school me on cue balls..
- Thread starter gxman
- Start date
I will throw out my 2 cents based on my (overkill) mindset...
First off, I use the cue ball that matches the set I am playing with; this is especially important (IMO) when I comes to Cyclop balls.
Where do you play when it counts the most and what cue ball / ball set is used there?
I shoot in leagues and periodic tournaments (locally and otherwise) and personally, I try to emulate those conditions the best I can.
I have a few ball sets but I typically only use two of them based on the two different places I play locally.
Most of the time it's the Cyclop balls because it's what my BCA league uses and I am current looking towards to the July BCA nationals in Vegas; they also use Cyclop balls.
My APA league location uses Aramith Premium sets but I typically don't pull those out unless I am facing a upcoming tournament / qualifier.
That said, when I (or team) qualifies for APA's Vegas tournaments, I start using the Aramith (green logo) magnetic coin Op cue ball because (unfortunately) that's what is used on the Valley tables in Vegas.
I have seen individual cyclops cue balls on eBay from time to time; I picked up a spare long ago; something you might consider.
the most common cue balls you will encounter if you leave your house is the aramith ball and the measles ball
you might want to get those since you have cyclops balls
just to "fool around" with or if you know sometime in the future you do start playing away from your house
jmho
Get a set of Centennials along with an Arimith measle cue ball. You won't regret it.
get the cyclops cue ball with the big red dot on it. the one with the eye is the same but doesnt have the big dot. as said use the cue ball the sets come with.
if you play well any good equipment will work fine and be reliable. if you dont play well most will find ways to blame the equipment
if you play well any good equipment will work fine and be reliable. if you dont play well most will find ways to blame the equipment
Amen to that, my brother.
I've only seen one hall in my area that uses the Cyclop ball set. The pure outrage from the pool community was such that they were forced to replace the cue balls with the Aramith Tournament measle ball. My personal feeling is that you should use what you will be using in the setting your are playing in. So there you go...
Happy shooting,
Lesh
Happy shooting,
Lesh
Hey does anyone have weights of the different cueballs? I have Brunswich Centenials with the original blue circle cueball and would like a weight comparison.
I believe they all begin life at 6 OZ and slowly lose weight over time.
Last couple of sets of Brunswick Centennials that I measured came in at 5.9/168 grams. Aramith Pro measle were interchangeable with the Centennial blue circle. Aramith Rempe and non-Aramith red circle cue ball weighed in significantly lighter (5.6).
Mine started at 6 and still is. The set is about 20 years old and in pretty much perfect condition. But. I have heard there are weight differences, even though slight but I'm not sure.
I'm not an expert on the different types of balls but for years I have had the same set of super Aramith pro balls and I have hit hundreds of thousands of ball and I can say I've never missed a shot because of the balls unless they have chalk on them which is my fault for not cleaning the balls.
I don't own a set of Brunswick Centennials but I've played with them and haven't had any problems.
I don't own a set of Brunswick Centennials but I've played with them and haven't had any problems.
Nah, I'm not concerned about the Centennials. I have a digital scale and micrometers and I know for sure they are extremely consistent in weight and diameter throughout the set. I'm just curious which cueballs may be slightly lighter, or heavier, than mine, and actually what effect that would have in play, say with draw shots, etcc. I would tend to think a lighter cueball would effectively be more lively, maybe? I don't know, but that's what I am asking.
You haven't played them enough then-Even Granite wears away from water dripping on it over time. Slamming into the one ball over and over takes its toll as does simple rolling. Weigh a heavily used CB in a pool hall some time.
Well I'd say that's a good thing. I play them at least once a week and almost exclusively one pocket games, so the one gets no more use than any other. And given that they are about $350 or more now and I paid $169 for mine new.
I did find some interesting reading online a little while ago that stated that the Blue Circle CB that comes with the Centenials is pretty much a dud with them because it is exactly the same size, weight, and material as the rest of the set. The articles said the best cueballs for the set are either the Aramith Black Circle, a different material and slightly lighter, or the original Aramith Pro Measle ball being the same size, weight, but different material. It recomended the measle highly for 14.1 and one pocket, which is about all I play. I ordered the measle ball.
After owning a blue circle that came with my centennials, aramith red circle, and aramith measle ball...
The measle seems to be the most resistant to wear, but that has strictly only seen my
Home table which has relatively clean simonis 760 cloth.
The red circle and blue circle seemed to wear quicker, the wear seemed to be more noticeable after bringing them to pool halls, particularly tables that had tournament brand cloth.
When I use either blue or red circle on my home table now they both feel lighter, they only weigh about .10 of a gram lighte(last time I weighed them)r but it is noticeably different. They either spin more or grab the cloth better, not sure as to why but it is much much easier to hit any extreme draw/follow/spin shots.
My blue circle has seen more table time than the red circle but feels slightly heavier. Which is odd to me because anytime I've played elsewhere that has blue circle cue balls they're always noticeably smaller than the other balls, and definitely lighter. I just assume it's the material that they're made out of that causes them to wear quicker that the rest of the balls.
I will weigh them all when I get home and report back to this thread.
The measle seems to be the most resistant to wear, but that has strictly only seen my
Home table which has relatively clean simonis 760 cloth.
The red circle and blue circle seemed to wear quicker, the wear seemed to be more noticeable after bringing them to pool halls, particularly tables that had tournament brand cloth.
When I use either blue or red circle on my home table now they both feel lighter, they only weigh about .10 of a gram lighte(last time I weighed them)r but it is noticeably different. They either spin more or grab the cloth better, not sure as to why but it is much much easier to hit any extreme draw/follow/spin shots.
My blue circle has seen more table time than the red circle but feels slightly heavier. Which is odd to me because anytime I've played elsewhere that has blue circle cue balls they're always noticeably smaller than the other balls, and definitely lighter. I just assume it's the material that they're made out of that causes them to wear quicker that the rest of the balls.
I will weigh them all when I get home and report back to this thread.
