Interesting discussion. When I started playing again after decades away from the game, I also dug into this topic a bit. I have long arms, big hands, and grip the cue at the end of the buttcap, with a longish stroke and definitely prefer reward balance point, about 17" from the buttcap and also older style fatter butts in the 1.28-1.30" diameter range. But it seems that most modern cues are more neutral or forward balanced with tipping point in the 18.5-19.5" zone and slimmer butts in the 1.25" diameter zone. Most older full splice, house cues etc - tended to have fatter butts and be more reward balanced and snooker players tend to prefer 17-18" balance points. Here's a snooker forum
discussion on the topic. It does seem true that for finesse shots off the rail etc - heavier shaft can be helpful. Seems to be no perfect answer, it's all down to one's personal anatomy and subjective preferences like most attributes of a cue. Perhaps pool will evolve to be like golf, and we end up with a bag of cues for different types of shots - seems most players are already have break cues, jump cues and playing cues, so it's not too far fetched of a concept
Finally, this
article is the most interesting info I've found on the topic. I think its from Bob Meucci from many years ago and argues quite strongly for rearward balanced cues.
Cheers