Cue Balls - The new ones suck - the measle especially...

Has the measle cue ball ruined the pool games?

  • Yes

    Votes: 28 17.5%

  • No

    Votes: 132 82.5%
  • Total voters
    160
As long as I don't end up with a barbox mud ball on a big table, then I don't have a preference in the cue. Any difference in cues is going to be the same issue as any difference in moving from one table to another. You have to adjust.

If anything with a cue ball that affects me is if I can use my full cue to execute a jump shot or not. Some cue balls I can jump easy and others I have trouble with.
 
Cue Balls-The new ones suck-the measles ball especially

The new finish on Aramith cue balls, both the Centennial Blue Dot and the Measles ball are like the Aramith magnetic particle (double green aramith logo) finish. The ball brand new is whiter and the cue tip chalk marks stay on the cue ball (and the marks don't come off in a ball cleaner machine).
You CAN remove the chalk marks with a Mr.Clean "Magic Eraser" and denatured alcohol VERY easily. The only problem then (with a clean cue ball) is what polish to use to keep the surface slick and polished ???
I sure would like to know the REAL reason Aramith went with this cue ball finish?
 
I don't like the measles ball. As a tv ball it's hideous.

I've played with it a handful of times, and each time it was because someone had their own measles ball which they substituted for the house ball I had been warming up with. It completely messed my game up.

I guess more than anything else I dislike the trend of people bringing their own balls to pool rooms and insisting on using them for a gambling match or what have you.
 
Roy Steffensen said:
I have never experienced any big difference with them, except that they might roll a little more. Never experienced more skid/bad contact.

During the 8-ball Battle of Scandinavia in 2007, Ralf Souquet asked me to not use the measle cueball for the semifinal, and his opponent was ok with that, so I let them play with an older ball. Ralf lost the semifinal, and in the final between Artem Koshovyy and Niels Feijen, both asked to get the measle ball back, so I guess it is all about habits and personal preferences...

-edit: I didn't ask why Ralf wanted the old ball, but I will ask him next time I have the oppurtunity.
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Asked Ralf Souquet about this, saying that many posters on AZ claimed that they got more skids/bad contacts etc with the measle ball, and I reminded him of the tv-match in Oslo. This is his reply:


"Yes that's exactly the problem with my so called "sick cue ball". I never liked it and had problems with it right away. It reacts different and makes you feel uncomfortable as well as uncertain before many shots. For some reason the finish on the ball is different than on other cue balls which makes it a lot more and faster dirty. This is the reason for more bad contacts or so called skids."
 
If you're trying to figure out why the measles cue ball plays differently, conduct this test.

Take it and your normal cue ball and drop them simuntaneously from the same height (mid-chest) onto a smooth concrete floor (your garage floor) and notice the rebound height difference.

My experience is the measles ball will bounce ~8" less than the red circle, the black circle and the Aramith Red Logo cue balls, which all rebound to the same height.

The measles cue ball is made from a phenolic resin that has a significantly lesser modulus of elasticity.
 
I did this test and concur...

cigardave said:
If you're trying to figure out why the measles cue ball plays differently, conduct this test.

Take it and your normal cue ball and drop them simuntaneously from the same height (mid-chest) onto a smooth concrete floor (your garage floor) and notice the rebound height difference.

My experience is the measles ball will bounce ~8" less than the red circle, the black circle and the Aramith Red Logo cue balls, which all rebound to the same height.

The measles cue ball is made from a phenolic resin that has a significantly lesser modulus of elasticity.
Click to expand...


After I saw your post I pulled both of my balls out and bounced them on the floor, and the measle laden ball did bounce sgnificantly less than the blue ball.

Jaden

p.s. only a little pun intended.
 
I just felt the need to post. While I'm sure that not all have fallen prey to this, the huge influx of knock-off measle balls has a lot to do with some of these. I have seen a good number of these. Some of the basic knock-offs have 8 spots instead of 6, and others look just right, with a very slight color exception. I really think that this must be at least partially responsible, as I love the measle ball, as do most players I know, and hell, I've played for a living for over 10 years, so I have some experience with other cue balls. I just wanted people to remember that the same thing happened with red circle balls. You still see those off color(like perfectly white) suckers at pool rooms occasionally. OK, venting over;) .
 
We tried this little exercise last night at the pool room.
Red Circle and Pro Cup ball.

Each time the balls were dropped and each time the balls bounced at just about the same height. Sometimes the red circle was just an inch or so higher and sometimes the pro cup ball was just about an inch or so higher.

Both were used ball (more than two years old)

What do you make of that?

cigardave said:
If you're trying to figure out why the measles cue ball plays differently, conduct this test.

Take it and your normal cue ball and drop them simuntaneously from the same height (mid-chest) onto a smooth concrete floor (your garage floor) and notice the rebound height difference.

My experience is the measles ball will bounce ~8" less than the red circle, the black circle and the Aramith Red Logo cue balls, which all rebound to the same height.

