Dear Russians - was there ever Russian chalk?

hunger strike

hunger strike

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Out of dozens of photos of Russians playing Russian billiards throughout the Soviet era, none that I have seen showed chalk on the rail or being used. Ebay is overrun by sellers from Russia and Ukraine selling those awful Soviet-era cream colored ball sets. I have never seen a chalk mark on the cueball. Does anyone here have knowledge on this? I knew a Russian chalk collector who had never found old Russian chalk either. None of the surrounding countries seem to have used chalk either, except Bulgaria.
 
hunger strike said:
Out of dozens of photos of Russians playing Russian billiards throughout the Soviet era, none that I have seen showed chalk on the rail or being used. Ebay is overrun by sellers from Russia and Ukraine selling those awful Soviet-era cream colored ball sets. I have never seen a chalk mark on the cueball. Does anyone here have knowledge on this? I knew a Russian chalk collector who had never found old Russian chalk either. None of the surrounding countries seem to have used chalk either, except Bulgaria.
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It is only for several years ex-USSR (Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakhstan, etc.) makers started producing their own formulas. The impact they got after Kamui 0.98 and such appeared. Until then there was hardly any mass production locally, most probably billiard chalk was imported. "Russian Magic Chalk" is just a brand, a fancy naming - AFAIK, it has never been of Russian origin.

Currently, there are brands that were/still are popular, like Sniper, SuperDiamond, and some chalks made by local cuemakers.
 
As for chalk on the rail missing on multiple photos, that's an interesting question. Maybe chalk was attached somewhere aside, so that it had not ever ended up being on the table rails?
 
they are indeed russin to shoot fast so keep the chalk with them.

really though people use way more chalk then needed. its an involuntary thing of grinding your tip with chalk.
except those with 25 dollar special pieces of chalk . lasts them much longer. guess why?
 
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Vahmurka said:
It is only for several years ex-USSR (Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakhstan, etc.) makers started producing their own formulas. The impact they got after Kamui 0.98 and such appeared. Until then there was hardly any mass production locally, most probably billiard chalk was imported. "Russian Magic Chalk" is just a brand, a fancy naming - AFAIK, it has never been of Russian origin.

Currently, there are brands that were/still are popular, like Sniper, SuperDiamond, and some chalks made by local cuemakers.
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Russian Magic Chalk was made in Russia. It was only in recent years that they moved manufacturing to Mexico due to geopolitical issues.
 

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Vahmurka said:
As for chalk on the rail missing on multiple photos, that's an interesting question. Maybe chalk was attached somewhere aside, so that it had not ever ended up being on the table rails?
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my old school pool room had chalk in holders suspended from the ceiling on strings. reach up, pull it down, chalk your cue, release and it snapped back up. Now this was an old system, and there was also chalk on the tables. But the "old-timey" suspended chalk mechanism was still there.
 
In the carom world, players aren't allowed to leave chalk on the rail.
They can place it near themselves while lining up and shooting, but have to pick it up before walking to their chair after a miss.

It's a rule, so that a player doesn't use his chalk as an aiming aid.

Maybe the case or a tradition in Russia???
 
3kushn said:
In the carom world, players aren't allowed to leave chalk on the rail.
They can place it near themselves while lining up and shooting, but have to pick it up before walking to their chair after a miss.

It's a rule, so that a player doesn't use his chalk as an aiming aid.

Maybe the case or a tradition in Russia???
Click to expand...

in the matches i've seen they have their chalk in the waistcoat pocket, like snooker players
 
Frosty said:
I traveled for a long time, to a lot of different countries playing this game. In my experience, it seemed that leaving chalk on the rail was something that is exclusively American in nature.
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yes, it's an "american pool" thing. filipinos and europeans (minus UK) do it too, or did until expensive chalk came along some years ago. chalk holders and chalk in the pocket is gaining ground now. i still chalk from the rail (and if you leave your expensive chalk on the rail i'll use it if it's the nearest one)
 
My Bulgarian chalk box from the early Soviet era has a label in Bulgarian and the chalk is custom labeled. But the chalk is obviously French Saint Martin. So my thinking is that I could find not Russian made chalk, but Russian LABELED chalk. Maybe other Soviet satellite states imported some. I also have a Pre-WWII Polish box that has the Star of David on it, so it miraculously survived German occupation. I am designing a poster showing chalk boxes from around the world and I need 2 more to show a grid of 20, but 24 would be preferable. How many people would buy it remains to be seen.
 
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