I’ve had a pool table stored in my crawl space for a couple of years (a real nice 8 foot Brunswick) and recently my roomates got drunk and decided to set it up. So I was thinking of getting a good pool cue.
Does anyone have any advice? What should I look for? Are there any brands that you might suggest? My search on Yahoo was not very illuminating.
Thanks…
My father and brother have been playing for over 20 years, myself for 5…
your pool cue needs to meet the following requirements
Yeps, thats it…but its not quite that easy
it takes a while to find out what feels right. Borrow some friends’ cues, see what feels good. Personally I like about a 18 oz cue with a very thin butt, my brother likes a 21 and a thicker butt, its all taste. But remember, you can pay for a $3,000 cue that looks amazing, and it will shoot just as well as the $50 cue that feels right in your hand.
Once you find a cue that works for you, your paying for artistic value there after
oh! one thing I missed…
If you are going to get a cue that comes apart – take it apart before you buy it, and then reassemble it – ensure it remains straight. Do this several times…
I once received as a Christmas gift a pool cue. Made the mistake of using it to break.
Once. 
Make sure the bit towards the business end is solid - none of that hollow crap. It doesn’t work very well.
I suspect this thread will get a better reception in IMHO.
I’ll masse it over there for you now.
Get a pretty heavy stick. I use one anywhere from 22oz to about 26oz.
Let the stick do the work. Nice and heavy.
The best cue won’t do you any good if you can’t shoot, some of the best players I know use the house cues…
I have a 25th anniversary Dufferin snooker cue with a 10 mm tip. I love it as I can put english with a capital E on the ball. Cost here is about $200.00 Cdn. weight is 19 oz.
Lola has a Dufferin graphite composite cue. It is a nice piece of work and very nice to play with. She plays a mean game with it. I think the cost for a new one runs around $250.00 Weight is 21 oz IIRC.
We like pool here and really don’t get to play nearly enough…
Feynn’s wrong. Mine is an 18 or 19 oz with a medium tip. But his description otherwise is correct.
I’ve learned several things about pool cues. First, don’t cheap out! Most (but not all) cheaper cues I’ve seen are poorly made, with thin joints. I saw many people walk into tournaments with a cheap cue that didn’t play well, usually because it was crooked. Make sure the joint is strong. A poorly made joint will warp easily.
The next thing is that you really have to experiment to find out what works well for you. Also, as you become a better player, what worked for you as a beginner might not work for you once you start refining your game. I’ve owned 6 or so cues, and many of the changes were because I found that as I got better, my playing style changed. If you can afford it, a breaking cue is nice. I loved having a breaking cue. I had a $300 Master cue that was just for breaking (and I still regret the day I sold it, even if it was at a really good profit). Weighted just perfectly at the back to get a really strong break.
I don’t recommend going with a snooker cue (my first cue, and yes, I cheaped out). Not enough weight for a good pool game, IMHO. I also find that a smaller tipped cue is often best for people who are good enough to put a lot of english on the ball. If you don’t play much, a small tip makes it too difficult to control.
A lot of it is preference. Some people have borrowed and hated my graphite cue. In fact, I bought it off of my ex who hated it. Others would ask to borrow it all the time because it played so well.
I have also found that the better a player you are, the more you are able to play with practically any kind of cue. Those of us who are only intermediate players depend a lot more on our cue for a good game. Once you are playing consistently with one cue, you will probably find that your game improves a lot.
Good luck!
I don’t know much about cues myself - my own is a $150, 20 oz cue that, indeed, “felt right” - but let me give a few tips on maintenance.
Buy a cue shaper - the tip of your cue is probably the most important parts of the whole thing. Keep the tip rounded to approximately the same curve of the edge of a nickel, and keep it rough (don’t rip it apart, but don’t let it get glassy smooth either) so it’ll hold chalk and get some “grip” (for lack of a better term) on the ball - especially important for english shots. Note: keeping a good tip is one of the reasons you might want to break using house cues.
Don’t lean your cue up against the wall (at least while it’s together). Over time, this can warp your stick, especially if it’s wood, if you’re in warm, humid areas, and if it has a cheap joint.
And evidently when I said “few” I meant two, because I can’t remember any more at the moment…
<slight hijack>
Iola, what’s a “snooker” cue?
Mine is a McDermott cue. I got it as a gift several years ago, so I don’t really know the price. It’s a nice 22 ouncer and I NEVER use it to break. As long as your cue is straight, I don’t think brands make much difference. I like mine because I’m used to it, but I can play almost as well with a beat-up house cue.
I’d second the motion on the cue shaper. I also personally like (and use) the pool gloves you can buy, which provide a nice smooth slide, and eliminate the need for talc.
