Hi !
One of my friends at our pool club has a Stout cue. So far I've hit with it only a few times but it feels quite solid, you can hear the "plink" sound on the impact. Also the shaft feels quite stiff and it's not a soft hitting cue. IMHO, the cue hits nicely and lively. Too bad the cue is only 57½" long, so it's too short for me and I almost dropped it a couple of times when reaching for a long shot over the table. I don't know if Stout cues have a standard length of half an inch short of the regular 58". I remember the cue having 4 or 5 inlaid points and some decorations in the butt sleeve, like wood inlays and some abalone. I think that particular cue goes around $500.