Samsara Cues

I had exact same questions

where are they?

I don't think you will see many of those cues in a pool hall slammin in the 9 ball.

SOOOO

Maybe it comes down to ......why do you want to build cues?

Do you want players to shoot with them and say "great shooter".

Or do you want people to hang it on a wall or put it in a glass case and say "what a beautiful Cue"?

Are you in it for the money?

Or are you in it for the pleasure of knowing that someone is shooting with your cue that you made because of the great hit and playing ability???


Kim

whammo57 said:

I don't think you will see many of those cues in a pool hall slammin in the 9 ball.

SOOOO

Maybe it comes down to ......why do you want to build cues?

Do you want players to shoot with them and say "great shooter".

Or do you want people to hang it on a wall or put it in a glass case and say "what a beautiful Cue"?

Are you in it for the money?

Or are you in it for the pleasure of knowing that someone is shooting with your cue that you made because of the great hit and playing ability???


Kim

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Is that addressed to Samsara ?

kasparovII said:

While I know Samsara cues are known for their great wood and beautiful "art work", I very rarely hear of anyone discussing their performance. In fact, as I look at what the players on the forum are using on a day to day basis I never see a Samsara as their main player. They seem to have all the right "ingredients", i.., radial pin joints with phenolic joints and they offer quite a few shaft options as far as tapers and tip diameters. So my question is how do they play? I'd like to get a cuemaker's take on why they seem to be "collecter items" instead of a player's cue.
I realize that this forum is as civil as it gets especially among you cuemakers...and I'm not looking for any bad raps, but is anyone willing to give me an honest evaluation of how Samsaras play compared to some of the other big names in cue making?
Thanks in advance,
KII

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I really think this question would be better asked in the Main forum or maybe even Cue Reviews and not the Ask the Cuemaker forum. I know you want a cuemakers take on this, but is it really appropiate for cuemakers to give the answers you want?

I used a PJ Samsara for a short time several years ago. Cue was too stiff for me. Plus, one of the shafts warped pretty bad and the second developed a slight warp. Samsara replaced one of them. I didn't want to sell the cue because I didn't want the shafts to go bad and it would come back to me, so I gave the cue away to a friend, Hugh Arnold, aka, Licking County Slim, of the old RSB days. I'm not trying to knock Samsara... just being truthful.

cues

JoeyInCali said:

Is that addressed to Samsara ?

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No I did not direct that towards Samsara and it is not criticism .. not in any way.... Cue builders build what they like and that which they see as beautiful and functional in their own eyes and for their own reasons.

Diversity.....

Kim

i own a custom made Samsara, that I bough off someone. Tried to play with original shaft and Z2 at the time about a year ago and didn't like it. Picked it up about 3 month ago and started to shoot with OB2. Now this is my main playing cue. Its well balanced and shoots well , on top of that it looks good. Just my 2 cents

They play GREAT !!! You get what you pay for ...

................................

They hit great!

What you should try is any Samsara with a 314 SS Kamui.

Try one, and I think you'll like the feel.

I do.

Also, forgot to add. They can build just about anything you want, any specs.

Check there web sight Samsaracues.com if you'd like to see some gorgeous cues.

They hit as good as they look..

Dave

Dave Fernandez said:

Also, forgot to add. They can build just about anything you want, any specs.

Check there web sight Samsaracues.com if you'd like to see some gorgeous cues.

They hit as good as they look..

Dave

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For each and every "fancy", gallery grade Samsara you've seen in photos there are hundreds of player-level cues in the field - I mean cues under $1000 (some WELL under that). And I'm just talking about the Samsara-built cues that actually carry the "Samsara" logo - forget about all the private-label work they've put out.

I swear, it seems like every pool player who posts to this forum thinks the entire world is represented by the few hundred enthusiasts who frequent AZB plus their tiny circle of pool-playing friends. There are TENS OF MILLIONS of people, in this country alone, who consider themselves "avid pool players". If every single one of your pool-playing buddies and every single member of AZB - from inception to today, including the dead ones - agreed on any given opinion they wouldn't even come close to 1/1000 of 1 percent of the pool playing public.

TW

I've had this Samsara Spiderweb cue for about 6-7 years, plays light out!! I love the look of the snakewood and matching difficult to build ringwork. It's light to the touch and very well balanced. I take it out every once in a while and usually have a couple of buddies play with it too, but for more than a year it was my daily player. I've had several other Samsara's and am very happy with the quality and hit, fit and finish.


NICE CUES!!!

John

Awesome cue!!

Samsaras are Excellent cues!

They are pure genius in their design, techniques and execution.

Those little diamonds in the rings are amazing. They are very unassuming. Most who look at them have no idea how they are made. It's truly amazing. Perfectly indexed and razor sharp. All I can say is it's genius beyond anything I've seen or done.


Royce

Their construction methods are extremely inventive in my opinion. Oh wait, that's not an opinion, that's a fact! Lol...

Remember that not everyone will like every cue. I owned a Samsara "Bar cue" It was a very well made cue. Very plain, I did not care for the hit (probably mainly due to the emerald tip, I hate those...). It was their most basic model cue and the curly maple was outstanding on that thing. I've also shot with a Samsara that had a Tiger shaft and it was quite nice.

I think the think that keeps me the most interested in cue-making and cues in general is when I have to ask myself, "How the hell did they do that?!?!". Samsara always comes through in that department.

I'm glad to see this topic come up. I ordered a Samsara from Jim and Dave back in 2000 or 2001 and it was my daily player up until about a year ago. It's has twelve snakewood points (three high, three low forward the three high, three low backward) with two veneers (black and natural) into curly maple. I'll put the construction and performance up against any other cue. And the fit and finish is absolutely perfect. Not to mention, their wood is incredible. The curly maple seems to move beneath the clear coat.

Having said that, the cue did hit VERY stiff when I got it. Back then, they shipped with Sumo tips that were hard as rocks and the cue made a very sharp "PING!" anytime I would hit the cueball off center. I remedied that by swapping the LBM ferrule for ivory and having a Moori tip installed. It still hits stiff but the "PING!" has been replaced with a very pleasant natural sound.

For those of you who are curious as to why it's no longer my daily player... It's pretty simple. League. I had a hard time taking that cue to bars. It just attracted too much attention and if anything would've happened to it, I would have been beside myself. I play with a relatively plain (but still AMAZING) Chris Nitti now. Don't get me wrong, still a damn nice cue, but it doesn't turn heads like the Samsara did.

Great topic.

Take care and hit 'em straight,
Matt

RBC said:

Samsara are Excellent cue!

Most who look at them have no idea how they are made.


Royce

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I should have read the rules before I posted this reply. Sorry.......

James

Jimmy_Betmore said:

For those of you who are curious as to why it's no longer my daily player... It's pretty simple. League. I had a hard time taking that cue to bars. It just attracted too much attention and if anything would've happened to it, I would have been beside myself.

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I would hate for that to be the deciding factor on whether I buy a samsara cue but it's an important point to consider, I think I'll still buy one