Overweight break cues

TSW said:
Has anyone tried a very heavy break cue? I'm looking at this 27-ouncer and curious about any thoughts. I am familiar with the heavy vs. light arguments for break cues, but have never seen one with a weight this far outside the norm.

Pool Dawg has a 100% money back guarantee so that is a definite incentive to try it.

http://www.pooldawg.com/product/elite-heavy-27oz-banned-break-cue
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I built a break for a customer that weighed in at 27.09 oz. I tried the cue out before I delivered it and this is what I found:

The heavier the break the less action you get on the break. The extra weight appears to deaden the hit, it also slows the speed the cue ball travels at, and it will also create more deflection which will decrease the accuracy of where the cue ball hits the rack.
 
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manwon said:
I built a break for a customer that weighed in at 27.09 oz. I tried the cue out before I delivered it and this is what I found:

The heavier the break the less action you get on the break. The extra weight appears to deaden the hit, it also slows the speed the cue ball travels at, and it will also create more deflection which will decrease the accuracy of where the cue ball hits the rack.
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Thanks Manwon. I figured that if there was an advantage to such cues, we would see pros already using them. But this one piqued my curiosity.
 
Personally, I wouldn't use anything over a 19oz to break with (for the same reasons mentioned above). Every break cue and jump/break I've had was around 18 - 18.5oz.

The one time I used a 21oz J&J break cue, I put more effort into my stroke with poor results compared to a lighter cue.
 
A heavy cue delivers a heavy cue ball. IMO if you have problems controlling your cue ball when you try to break with speed, a heavy cue is a good option.

A better option is to use your standard break cue and replace the joint with with a big(big as in actually larger) ole nasty brass joint. It packs a wallop.
 
I used a very heavy break cue for a short period of time. I found, the entire rack moved before the balls began to separate. That wasn't a good thing. The balls went everywhere but into a pocket. I was playing nine-ball. I can't speak for eight-ball or any other game.
 
I bought a 19 oz break cue and it broke fine. I removed a 3 oz bolt bringing it down to 16 oz and I found that i got more speed with the lighter weight. The weight bolt is sill in my sock drawer.
The faster you can get the cue ball moving the harder the break. But I have found out that on the new Diamond tables they just installed at "Felt" a little slower break works better on them.
 
they say the best break cue is your playing cue.. of course alot of people (myself included) dont like the idea of using your playing cue.. so i believe its best to find one that weights about the same..

when i bought my break cue, i bought it directly from pete at valley forge in 2004.. we started the lightest the cue could be and i broke and kept adding weight till every part of it felt great.. when it was too light it didnt feel right at all, when i got it to about 18.5, the break was great but the follow through felt wierd.. so finanly we got it to the weight its at and i keept it that way ever since.. it breaks a ton!

chris
 
bob jewitt and robert byrne had a pool table in his garage that had the rails off and a few pros hanging around the house . they started to take break shots and mr jewett measured the distance that the balls traveled down the driveway before hitting the dirt . knowing the height of the table it was easy to calculate the speed of the ball . this test proved that you can get a lighter cue moving faster top ball speed was about 28 mph , mr burns conclusion was in the form of a question 'IF A FREIGHT TRAIN MOVING AT 5 MPH HITS A BASEBALL HOW FAST DOES THE BASEBALL TRAVEL " answer "5 MPH" a cue ball weighs 5 1/2 oz
a17 oz cue is already 3x its weight. it is possible that a heavier thicker cue might help eliminate some stroke problems your break has but if you dont drop your sholder and follow through you should get more power off the lighter cue let me know how it works out .
 
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ChrisOnline said:
they say the best break cue is your playing cue...
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Some say that. Others say something else. Many prefer a different cue because they want it to be different in one or more of: weight, length, stiffness, ferrule, type of grip (wrapless vs. some sort of wrap), tip material, tip hardness, tip curvature, etc.
 
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ChrisOnline said:
they say the best break cue is your playing cue.. of course alot of people (myself included) dont like the idea of using your playing cue.. so i believe its best to find one that weights about the same..

chris
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I've been experimenting with 21.5 oz j/b cue (from same cue maker who also made me 19.25 oz j/b cue) ... and on 10 ball break from the middle of the table, I seem to get more "POW" on the break. On 9 ball break from the side rail, it seems like I do better with 19.25 oz cue.
 