I second that motion as well. The only thing about 'em is, every time I have it on, I feel like, well, one of the X-Men… 
A snooker cue? Sadly, I’m not sure if thats the real name for it, but its a cue that is generally designed for snooker playing. Longer table, smaller, lighter balls. The cue itself was extremely light weight, and very small tipped. A regular pool cue can be a bit like a bull in a china shop when you’re playing snooker. I’ve done it, but if you like snooker, you may want to get a cue that’s designed more for that game. I found that my snooker cue was far too fine, for lack of a better word, to play regular pool with. No substance to it at all.
My hubby taught me the basics of the game when we started dating about seven years ago, and he says (and I agree) that the tip is at least as important as the straightness of the cue.
That means a slightly warped stick with a good tip is better than a straight stick with a bad tip.
My stick stays home. Whenever you walk into a pool hall or a bar with your own stick, people think you’re good, and I’m not, so I play with house sticks. I love pool, and I’m just as happy watching a good game as I am playing.
I use a 21 to break and an 18 or 19 to play. (I like little butts.) I take great pride in the fact that I ran the table once (my break). It happened on February 3, 1994 at Woody’s in Goldfield, Iowa.
You guys probably do that all the time.
Serious inquiry (I have played pool twice in my life, so I am quite ignorant on this topic)-
Why the need for a special breaking cue? And why the need for chalk on the tip?
Everyone else must be at the pool hall, Screech. Oh wait, it’s Thanksgiving. They’re at Grandma’s pool hall.
I’m new to the game too. Use a heavier stick to break because you’re hitting the ball harder.
As for chalking the tip – after a few shots, the tip gets too smooth. The balls are smooth too, so if you don’t chalk, the cue might “slip” or “slide” off the ball. The residue helps the cue stay in contact with the ball, at the place where you want it to stay in contact.
There’s probably a scientific word for it.
Personally, I always use a house cue to break instead of my cue, because that is the hardest shot in the game. I’ve seen guys break tips from breaking so hard. If I’m going to break a tip, or warp a stick, I’d rather it not be mine.
And yes, the chalking of the tip is basically a friction issue. Less slippage = a more solid shot.
KKBattousai–I don’t feel like an X-man with my glove, personally, but that’s pretty funny. I do take lots of ribbing from the guys in my league about my glove (until I beat them, that is). 
One time, as a joke, the guys on my team all came with latex examination gloves, which they all snapped into place at the same time to mock me and my glove.
Gloves would be great. But, again, like using my own stick, if I wore a glove, people would be expecting me to shoot decently.
I’ve played in places that don’t have talc. I need talc. They were out once in my favorite bar, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed some flour. It worked okay.
My biggest problem is controlling the stick, keeping it straight for the shot. I’ve bumped my hand into my hip so much that I scraped skin off my thumb.
I love when guys try to help. I’ve never seen a man make suggestions to another man about lining up shots, posture, etc., but they sure like to help the gals.
Nineiron: I forget, I think it was Gambit that wore a glove that was exactly like it (missing the last two fingers), but it wasn’t spandex. sigh Trust me, thinking about lame things like that while playing screws with my game…
Pam: I dunno, I used to go with a “more than a friend” of mine, and though I’d make suggestions about the stuff you mentioned, I’d take just as much joy (more, probably) just standing behind, or in front, of her just watching her shoot. (Okay, so I wasn’t actually watching the shot, but hey…)
Doesn’t Jeanette Lee wear that kind of glove?
Anyway, I have a Meucci. No clue on the weight, though, because I bought it from a friend. My guess is it’s about 19 oz. I use the house cues to break, and talc if it’s there. I also have a cloth I keep handy to wipe my cue down between turns. Pool halls can be incredibly grimy what with all the cigarette smoke, and I can feel the scum and crud accumulating on my cue as I play. Wiping it all off keeps it from 1) grossing me out, and 2) distracting me by grossing me out.
I’ve been playing for about ten years now. I used to play every freakin’ day, but now, I go maybe three or four times a year. The place I usually go to (Hawaiian Brian’s, if you know Hawaii) has CD jukebox and an Icee machine (two things in this world I truly love), so I really wish I could go more often.
Hey KKBattousai, challenge ya!
Here’s some good links I’ve found about playing the game, picking your cue, etc.
Trick shots and some Snooker strategy
http://www.masterbilliards.com/tips-tricks.htm
A site with links to a ton of pool resources
http://www.knowledgehound.com/topics/pool.htm
Probably the best site for any level of pool player I have found yet (Highly Recommended)
http://www.easypooltutor.com/
The best advice I can offer on Cue selection is… Get what you feel comfortable with, and… A good carpenter never blames his tools, but if you don’t have the right tools, you won’t get good.