Snooker Cues in Retail Shops

M

MJCASRoma

Registered
Is it common for local pool/billiard shops to sell snooker cues. I have seen a lot of people posting that they have cues for sale and the such, but I would like to at least see and touch/feel the cue before I buy it, which I dont think is too outrageous. I live in SE Michigan if that helps anyone that posts here. I travel all throughout the US for work, so if someone knows where there is one, maybe I could stop if my travels take me nearby.
Cost is not really a prohibitive factor here. Anything at, slightly over, or below 300USD is fine with me.

Thanks,
Mark
 
Hey Mark,

Not sure about US, but i can suggest a few spots in Canada. You in Michigan, so you cant take a day off and drive to Toronto and pick up a nice cue in that price range.

I can also suggest couple of English made snooker manufacturers that will gladly ship you the cue. However snooker cues, especially English ash ones, will play differently from one to another. Not like pool cues where cues of same brand will have more or less consistent hit.

Back in the day i used to work for local billiard supplier and i had a chance to order 40-50 cues at a time and was able to pick one for myself.

Anyways, if you need more information, contact me.

Lev
 
Lev,
Yea, I dont live that far from Detroit. Are there any places between Windsor and Toronto that you know of? Making a day of it/weekend trip to Toronto would be fun. If you could PM me a list of them that would be great, or if you could link me to where I could find them, that'd be great.
M
 
I am a snooker player and play in Australia and England. I also once part owned a custom snooker shop and have collected old and new cues for many years. However, I came out of the business because I found the quality nowdays was very difficult to find. Like Lev we would recieve a shipment of 50 or so cues and sometimes I may only find one which I liked. Often 10 or so had to be returned as they where poor quality.

You will find that snooker cues can be fairly inconsitant in terms of weight and balance. Another big difference is the quality of the ash for the shafts. Nowdays their is a shortage of good ash and the top makers such as John Paris etc do not keep large quantities of aged stockpiles like some American cuemakers keep maple. As such, his cues have deterirated significantly in quality over the years due to becoming internationally recoognised and his best ones today are usually custom orders.

As such, you will find the ash on the cheaper cues is often not straight and is not solid. For example, many are whippy. Also the ash nowdays is usually North American and has been kieln dryed rather than aged due to the consumer demand.

The cuemakers try to hide the defects in the ash by building fancy butts with exotic splices to make the cue appear that it is high quality but this is just a smokescreen as a good playing cue is based mainly on the balance and the shaft wood regardless if it has twenty different splices. Moreover,I have cut several butts in half from some cuemakers in Thailand and in the UK to see how they have been constructed. In these cases I have found the splices are nowdays extremley waver thin compared to the older cues when the hardwoods where more plentiful. So you are not getting your moneies worth there either.

The best and most consistant ash is found on the older cues and is English Ash. This is a yellow colour and a good piece will deliver excellent reaction with the cue ball and feels less grainy in your hand.

When i played competitivly I used to buy older cues from the 1920s - 1960s (before the mass production) with good quality english ash and have a cuemaker (either in the UK, Australia, Thailand or the USA when I lived here), rebuild and rebalance the butt. The older cues can be bought on ebay etc and may only cost 100 - 200 GBP. The cuemaker then can rebuild the butt for sometimes 80 GBP

I would reccommend this website http://www.cuesnviews.co.uk/ for more info on English cues because there is a massive divide in quality compared to American pool cues.

Thanks

Leon[/QUOTE]
 
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Hey Mark,

Over the years i tested hundreds of various British cues. I visited pretty much all the major manufacturers in UK when i was managing our snooker showroom in Toronto. I can suggest couple of real good brands for the value and VERY VERY consistent.

1. http://www.craftsmancues.com <-- my number one choice. Best value for the money. Their cues range from $150 to about $500. They are also probably one of the few manufacturers in UK who use maple for their cues (in case you are not a big fan of grainy ash wood). These guys are very reliable and stand behind their product.

2. Peradon or Cue Craft cues (same web site as above). Very good cues, especially Peradon. However I'm thinking that some of the cheaper models come from China these days. So if you decide to try one of these make sure you spend over $250 to guarantee UK made product.

3. John Parris cues. Considered to be by far the best cues in the world as many of the top 32 snooker players use them, however some people say quality went down dramatically over the years. I'm not sure if that's the case, but it's a pricey experiment as his cues range from $350 and up to $1000. In my experience all his cues play fantastic and after selling over 100 of them to my customers i never had a bad response.

4. Kevin De Roo cues (www.deroocues.com) <-- my current cue. Canadian cue maker, specializing in snooker cues. Does absolutely amaizing job and uses only premium pieces of wood. My cue was made out of a 23 year old piece of ash. Cues come at a price though, $600 to start.


