Going towards CF break shaft/cue, my options

mjantti

mjantti

Enjoying life
Silver Member
Been breaking with Mezz Kai with many years now, looking suggestions and options going to a CF break shaft/cue. I have tried a few including a JFlowers, Finnish brand Dominus but without extensive chance to compare. If anyone can give some insight here, especially if you have had a chance to compare. I am not looking to spend way over $500, does CF provide enough extra punch with control? Shaft diameter? Adjustable weight bolts? Does the JB option bring more value as I don’t own a proper CF jumper at the moment either? I am a decent shooter with a realistic Fargo around maybe 700 so I am looking for a pro level cue, and good value for money as at the moment I don’t have time to play much. JFlowers seems promising with their under 500 pricing.
 
Mezz Kai is a fantastic break cue. Unless you step up to the BK Rush I don't think there would be any improvement with the cheap carbon fibers. My .02
 
I have an old Predator BK2, I have added to it a Raven CF break shaft ($200) and to be honest, I don’t see a big difference.
If you break well with your Mezz, don’t see a reason to change.

I tried a $100 Temu Little Monster carbon J/B and I was quite pleased with it. If you can look pass the ugly decals, that a nice cue for the money.
 
but theres another option with cf for 180 on amazon
the little monster

Texas Carom Club

Thread 'little monster carbon fiber break jump'

158 on amazon

just bought it get it friday and will make a review

if it doesnt disintegrate its a home run
unilock 13mm cf shaft

theres a couple reviews of it on amazon with video and show the shaft looks like a good quality , goes with what they also say about it.

d2.jpg
donkey.jpg
 
Put a Whyte Carbon break shaft on your Mezz butt or just stick with the Mezz.

Or spend the extra $$$$ get the BK Rush & use it forever.
 
Only cf break cue i've ever hit was a Cuetec Breach and it opened-up racks like they were hit by a grenade. I'd never pay that kinda $ for a break cue but it was pretty impressive.
 
If you are looking for a Carbon break cue that has an adjustable weight system, look at the Mach 1 from McDermott. It is more than you quoted, but no other break cue on the market has the adjustable weight bolt system that it features.
 
Fore Rail said:
Put a Whyte Carbon break shaft on your Mezz butt or just stick with the Mezz.

Or spend the extra $$$$ get the BK Rush & use it forever.
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This is actually a good suggestion, because I am not sure what a CF butt brings to the table (pun intended). I could just change the shaft… Too bad it is rarely cost efficient.
 
mjantti said:
Been breaking with Mezz Kai with many years now, looking suggestions and options going to a CF break shaft/cue. I have tried a few including a JFlowers, Finnish brand Dominus but without extensive chance to compare. If anyone can give some insight here, especially if you have had a chance to compare. I am not looking to spend way over $500, does CF provide enough extra punch with control? Shaft diameter? Adjustable weight bolts? Does the JB option bring more value as I don’t own a proper CF jumper at the moment either? I am a decent shooter with a realistic Fargo around maybe 700 so I am looking for a pro level cue, and good value for money as at the moment I don’t have time to play much. JFlowers seems promising with their under 500 pricing.
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Becue cues are made in Italy and are the first cue to be made totally of CF, Check out their website and look up technology, these guys are experts in CF who wanted to bring to pool what CF brought to golf, I own both their break cue and playing cue, in my experience there are 2 things that make Becue's CF better than wood cues, 1) they transfer energy better than most wood shafts, there are some really good wood shafts out there but they are dependent on how long the wood was grown, water content and a bunch of other factors, CF shafts built by Becue are engineered for several types of hit, do you want lowest deflection, more feedback, a combination of both? They know not every player wants the same type of hit, so it brings me to the next point, consistency, I will say that in Becue cues you will get a consistent hit from shaft to shaft and Cue to Cue, I like having a spare shaft in case a tip pops off, when I had wood shafts I had my "main" shaft and my spare, while the spare shaft played well it did play different, with my Becue's I find they play the same, I don't have to make any adjustments unless I was changing the type of shaft I was using, This my 4th year owning my Becue's and I love them more now than when I first got them, that's my 2 cents.
 
90% of an effective break, IMO, is a tight rack, a direct center hit on your object ball in the rack, your break cue speed, and proper timing/technique of the break cue stroke to the CB.

If you have ALL of that perfected, the break cue that is most comfortable for you will add the final 10% to your break. Experiment - yes- I have experience with the Li'l Monster break/jump, the BK Rush, and the BK3 shaft on a sport wrapped plain maple cue butt.

