Any RASCHIG ball owners out there?

[K2Kraze]

Looking to see if there are any Raschig ball owners out there on this fine AZB forum - with either the numbered 1-15 ball set or the no numbers 9-ball set - that would like to chime in and let those of us that don't have them (yet) offer opinions and reviews of things like how they play, weights and diameter tolerances, finish compared to other ball sets owned, etc. and a few pictures on the baize.

Anything at all about them to whet our appetites and remind us what the West Germans are capable of offering us in this fine game

And if there is anyone that would like to pass either or both sets on to the next caretaker, please send me a PM.

 

[William]

Looking to see if there are any Raschig ball owners out there on this fine AZB forum - with either the numbered 1-15 ball set or the no numbers 9-ball set - that would like to chime in and let those of us that don't have them (yet) offer opinions and reviews of things like how they play, weights and diameter tolerances, finish compared to other ball sets owned, etc. and a few pictures on the baize.

Anything at all about them to whet our appetites and remind us what the West Germans are capable of offering us in this fine game

And if there is anyone that would like to pass either or both sets on to the next caretaker, please send me a PM.

I have owned 4 or 5 of the nine ball sets and am down to my last one. They are kinda cool and fancy, but I cant say they are any better than the Aramith Duramith set I play with now, in fact, I am sure they are not as good. They were probably better than some sets back in the 90's and the numberless set was just clean looking. No distractions.

 

[K2Kraze]

The finish on this first Prestige ball set [1st pic]is "probably" inferior to the Raschigs (from what I'm hearing) and the nearest to the Raschig design 9 ball set [2nd pic].

 

[K2Kraze]

The Raschig 9 ball is what I'm after. Unique.

I have put together a fierce competitor set to the Raschig 9-Ball offering by teaming up Aramith balls from the current unnumbered Snooker sets and the older Aramith Casino sets that feature the solid unnumbered purple and orange balls. Amazing tolerances within 1 gram in the entire ensemble. Needless to say they play flawlessly. Every ball is 166 grams point something. Diameters within the thousands of an inch right at 2.25". If I only had a unique unnumbered 9 ball

Aramith stand-in set:

YELLOW 1
BLUE 2
RED 3
PURPLE 4
ORANGE 5
GREEN 6
MAROON 7
BLACK 8

PINK for the 9 (or) regular 9 ball variant

 

[franko]

9 ball set

Nothing scientific here just personnel experience. They are touted as being the most precision ball made and maybe that is why the table seems to play a notch faster when using them. I enjoy the deep colored no number balls and always play better when using them.

 

[lfigueroa]

Did not own, but these balls were in use at the US Open 1Pocket events, held up in Kalamazoo MI at the Playground in the late 90's. The one thing I remember about those balls was that you could twist the begesus out of them. IOW, if you wanted to put spin on an object ball coming off the rail for a bank, it was incredible how much spin you could get. My first match at one of these events I made a twist back bank shot -- which you can't even think about with a lot of equipment -- with ease. It was fun. In fact, a funny story goes along with the shot I'm talking about. It was my very first US Open, maybe like 1998. I had only been playing 1pocket for three years and decided: whaddahey and got in.



My first match I draw John Lavin, owner of Red Shoes up in Chicago. At the time we didn't know each other. (When we did become acquainted we became very good friends.) John told me that after the draw he felt pretty good. After all: he knew virtually everyone in the Midwest who could play a decent game of 1pocket and since he'd never heard of a "Lou Figueroa" before, John, who is an accomplished player, figured he liked his chances against the unknown from St. Louis.



So we get called to play in the first group of matches. Now, we're playing with these Raschigs and being the aspiring 1pocket player that I was, one of the last things I had practiced (for three days straight) right before leaving St. Louis, was twisting balls in on bank shots.



We lag.

He wins. It's early in the first game -- like maybe the second or third shot -- all the balls are still down table and I uncork a twist back bank out of nowhere. Not only that, I go on to run eight and out. The next game, it's my serve, I make a ball on the break and run eight and out again (the pockets were huge). The next game, a few shots into the match, I end up with a dead one in the stack, pop it in, and get out. The last game went pretty much the same way.

 Lou wins 4-0 in 20 minutes.

 John later told me that after the match he wandered over to his partner, kind of in shell shock, and the guy asks, "So, when do you play your match?" And John just goes, "Oh. I played already."



Lou Figueroa

 

[K2Kraze]

Great story, Lou. Had me chuckling - and picturing those Raschigs in action being used for your 4-0 romp

 

[Bob Jewett]

Did not own, but these balls were in use at the US Open 1Pocket events, held up in Kalamazoo MI at the Playground in the late 90's. The one thing I remember about those balls was that you could twist the begesus out of them. ...

That was my experience the one time I played with them. That's fun at one pocket, but it also means that they have two or more times the throw of Aramiths. Unless you always use gearing/outside english on your shots, they will be hard to adjust to and then if you do adjust you will be lost with Aramiths.

But they do look nice.

Maybe there is some cleaner that would fix the throw/twist.

 

[K2Kraze]

That was my experience the one time I played with them. That's fun at one pocket, but it also means that they have two or more times the throw of Aramiths. Unless you always use gearing/outside english on your shots, they will be hard to adjust to and then if you do adjust you will be lost with Aramiths.

But they do look nice.

Maybe there is some cleaner that would fix the throw/twist.

I'll be sure to do some testing and trying and experimenting and comparing when I can get my hands on a set of each


And see what effect the Aramith cleaner or restoring solutions have on them.

Now if I could only find someone with a flawless set for sale