let me first say that although it might sound like it, i have no issues with rubino. we knew each other in passing because i knew victor stein and met paul when he visited amsterdam in nyc. i have also played with four rubinos and seen about three others in person.
i was familiar with his cues around the early to mid 90's, when they were working on the first blue book.....
i think rubino cues play poorly, and they look equally bad. the best description of the hit, imo, is that it's unsophisticated, ie. it's closest to hitting like a wooden dowel as any cue i could imagine. paul schneider, ginky's first teacher said it best when he used the cliched "it hits like a broom handle". no need to describe further as everyone has their own idea of what a good hit is....that is mine.
his cues are also unsophisticated in design, since he pays very little attention to it, or maybe he just has no sense of it. i can give you a couple of examples but let me relay just one annecdote. he made a cue once and stein showed it to me. IT HAD A COUPLE OF IRON DEPOSITS IN THE NOSE. when i pointed the flaws out, victor said to me that paul believes in using what nature provides(to paraphrase) because,,,it's natural. my interpretation, and i'm sure many cuemakers will agree because i think they would never allow this to happen, is that paul was either just too lazy to find top quality woods or he just didn't understand the concept of paying attention to details(probably, in all honesty, the latter). i think this is when i dismissed rubino as cuemaker who lacks understanding about the word "quality".
back then paul also had a reputation of disappearing, and the fact is, he has never been a productive cuemaker,,,,thus i believe he does not take the business of cuemaking seriously(which is reason enough not to order a cue). i think his cues move slowly because they're unattractive and his lack of design sense would leave you shaking your head.