ChrisOnline said:
they say the best break cue is your playing cue.. of course alot of people (myself included) dont like the idea of using your playing cue.. so i believe its best to find one that weights about the same..


chris
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I remember all that talk way back when, and the high profile proponent of that was Varner. Everyone was saying he does it so why not us. Even back then I thought it was an irrational theory since the break employs a whole different set of mechanics than just shooting. The break is a specialty shot, so why not have a special cue. Maybe back then break cues were a novelty, I don't know.

Well of course since then everyone sees now that a max break requires a specific instrument.
 
Lots of misinformation about this topic. For instance:

"The extra weight appears to deaden the hit, it also slows the speed the cue ball travels at..."

"A heavy cue delivers a heavy cue ball."

"the entire rack moved before the balls began to separate."

" 'IF A FREIGHT TRAIN MOVING AT 5 MPH HITS A BASEBALL HOW FAST DOES THE BASEBALL TRAVEL " answer "5 MPH"..."
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The correct info is well known and has been posted here many times.

For two sticks moving at the same speed, the heavier one will move the cue ball faster.

However, a faster stick can move the cue ball faster than a heavier stick, and it might be easier to move a lighter stick faster.

So the best combination for maximum cue ball speed is the heaviest stick that doesn't slow down your stroke.

But cue ball speed isn't more important than control. If more stick speed causes you to hit the cue ball offcenter or the cue ball to hit the head ball offcenter you'll probably lose more power than you gain (not to mention the increased risk of scratching).

pj
chgo
 
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I HAVE tried breaking with a friends 27-ounce break cue. It was rearward balanced, very heavy in the butt end. Me personally, I couldn't break with it for sh*t. I just didn't feel like I was generating much speed with it and the hit felt "dead". I don't remember if it had a leather or some sort of phenolic tip on it, but I cannot recall it having that "tink" sound when I used it like a phenolic tip would have (I broke 4 or 5 racks with it before retrieving a house cue to break with). Maybe a harder tip may have helped.

My custom break cue is 19 ounces and I have had many comments on how well it breaks a rack.

Just my firsthand experiences.

Maniac (What looks good "on paper" ain't always what IS good)
 
It depends on the various break as well
You can crush the balls with a lightweight production break cue (17.0 to 19.0), a phenolic tip, 13mm to 14mm shaft,
but you lose control of the cueball, and the CB has a tendency to lunge forward.
Works great if you're trying to make the 9 on the break playing bar box 9B...:smile:
For a controlled break (as if I ever do it) I still like a lighter cue and a harder tip.
I could use my playing cue to break with, but why do it when you don't have to.
 
Looks like this is one you will have to try for yourself. You have answers going both ways. A few years ago I heard light cues were better. So I tried a 16.5 oz cue. It didn't work for me. I decided 19.5 worked better for me. After reading your post, I tried a 25oz cue. With the 25 oz cue the balls scatter with less effort and I still have good control. If I wasn't to lazy to carry two cues when playing, I would start breaking with a heavier cue.

Your milage may very. Past performance won't guaranty future results. Try it out and let us know what works for you!

Larry
 
cuesblues said:
It depends on the various break as well
You can crush the balls with a lightweight production break cue (17.0 to 19.0), a phenolic tip, 13mm to 14mm shaft,
but you lose control of the cueball, and the CB has a tendency to lunge forward.
Works great if you're trying to make the 9 on the break playing bar box 9B...:smile:
For a controlled break (as if I ever do it) I still like a lighter cue and a harder tip.
I could use my playing cue to break with, but why do it when you don't have to.
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I just don't see why players with high end expensive cues would take the chance of damaging them by breaking. Or even those with less expensive cues. You can get a break cue for $59.00.Or just use a house cue.
 
I prefer lighter, but I've tried a cheap cue at a pool hall with a huge weight inside its butt(Literally hehe)... By hitting less hard you can generate more power than with a lighter stick but when I tried hitting hard it gave bad results. But it was a cheap club cue, so dunno about Elite.
 
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