That was exactly the impression I got from the set I played with in the 1990s. The owner said something about them having been in a fire (or maybe he mentioned a "fire sale"), so I figured it they were a little funny from that. It felt to me like they had about twice as much throw as normal Aramith balls. I think I would find that a real problem to play with, at least for a while. It would be fun to be able to make twists like that, though.
On a related note, I think the balls with the least throw I've ever played with were old clay balls. They were in a basement game room, and may have been waxed.
It was fun. In fact, a funny story goes along with that shot I described. It was my very first US Open, maybe like 1998. I had only been playing 1pocket for three years and decided: whaddahey and got in.
My first match I draw John Lavin, owner of Red Shoes up in Chicago. At the time, we didn't know each other. When we did become acquainted, and in fact, good friends, John told me that after the draw that tournament he felt pretty good. After all: he knew virtually everyone in the Midwest who could play a decent game of 1pocket. And since he'd never heard of a Lou Figueroa before, John, who is an accomplished player, figured he liked his chances against the unknown from St. Louis.
So we get called to play in the first group of matches. Now, we're playing with these Raschigs and being the aspiring 1pocket player that I was, one of the last things I had practiced (for three days straight), right before leaving St. Louis, was twisting balls in on bank shots.
We lag. He wins. It's early in the first game -- like maybe the second or third shot -- all the balls are still down table, and I uncork the diagrammed bank out of nowhere. Not only that, I go on to run eight and out. The next game, it's my serve, I make a ball on the break and... run eight and out. The next game, a few shots into the match, I end up with a dead one in the stack, pop it in and get out. The last game went pretty much the same way.
Lou wins 4-0 in 20 minutes.
John later told me that after the match he wandered over to his partner, kind of in shell shock and the guy asks, "So, when do you play your match?" And John just goes, "Oh. I played already."
Lou Figueroa