The measles cue ball is made from a phenolic resin that has a significantly lesser modulus of elasticity.
Click to expand...
 
The measle ball is heavier than other cue balls.

I purchased one a few years ago and played with it alot in the beginning. Some good players told me I shouldn't use it because it would mess up my game, so I stopped using it.

At my poolhall we have 3 different sets of balls.
1 set for the 9 footer, 1 set for the "small" 8 footer with tight pockets, and the rest are for the 8 footers. Each set has it's own cue ball.

One day I jumped in on a game and I asked the guy I was playing if I could switch cue balls, because the cue ball didn't go with this set of balls. He said they were all the same. I was trying to explain to him that this ball was lighter than the set of balls we were using. That it should go with the set of balls used for the "small" 8 footer with tight pockets. We engaged in a huge debate, so I just had to bring in my scales to prove him wrong.

I weighed 4 different cue balls.
The cue ball we were using, which has a small solid red dot, weighed about 20 grams less than the next heaviest.
The next heaviest was the aramith ball with the green logo.
A little heavier than that was the aramith ball with the red logo.
And the heaviset ball out of them all was the measle ball, which if I recall correctly weighed 6 grams more than the red logo.
 
Wazuela said:
The measle ball is heavier than other cue balls.

I weighed 4 different cue balls.
The cue ball we were using, which has a small solid red dot, weighed about 20 grams less than the next heaviest.
The next heaviest was the aramith ball with the green logo.
A little heavier than that was the aramith ball with the red logo.
And the heaviset ball out of them all was the measle ball, which if I recall correctly weighed 6 grams more than the red logo.
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My experience is just the opposite.

My measles ball weighs 6 grams less than my Aramith red logo cue ball, which came with my Super Aramith Pro set. All balls of that set weigh 168 grams, including the red logo cue ball. My measles ball weighs 162 grams.

Go figure. Manufacturing tolerances????
 
Cue Balls-The new ones suck-the measles ball especially

Just remember, the worn cue ball from a used ball set IS lighter than any NEW cue ball (including the "Measles" ball)!
 
I was at a place that featured the measle ball a year or so ago (With Aramith object balls) and I could obviously see that the measle ball was bigger than the house balls. We actually called the guy over and asked him about this and he confirmed this by using a cue butt over two other object balls, (house balls presumably Aramiths as well) and the measle ball was bigger than the house balls by maybe 1/16".

The kicker was he had the audacity to say that this was the "new" standard. Well, I knew the place pretty well and wanted to get back to business so this was a first.

Personal opinion is that a new Aramith measle ball indeed has a more soft or rubbery finish, it does not play at all the same as a red circle aramith or a blue circle centennial. It has it's own thing going on fair or not.
 
cigardave said:
If you're trying to figure out why the measles cue ball plays differently, conduct this test.

Take it and your normal cue ball and drop them simuntaneously from the same height (mid-chest) onto a smooth concrete floor (your garage floor) and notice the rebound height difference.

My experience is the measles ball will bounce ~8" less than the red circle, the black circle and the Aramith Red Logo cue balls, which all rebound to the same height.

The measles cue ball is made from a phenolic resin that has a significantly lesser modulus of elasticity.
Click to expand...


the red circle will bounce up and hit the roof, well almost. people thinks its ligher-its not(or enough to make a difference) its bouncy.

All these problems could just go away if everyone would play with the only decent CB a blue circle:D
 
T said:
I was at a place that featured the measle ball a year or so ago (With Aramith object balls) and I could obviously see that the measle ball was bigger than the house balls. We actually called the guy over and asked him about this and he confirmed this by using a cue butt over two other object balls, (house balls presumably Aramiths as well) and the measle ball was bigger than the house balls by maybe 1/16".

The kicker was he had the audacity to say that this was the "new" standard. Well, I knew the place pretty well and wanted to get back to business so this was a first.

Personal opinion is that a new Aramith measle ball indeed has a more soft or rubbery finish, it does not play at all the same as a red circle aramith or a blue circle centennial. It has it's own thing going on fair or not.
Click to expand...

it was bigger cause the other balls were wore down smaller, it was actually the right size 2.2500",

there is a new soft rubbery finish on balls recently that totally sucks!!!! its like yellow varnish, after it wears off the balls are ok, I been expermenting with that lately on the 860 HR-which is hell on balls, it tears them up, it litterly scratches the balls. Corey saw what I'm talking about-and yes its still happening with the cloth being broke in.

later T, hope your good.
 
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I just played a couple of nights ago for the first time with a measle ball and I loved it.
I don't know how old it was or how old the set of balls were, but the set seemed pretty new.
I don't think the measle ball was of the "newer" variety mentioned.
Didn't have any of the troubles mentioned previously.
It felt slightly heavier but didn't play heavier - at least not heavier than a blue circle, for sure.

I've always preferred the finish on a red circle cue ball, but feel that they play too light sometimes.
 
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