sang lee chalk a fraud?

And there we have it! The result of the information age and the free market.

Now we pretty much know where, how, and why this brand of chalk exists, that it's namesake did not even use it to achieve his incredible level of play. So based on this information you can decide whether it is still working for you to your enjoyment or whether you feel defrauded.

Perhaps that is why Masters and Tweeten (the same exact chalk by the way despite player assertions to the contrary) enjoy such a dominance in the market. They have built a reputation for delivering a consistent and reliable product.

Why is it that Competition Sports always brings out these items after a player/celebrity dies? Using the Balabushka name on their mass produced cues is a travesty in my opinion. Balabushka stood for the eptiome of quality cue construction and wood choice. That's why his cues are still solid after 40 years. There is no way he would have approved of the mass production techniques employed in the construction of the cues that bear his name today. This is a case where the promise of the "brand" doesn't meet the standards implied. Unfortunately though most buyers who purchase the "Balabushka" cues by Competition, will never get to experience a real one and thus will never know what they were promised.
 
RiverCity said:
Forgive me, but this is something that bugs the crap out of me.
Buying chalk like this, Sang Lee and Balabushka etc etc etc and paying high prices, because you think it will help your game is nonsense or superstition at best.
Master blue (pre or post flag) chalk is pretty much the best out there. It has been used for years to great success by champions and amatures alike. It is all you will ever need from a chalk.
If you are having problems spinning the cueball, or miscuing...... chances are its mostly a stroke problem. Put the focus on what needs to be worked on and quit paying $4.25 for a frigging cube of chalk.
Rant done
Chuck
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Completely agree. Just as a lottery is often thought of a tax on the financially ignorant, buying items because you "think" they might make you a better player is a tax on the ignorant player. It is precisely because there is such a segment of society that wants to believe that technology solves their personal problems that there can exist products which promises to do so.
 
RiverCity said:
Forgive me, but this is something that bugs the crap out of me.
Buying chalk like this, Sang Lee and Balabushka etc etc etc and paying high prices, because you think it will help your game is nonsense or superstition at best.
Master blue (pre or post flag) chalk is pretty much the best out there. It has been used for years to great success by champions and amatures alike. It is all you will ever need from a chalk.
If you are having problems spinning the cueball, or miscuing...... chances are its mostly a stroke problem. Put the focus on what needs to be worked on and quit paying $4.25 for a frigging cube of chalk.
Rant done
Chuck
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I hope this rant wasn't directed towards me cuz I'll only ever used Master's blue. I think paying that kind of money for chalk is absurd, but will defend a person's right to buy it. I may think they're nuts, but it's certainly their right.

My point was, if the OP spent that crazy money on Sang Lee chalk "hoping" for better performance and then found out he could've purchased the same product for 75% less, I wouldn't blame him for being pissed.

As it turns out, Sang Lee chalk not a Silver Cup product, but I was basing my point on a hypothetical situation. :)
 
Roadie said:
Again, the question was one of enjoyment. The original poster stated that he was enjoying the chalk, i.e. he had no problems with the way it worked for him and was dissapointed to find that it "may" be Silver Cup chalk. If, in fact the chalk were Silver Cup then the original poster ought to have been delighted that he could now purchase it for much less then the specially packaged "Sang Lee" brand.

Price is often equated with value. This is not very often the case. If you were able to repackage a Taurus as a Mercedes and leave a lot of satsified customers in your wake then I would say kudos to you. If however you did not deliver the implicit quality that the Mercedes brand stands for then you would be committing fraud and yes I would be upset to have been defrauded. If you repackage something and create a new brand and attach claims of performance to it that satisfy the consumers then there is nothing wrong with charging a price the market will bear for that as long as the market will bear it. Should the Sang Lee chalk begin to aquire signifigant market share then it will aquire competition and the price will either drop or there will be a slew of competitive brands claiming equal performance for less. Especially if the chalk is only repackaged, which is the likely situation given the relatively small market for "Sang Lee" branded chalk.

I have never heard of Sang Lee chalk before this discussion. I have no idea what the advertised properties of this chalk are. I have no idea whether it is claimed to be "better" than any or all other "brands" of chalk. I know that the original poster claimed he was enjoying it. So his enjoyment was evidently worth the price paid in my opinion.

A brand is only a way to identify a promise. Some companies dilute the promise by allowing their brands to be pasted on various products that stray from their beginnings. "Mercedes" and "Ford" both have a particular signifigance to consumers. Both of these brands are known for their technical advantages and weaknesses and both have developed stereotypes. Additionally each has a certain psychological and social status attached to them. Of course it devalues a Mercedes to brand it as a Ford while the reverse is true for the Ford. So the only question remains as to whether a purchased item that displays a known brand fulfills the promise that the brand signifies? To me the words Sang Lee mean seriously good 3-cushion player. Seriously good 3-cushion player means a person who is very meticulous about their equipment. Thus, to me "Sang Lee" chalk means a type of chalk that is good enough to satisfy meticulous billiard players. That's the promise and apparently it is being kept. How does not matter. If it is merely repackaged Tweeten or Silver Cup then kudos to whoever came with the idea. If it is newly developed then again kudos to whoever saw it through to completion. Either way, if it provides the satisfaction and delivers on the promise then it's worth the money and has good value.
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You think waaaay too much.:D ;)

Dude, it's just chalk.:eek:
 
berlowmj said:
I was just enjoying my Sang Lee chalk when someone came over & said that it is nothing but Silver Cup chalk in another wrapper.
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Just to make you feel better, I, personally witnessed Sang Lee Chalk being hand ground and packed into those little cubes in the basement of Carom Billiards in Flushing, NY.:rolleyes:

Jim
 
Yeah, I guess I do think too much. Bored in the hotel room waiting to find some action does that. This is an outlet for me now. The laptop is the window to the world between poolrooms. You're right, it's just chalk but it sure sucks when you don't have it and you need it. :-)
 
Anthony_Beeler said:
Isn't Sang Lee chalk manufacutred by the Competition Cues company? I bought some and I have been very disappointed thus far. Just my opinion but don't waste your money.
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What about the chalk disappointed you?
A lot of really good billiard players in NY like it a lot. Just curious, what kind of chalk do you like using?

-Ira
 
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