For me, I like the BK3 first, and I saw no difference between BK Rush at $800 new and Lil Monster at about $125 used. I like a hard leather tip on my break cue, I found the cue ball difficult to control with anything but that on the end of my break shaft, although the Kamui control break tip and the White Diamond break tip rank high in my liking as well.. Just my 2 cents.
 
mikemosconi said:
90% of an effective break, IMO, is a tight rack, a direct center hit on your object ball in the rack, your break cue speed, and proper timing/technique of the break cue stroke to the CB.

If you have ALL of that perfected, the break cue that is most comfortable for you will add the final 10% to your break. Experiment - yes- I have experience with the Li'l Monster break/jump, the BK Rush, and the BK3 shaft on a sport wrapped plain maple cue butt.

For me, I like the BK3 first, and I saw no difference between BK Rush at $800 new and Lil Monster at about $125 used. I like a hard leather tip on my break cue, I found the cue ball difficult to control with anything but that on the end of my break shaft. Just my 2 cents.
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It took a while for me to try the Bulletproof Break tip, there are good and bad reviews just like with every piece of gear, they hold chalk great and perform great on hard and soft breaks, you can even draw the cueball with this tip if you are so inclined.
 
I have a Predator BK4 with the stock wood shaft and a BK Rush shaft. I’ve also owned a full BK Rush cue. The difference is pretty negligible honesty, you don’t gain much in performance. I do play with the carbon BK Rush shaft and do think it has the tiniest edge for me when it comes to consistency via a slightly lower deflection. They all break within a few percent of my old OB break cue too. A good break cue is valuable and I think a stiff shaft with a hard tip makes a noticeable difference compared to a playing cue. After that though, not a lot to be gained.
 
As a first step I would try getting a lower priced CF shaft to fit the Mezz Kai. Rhino sells a break shaft for under US 200. Neither the BK Rush nor the Cuetec Breach are CF butts, so it’s just the shaft.

In terms of a jump/break CF I will say that my BK Rush jump break does jump better than my previous ancient jump cue, but not as well as either the Propel (which I now own) or the Air Rush (which I have tried). Part of it might be that the shaft isn’t as thick. Certainly one limitation of the JB is that it is a fixed (shorter) length, whereas the dedicated jump cues are 3 pieces and offer you more flexibility when it comes to shorter or longer jumps.
 
I played pool for decades and decades and never invested in a break cue.

I always used my playing cue and never had any problems. I have never popped a tip off or messed one up from breaking and I have broke thousands and thousands of racks with my cues...even my most expensive custom cues.

I can break as hard with my playing cue as most people can break with their fancy break cues. As a matter of fact, I have had people come over to my table from the other side of the pool room to ask me how I break so hard. They would say, "your break is so hard and loud I can hear it all the way from the other side of the room".

Breaking hard is more of a technique than a cue. Some people can do it and some can't. I think I can do it because I started as a kid and played with adults in a real old-school pool hall instead of playing with kids my own age.

I have an old cheap Cuetec cue with a fiberglass coated shaft that I got for free from somewhere and I put a White Diamond tip on it and used it a few times just to see how it would do. It worked as well as these fancy expensive break cues people are buying.

I still prefer using my playing cue to break with. I think I can control the cue ball better with it. I don't like breaking with just speed and power without knowing what the hell is going to happen with the cue ball afterward.

There are way too many gadgets now. I see league players with thousands of dollars worth of toys and they can't make three balls in a row. Some of them can't even hold a cue stick and they are buying $250 jump cues. WTF?

The same goes for all the people thinking they are going to find some "magic" tip that will make them play like Mosconi. Put whatever tip you want on a shaft, play with it and get used to it and it will work as well as a "magic" tip.
The same as breaking, I have had tons of people come over to my table to ask me what kind of tip I was using. They would say, "I have never seen anyone put as much spin on a cue ball as you can do." They were looking for a "magic" tip.
 
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HawaiianEye said:
I played pool for decades and decades and never invested in a break cue.

I always used my playing cue and never had any problems. I have never popped a tip off or messed one up from breaking and I have broke thousands and thousands of racks with my cues...even my most expensive custom cues.

I can break as hard with my playing cue as most people can break with their fancy break cues. As a matter of fact, I have had people come over to my table from the other side of the pool room to ask me how I break so hard. They would say, "your break is so hard and loud I can hear it all the way from the other side of the room".

