After a 4 year break from playing pool, I just came back last month and needed some equipment. My old stuff wasn't stored right and others were sold. One of the things I picked up was a new X-breaker wrapless black model. First I must say that before I quit, I had a great break and a horrible jump. I used to only be able to jump and hit the ball 70% of the time at best. Maybe in the 2 years I played pool, I only jumped and made 2 shots. After 5 days of playing over a week's period, this is what happened.
Day1: Couldn't get used to the Break. I kept hitting the rack funny and put too much spin on it. I over jumped everything for the first 20 minutes of play. After that I Jumped and made 3 balls in a 1 hour setting. WOW.
Day2: Breaking... bad as usual, so I slowed down and got better control. The spread wasn't what I was expecting. I played for 2 hours and I probably attempted 8-10 jumps, cleared and contacted all and actually made 4. One totally impressive one was one where the OB was on the head string, blocking ball on the center line and the CB 4 inches off foot rail and everything was perfectly straight. On that shot I jumped and drew the cue ball back about 8-10 inches on accident. Distance and height with tons of control... what a great jumper!
Day 3: Breaking ...eh. I was about to give up on Xbreaker for breaking. Jumping, well In about a 2 hour period I was MAKING yet more jump shots. These were not all simple shots where the OB was dangling, one was about a 1/8 ball cut across 1/2 table. People were staring and pointing. I got 3 offers to gamble. That was bad. I was drawing way too much attention.
Day 4: The HOLY GRAIL. Something happened, I realied that my breaking problems was due to stroking too far back and having the parabloic taper mess me up. I pulled my bridge hand back 4 inches or so (enough not to feel the taper) and I was slamming balls at full break speak, the cue ball was jumping up a couple inches and landing back in place, perfect center shots. Man this X breaker has made me a better breaker. Oh yeah, jumped and made like 4 balls out of 12-15 attemps; all other attempts hit and came fairly close.
Man so what's the bad part? Well I have been asked to gamble at least 3 times a day, people stare and I get nervous especially since I'm so rusty and a B+ player at best. One guy told me that I jump better than I play.
Sorry for the rant. This cue has made 10 times more jump shots this week than my first 2 years of playing combined.
I saw a post with a few problems that I agree with; my X breaker logo is having problems lining up. I found that if I dont screw it tight when I store it, this fixes itself, but after play, I can tighten it more and it goes off center again. Perhaps it's the temp in my pool hall. The X breaker logo could go on the butt cap like other cues, or it could go on the joint, either would be fine. The silver rings are also slightly raised, but no more than my other cue. I think this is just a problem with metal in general. I could do without the metal rings though they do look nice. I also noticed the balance is more like 20" from the butt not 19. this doesn't bother me cause my playing cue is about 19.5 My shaft is marked with the serial number and weight, I'm not sure I like the weight being marked as I may change it one day.
Oh yeah that chalk cakes onto that tip. I've always hated phenolic since it didn't hold chalk at all, this tip is the bomb. Lastly, what's this I hear about a new energy increasing bumper? Can I get this on my cue?
Seriously though, and I am not making this up, I love jumping with this, but the stares, pointing fingers and offers to gamble are making me nervous. Forgive the bad grammar, it's late and I'm ranting. Either this cue has made me a better player, or I've finally found equipment that unleashes my potential.
Day1: Couldn't get used to the Break. I kept hitting the rack funny and put too much spin on it. I over jumped everything for the first 20 minutes of play. After that I Jumped and made 3 balls in a 1 hour setting. WOW.
Day2: Breaking... bad as usual, so I slowed down and got better control. The spread wasn't what I was expecting. I played for 2 hours and I probably attempted 8-10 jumps, cleared and contacted all and actually made 4. One totally impressive one was one where the OB was on the head string, blocking ball on the center line and the CB 4 inches off foot rail and everything was perfectly straight. On that shot I jumped and drew the cue ball back about 8-10 inches on accident. Distance and height with tons of control... what a great jumper!
Day 3: Breaking ...eh. I was about to give up on Xbreaker for breaking. Jumping, well In about a 2 hour period I was MAKING yet more jump shots. These were not all simple shots where the OB was dangling, one was about a 1/8 ball cut across 1/2 table. People were staring and pointing. I got 3 offers to gamble. That was bad. I was drawing way too much attention.
Day 4: The HOLY GRAIL. Something happened, I realied that my breaking problems was due to stroking too far back and having the parabloic taper mess me up. I pulled my bridge hand back 4 inches or so (enough not to feel the taper) and I was slamming balls at full break speak, the cue ball was jumping up a couple inches and landing back in place, perfect center shots. Man this X breaker has made me a better breaker. Oh yeah, jumped and made like 4 balls out of 12-15 attemps; all other attempts hit and came fairly close.
Man so what's the bad part? Well I have been asked to gamble at least 3 times a day, people stare and I get nervous especially since I'm so rusty and a B+ player at best. One guy told me that I jump better than I play.

I saw a post with a few problems that I agree with; my X breaker logo is having problems lining up. I found that if I dont screw it tight when I store it, this fixes itself, but after play, I can tighten it more and it goes off center again. Perhaps it's the temp in my pool hall. The X breaker logo could go on the butt cap like other cues, or it could go on the joint, either would be fine. The silver rings are also slightly raised, but no more than my other cue. I think this is just a problem with metal in general. I could do without the metal rings though they do look nice. I also noticed the balance is more like 20" from the butt not 19. this doesn't bother me cause my playing cue is about 19.5 My shaft is marked with the serial number and weight, I'm not sure I like the weight being marked as I may change it one day.
Oh yeah that chalk cakes onto that tip. I've always hated phenolic since it didn't hold chalk at all, this tip is the bomb. Lastly, what's this I hear about a new energy increasing bumper? Can I get this on my cue?
Seriously though, and I am not making this up, I love jumping with this, but the stares, pointing fingers and offers to gamble are making me nervous. Forgive the bad grammar, it's late and I'm ranting. Either this cue has made me a better player, or I've finally found equipment that unleashes my potential.
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