my first cue was a low-end, plastic wrapped decal dufferin. not the best but it was the only one that I was able to afford considering I wasn't paid much back then. it was more of a broom stick to be honest and shoot's meh. it was back when deflection wasn't really much of a conversation back...
they are more likely marketing rebrand than actually being different. just to make consumers think that they have a better or different quality than the previous tiger tips they have. from looking at it, they renamed them and being promoted by certain pros.
I must say that I play better now inspite of being medieval age. although my endurance and consistency can use some improvement. for someone who has now health issues, I have to carry with me some candies or food/drinks (not alcoholic beverage) while I'm playing pool for 3-4 hours.
Mine came in with the same shrinkwrap that you are talking about. Very nice balls and I love how they roll. Although the cue ball got peppered with too much taom chalk.
I don't think counterfeiting Aramith packaging would still make sense. I believe it is a costly process with negative return on the counterfeiters. I think they would sell more selling their own brand and promoting them to be of quality or similar to aramiths. In short, they are now earning more...
from my experience, amazon doesn't shrink-wrap products that is no their own advertised product, e.g. something with an Amazon basics is their own brand. Amazon is e-marketplace and not a distributor. As far as returned items go, the ones I have seen are just put on a regular plastic with some...
sorry for the late reply. was too sleepy to post late last night. anyway, my set is wrapped with plastic. I do have the Premiums though so I don't know if they are any different than the typical Premier wrapping.
I find the training ball that I have is very tricky for my opponent to handle. they hate it whenever we use it and felt it was throwing off some different spin. I did fine with it.
it's not just about respect but accessibility. but then, you might consider that as disrespect as well. on the otherhand, I don't believe that the caliber would matter against someone who are not in the right state of mind. seeing the gun alone by a perp with a knife or any weapon for that...