i'm an ipt player and play with a Mali M-14 1999 model with custom phenlonic joints and hand selected birds eye maple with extra birds eye in the wood, it's also custom weighted at 16.5oz. my break cue is a Mali M-1 in 18oz. with stainless steel joints and a wrap that goes all the way down into the butt sleave. i use 13mm triangle tips on both cues. Mali made cues from 1961 to 2001 in the u.s.a. in fact a picture of the very first Mali ever made is in the 3rd. edition of the blue book of pool cues, it's the one with an american eagle that's slightly raised, it recently sold for $1,800. today the cues are made in china, and the quality is as good if not better, in fact, another ipt player sal butera plays with a really nice new MALI cue called the V-9. turquiouse and ebony, with white boarders, nice cue indeed! you could still buy Mali cues if you go to
www.malicloth.com and get their ph# for a cue distributor, and if you don't want to buy MALI, then i suggest the next best thing, an action ELITE natural series cue, quite nice. granted there is no end to cues these days, there is something like 2,500 cue makers and most of them are good. if you got the bucks and want to stand out look up the mezz limited 2001 edition, an incredible cue that stands out in a sheek and fancy unique way. it may set you back $2000.