I'm currently in process of opening my own billiard store and will have some snooker cues coming by end of June. But in the meantime check out the links above. Those are good cues and reliable sources.
 
levka said:
However I'm thinking that some of the cheaper models come from China these days. So if you decide to try one of these make sure you spend over $250 to guarantee UK made product.
QUOTE]

I don't want to play devils advocate but that is one of the intentions of a forum. You will find that a lot of the English Cuemakers outsource the components of thier cues to other countries. For example, the shaft blanks may be turned in Thailand and the cuemaker simply splices the butt onto the shaft. Moreover, the butt may be made as a blank and the badge fitted. The butt is then sent to the UK to be refinished and have the shaft fitted wtc.

I can confirm these comments based on experience in visiting several well known Thai cuemakers in Bangkok and have personally witnessed rows of shafts and butts within the curing and drying process. Moreover, I have seen a vast selection of badges within the workshop which are then fitted to the cues. To name one I have seen Hunt & Osbourne spliced butts with nameplates being packed for dispatch. I have also seen plates for several of the cuemakers mentioned in this thread.

I have also heard similar stories relating to John Paris. For example, when you visit his workshop you will soon be aware that he doen't have the manufacturing capacity to supply the global market even though he has expanded. From this viewpoint I have seen John Parris cues in Hong Kong and in around 20 other countries which are better used for firewood.

Above all many of the English companies simply have their entire range of cues completley manufactured in Thailand and then have their logo fitted. All the company does is design the butt splices if they even do that.

So my point is, unless the cuemakers sales are regional (eg, UK) or they only supply small quanities of cues on the international market. You will almost definitly not find a cue built from start to finish within the UK.
Click to expand...
 
Be Aware

I had a billiard shop back in the mid 90's specializing in English pool & snooker cues. I started out believing that English made cues made with seasoned English Ash were the best. It became evident that most cues made at that time used kiln dried North American Ash, which can be very good. The English Ash is different and found on the older cues, as LeonKush mentions.

I also realized that leading manufacturers often had their complete cues, butts or blanks supplied to them, either by a company in Taiwan/China or by another cue maker in the UK. I watched one cue company (Barracuda) make their cues in the UK for a few years, then change to having their cues made in Asia, then revert to having another UK cue manufacturer (MCM) make their cues for them. It appeared that MCM was also selling machine spliced blanks to Paris cues at that time.

A lot of English cue companies rely on their established name and long standing reputation in the billiard industry. I wound up my business after seeing a gradual decline in timber quality, especially in the ash shafts. In an order of 100 cues I could receive 20% of these with inferior ash shafts. I had companies such as Burroughs & Watts sending me reject cues that I couldn't sell, Peradon & Fletcher cutting corners by staining ebony butts to make them appear darker and all manner of stories that I won't go in to.

I then discover a fantastic cue company called 'Master Cue' from Thailand who in my opinion was making cues to revival all cues from England in the same price range. I believe what LeonKush was saying about the cue company in Thailand making cues for English companies. No doubt.

At one time there were some lovely cues being made in the UK, now you just need to be aware. Always view and play with the cue first.

You mentions Craftsman Cues. They have always had a good reputation and as I understand are one of the few main stream English cue companies that actually make their own cues.
 
I have taken a look at the craftman cues website and have found a cue that I like, and that fits my price range. Are there any retailers in the US that sell Craftman Cues? Paying the same amount for insured shipping as for the stick kind of rubs me the wrong way. If this isn't possible I guess I can man up and pay for it.

Mark
 
I can get you Omin custom snooker cues from Thailand. Very good playbilty and price.
Let me know if you are interested i can get you specs and pics of the ones i have in stock.
I can get them customised also as per your need.

Thanks.
 
that would be fantastic. I am not looking at dropping a fortune on a stick at this time, as I have come to realize that I am just not that good. A few hundred (150-300) seems to be a nice price. If you have anything in that range with the following specs that would be great. If not, that is a shame, but thank you for the offer.

57"/57.5"/58"
16-18.5oz, the lighter the better
9.5 tip
3/4 butt joint, even though i suppose 1/2s will work as well

Also, a case, since I do not have a case for a 3/4 butt joint.
 
MJCASRoma said:
that would be fantastic. I am not looking at dropping a fortune on a stick at this time, as I have come to realize that I am just not that good. A few hundred (150-300) seems to be a nice price. If you have anything in that range with the following specs that would be great. If not, that is a shame, but thank you for the offer.

57"/57.5"/58"
16-18.5oz, the lighter the better
9.5 tip
3/4 butt joint, even though i suppose 1/2s will work as well

Also, a case, since I do not have a case for a 3/4 butt joint.
Click to expand...

Hi,
I have 57" and 58" about 17 to 17.5 oz,9.5mm tip and 3/4 joint

Cue number 1 is 57'"and number 4 is 58"

DSC_0001.jpg
 
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