drawing lines all over your table. But your stick wont turn blue. It will still get dirty so you still have to do all the above, you just wont have to deal with the blue. i do this every night i play and my cue still looks brand new and the stick is ten years old. And i play league six nights a week.
Never use alcohol, mineral spirits or laquer thinner on a stick. There were few laminated cues out there that the alcohol was breaking down the glue and delaminating the shafts. Also these will destroy the sealer on the shaft alowing the raw wood to absorb moisture and possibly warp.
