What Kind of Snooker Cues Are There

As I wrote on the previous post there are all kinds of different snooker cues out there and you basically need to tack through the ones that don't suite you or just are of poor quality. I will help you in spotting out the ones that lack the quality or just don't have a good vibe to them. But first let me recap the basics on choosing your snooker cue.

Like stated on the post that I wrote for the beginner snookerists Choosing Your First Snooker Cue there are a lot of factors that you need to keep in mind when surfing the web for a new snooker cue. This one is going to be yours and you need to spend some money on it. Don't just throw away the cash and make a stupid decision. I am here to help you choose the right cue for you.

Firstly you should write down the measurements that you learned on the previous post. I didn't tell you exactly how you can be sure wether you need to have a lighter or a heavier cue, or wether you should do like I have done and gotten a slightly longer cue for my height, or go with a shorter one. Well the basic rules for situations like this is the basic rule that I stated for choosing your cue. You must learn your game. When you know all the things that you do around the table you will know what to expect from your cue. If you have to be reaching for the spider-rest all the time, you might want to concider getting a slightly longer cue. If you feel that you are always backing down from the table or holding half way through your cue you might want to like a shorter cue. Like I said, don't go with the feeling that you have at the moment of puchase. That is when you usually make the wrong decisions. Be very precise of what you are looking fore, write it down and search it. You won't be disappointed that is guaranteed.

Snooker Cue Types

When it comes to choosing your very first cue there are other factors related than just taking one that is the correct lenght and weight. There are two piece and three piece models and they come made from different types of wood or even synthetic materials. These are all preferences and tend to start to like a different material from time to time and this is all natural. Mostly the material affects they way that the cue feels to your hand. If it is made from a vert soft wood like softwood which is actually originating from trees like pine and fir, you will feel the cue to be very soft. This won't make much of a difference in the manner that the cue plays but it will make a difference in it's durability. Since pine and fir are soft they will play quite nicely and like I said there is not much of a difference to the feel of the impact, there is a slight, but usually you can not feel it if you aren't experienced or have extremely soft hand like I do.

The softer woods tend to have some problems when it comes to durability. I don't mean that you can break a snooker cue by just playing it, this should not be possible, but over time the humidity and air can get to the wood even through the finish. This will make the cue bend a little, and if you see that your cue is curved like a bow then you should definitely go and get yourself a new one. A curved snooker cue will ruin your game. If not immediately then in the long run. I have seen so many players who waited out on getting a new snooker cue to replace their curverd cues and they developed so bad errors in their techniques that they basically could never reach the same level again.

The medium hard woods like mahogany are the ones that are usually used at the snookerhalls. This is where everything is medium. The lenght, weight and the material are very mediocre because the owners don't usually want to spend a fortune on the accesories since the beginners don't know the difference, and all the professionals and the advanced players have their own equipment. A medium wood snooker cue is just that. Medium.

The hard wood snooker cues are usually the ones that are durable and have a tigh feeling. They are usually made from trees like the oaks, beech, maples and cherry. I myself have had a few of each one of these and I definitely prefer a harder wood cue. Why is that? Well I am a power player by heart like I stated before. I also have an unnaturally soft touch to my game and that is why I use a heavier cue. With this combination of a harder wood and a heavier cue the last thing that I want with my current playing is to have a soft cue. That would lose me all the control that I have during the impact with the ball, because the soft wood in the cue would dull out any feeling that I could get from the tip. For a lighter cue the softer wood could be a good choice since there is less mass to absorb the impact. But as I need a heavier snooker cue because of my playing style I need to go with the harder woods.

Now after the wooden cues had been around for a long time somebody had the idea of making a snooker cue out of different materials. This was not all bad but like in everything synthetic you tend to lose the natural touch to the game. I will not go in to the carbon fiber cues that they make nowdays because I simply don't have too much experience on those. I have tested them but they never really convinced me. But I am not against progression and if you think that they are what you should buy then you should go that way.

What I will have to write a few sentences about is those hybrid cues. They really might have a very promising future. There are cues that have a graphite shell over a wooden interior. This might be a good idea for someone looking for a soft wood snooker cue but is troubled with the idea that it is not as durable as the harder cues. The graphite shell gives the cue durability but most importantly it keeps it firm. With a lighter wood on the inside you can still have a feel on the impact but also keep your hits together. The hybrid cues are evolving very fast right now and I don't think that it would be a bad decision to by a hybrid for your first own cue.

Hybrids have what you call warp resistance. That makes the cue less likely to bend over time. Now besides theones which have the graphite on the outside, there are also cues that have graphite on the inside and wood on the outside. That way you can get the beatiful looks of the good quality woods and still have the durability and warp resistance of the graphite shaft going through the cue.

One, Two, or Three Piece Snooker Cue

Besides just choosing the correct weight, lenght and material there is also the piece thing to consider. Now no-one told that choosing a perfect snooker cue for you would be easy and there are many factors involved. Having the right amount of pieces is one of them. First lets look at some of the basics involved in the two piece cues.

Most of the cues that are out there are made of two pieces. These are the ones that you usually see that can be quicly assembled and deassebled and put away in their snooker cue cases. There are many types of locking mechanisms for the two pieces of the cue to get connected and some of them are the so called quick-lock and the screw. Personally I prefere the traditional screwable cues because it gives you the impression of a much sturdier shaft. The two piece is the traditional that is for sure but what are the advantages and disadvantages. Well nothing much. Two piece is what you shoud go with in my opinion but there is not a single thing that I could say that would be credible and would somehow prove that it is the better choice. This is a matter of preference as well.

The three piece snooker cues are a bit newer than the two piece. At first there was the one piece, then the two piece and now the three piece. Those one piece cues you still see at the snooker halls because they are the ones that are least expensive out of the three, and they are not needed to be carried around so they do not need to fit in a trunk or a cue case. Three piece cues are not evenly divided in to three pieces. The cue has a long part which is about two thirds of the entire shaft leght. So it is actually the shaft, tip and the butt. These cues are meant for players who are playing both snooker and pool, and want to easily carry around equipment for both and don't want to buy two different cues. As it turns out these players have different tips for their cues. Ones that are smaller and more accurate to be used when playing snooker, and ones that are larger and shorter for playing pool. I really can not recommend this for anyone since the three piece cues are usually more expencive than buying two different cues, and tend to be of lower quality.

How Much do Snooker Cues cost

As from anything from golf clubs to tennis raquettes the price range varies a lot. The manufactures want to make their products available for everyon and that is why they produce these low budget models and then they have their flagship products to keep up the company image. The low budget line is what it sounds like. It is low budget. If you have read this far from the beginning and did not just jump all the way down you should have noticed that there are a lot of factors in choosing your snooker cue correctly. And I do take this very seriously. If you do buy a 20$ snooker cue then you are reading the wrong pages and should be searching the internet for childerns toys.

The price range on snooker cues goes all the way up to several thousands of dollars. That is a lot but I happen to own a few of those and you can really feel the quality. As you play for money and your income is related to how well you play, you might want to invest a little to your equipment. But if you are out there to just beat the life out of your friends at snooker, then you should consider keeping the price around 200$. Two hundred dollars is basically what you need to use to get very good snooker cue. The ones that come cheaper are not that good, but they still beat the ones that cost less. And if you go above 200$ the quality does not improve like the price does. That is why the best ones cost around 2000-3000$ and a regular pub player would not know the difference to the 200$ models.

The last thing to keep in mind when buying a snooker cue is that if you did buy one that shows up to be the wrong kind for you, don't keep playing with it. You need to sell it and get a new one as fast as possible. Playing with the wrong snooker cue can ruin your game for life.

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