Breaking hard is more of a technique than a cue. Some people can do it and some can't. I think I can do it because I started as a kid and played with adults in a real old-school pool hall instead of playing with kids my own age.

I have an old cheap Cuetec cue with a fiberglass coated shaft that I got for free from somewhere and I put a White Diamond tip on it and used it a few times just to see how it would do. It worked as well as these fancy expensive break cues people are buying.

I still prefer using my playing cue to break with. I think I can control the cue ball better with it. I don't like breaking with just speed and power without knowing what the hell is going to happen with the cue ball afterward.

There are way too many gadgets now. I see league players with thousands of dollars worth of toys and they can't make three balls in a row. Some of them can't even hold a cue stick and they are buying $250 jump cues. WTF?

The same goes for all the people thinking they are going to find some "magic" tip that will make them play like Mosconi. Put whatever tip you want on a shaft, play with it and get used to it and it will work as well as a "magic" tip.
The same as breaking, I have had tons of people come over to my table to ask me what kind of tip I was using. They would say, "I have never seen anyone put as much spin on a cue ball as you can do." They were looking for a "magic" tip.
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Great Post! I just love the old time cue cases that came with no exterior pockets- none. All the guys showed up with just a cue - one cue, in a bag, many young players would be freaked out by a guy showing up with one cue, one shaft, and an old Brunswick case- no pockets!

My last memories of this was a now deceased hustler in the NYC north suburbs area who, MT. Vernon Tommy -even into the 2000s would show up with one cue in a single case and play lights out- no other equipment whatsoever, and around 1999 a guy showing up for a loaded field Joss tour event in Stamford, CT. with a Meucci in HAND, one shaft, NO case and winning the event over the likes of Ginky, Frankie, and many other notables Chuck Altomare.
 
Using just one cue is great when everybody is using just one cue... In modern times it's just putting yourself in a disadvantage against the competition, I'm not talking about the bangers, a good player can beat them with a broom stick.... but playing an opponent as strong as you are or stronger with less tools is a handicap.

You can break just great with a playing cue but it will hurt the tip and this might cost you a shot here and there which may result in a loss. Pro players understood this and started to carry a second cue for breaking, how is it that some guy on the internet knows better?
Not to mention not having a jump cue and the ability to use it.
Carrying just one cue was great in the straight pool days or if you play snooker.

An extra shaft is also a must in my opinion if you compete, how many times did you have a tip pop off the shaft? With an extra shaft you keep on shooting with a cue that you are comfortable with and don't have to play with a bent house cues.

These old time stories are great to read, but we live and play pool now.
 
skor said:
Using just one cue is great when everybody is using just one cue... In modern times it's just putting yourself in a disadvantage against the competition, I'm not talking about the bangers, a good player can beat them with a broom stick.... but playing an opponent as strong as you are or stronger with less tools is a handicap.

You can break just great with a playing cue but it will hurt the tip and this might cost you a shot here and there which may result in a loss. Pro players understood this and started to carry a second cue for breaking, how is it that some guy on the internet knows better?
Not to mention not having a jump cue and the ability to use it.
Carrying just one cue was great in the straight pool days or if you play snooker.

An extra shaft is also a must in my opinion if you compete, how many times did you have a tip pop off the shaft? With an extra shaft you keep on shooting with a cue that you are comfortable with and don't have to play with a bent house cues.

These old time stories are great to read, but we live and play pool now.
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I have shot hundreds of thousands of shots without my tips flying off.

After I started having custom cues made, I always had an extra shaft. I never had to pull it out because a tip flew off my main shaft.

You aren't playing pool now.

You are playing a bastardized version of pool.

You are playing a game with ever-changing rules in order to keep players buying more "toys".

Do you think the old-schools players didn't "live and play pool".

They made money playing pool.

They didn't bring home APA patches and $10 trophies.
 
HawaiianEye said:
I have shot hundreds of thousands of shots without my tips flying off.

After I started having custom cues made, I always had an extra shaft. I never had to pull it out because a tip flew off my main shaft.

You aren't playing pool now.

You are playing a bastardized version of pool.

You are playing a game with ever-changing rules in order to keep players buying more "toys".

Do you think the old-schools players didn't "live and play pool".

They made money playing pool.

They didn't bring home APA patches and $10 trophies.
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And again
You have to adapt to the times we live in.
We play what we play with the rules of today.

Those old legends would not win a pro tournament today… and if they were still alive and competing, they would have a break cue and a jump cue.

I had a tip pop off my cue at least once, and saw it happened many times, enough to make sure to carry an extra shaft.
 
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