Cue stick
A cue stick is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of pool, snooker and carom billiards. It is used to strike a ball, usually the. Cues are tapered sticks, typically about 57–59 inches long and usually between 16 and 21 ounces, with professionals gravitating toward a 19-ounce average. Cues for carom tend toward the shorter range, though cue length is primarily a factor of player height and arm length. Most cues are made of wood, but occasionally the wood is covered or bonded with other materials including graphite, carbon fiber or fiberglass. An obsolete term for a cue, used from the 16th to early 19th centuries, is billiard stick.
History
The predecessor of the cue was the mace, a lightweight implement resembling a golf club, with a foot designed primarily for shoving rather than striking the cue ball. When the ball was against a, use of the mace was difficult, and by 1670 experienced players often used the tail or butt end of the mace instead. The term "cue" comes from queue, the French word for "tail", in reference to this practice, a style of shooting that eventually led to the development of separate, footless cue sticks by about 1800, used initially as adjuncts to the mace, which remained in use until well into the 19th century. In public billiard rooms only skilled players were allowed to use the cue, because the fragile cloth could be torn by novices. The introduction of the cue, and the new game possibilities it engendered, led to the development of cushions with more rebound, initially stuffed with linen or cotton flocking, but eventually replaced by rubber.The idea of the cue initially was to try to strike the cue-ball as centrally as possible to avoid a. The concept of on the cue ball was discovered before cue-tips had been invented; e.g. striking the bottom of the cue ball to make it go backwards upon contact with an. François Mingaud was studying the game of billiards while being held in Paris as a political prisoner, and experimented with a leather cue tip. In 1807, he was released and demonstrated his invention. Mingaud is also credited with the discovery that by raising the cue vertically, to the position adopted by the mace, he could perform what is now known as a shot.
In pre-tip days, it was common for players to twist the ends of their cue into a plaster wall or ceiling so that a chalk-like deposit would form on the end to reduce the chance of a miscue, thus giving rise to the modern. The first systematic marketing of chalk was by John Carr, a marker in John Bartley's billiard rooms in Bath. Between Carr and Bartley, it was discovered how "" could be used to the advantage of players, and Carr began selling chalk in small boxes. He called it "twisting powder", and the magical impression this gave the public enabled him to sell it for a higher price than if they realized it was simply chalk in a small box. "", an American term for sidespin, derives from the British discovery of sidespin's effects, as "massé" comes from the French word for "mace".
Types
Pool and snooker cues average around in length and are of three major types. The simplest type is a one-piece cue; these are generally stocked in pool halls for communal use. They have a uniform taper, meaning they decrease in diameter evenly from the end or butt to the tip. A second type is the two-piece cue, divided in the middle for ease of transport, usually in a cue case or pouch. A third variety is another two-piece cue, but with a joint located three-quarters down the cue, known as a "three-quarter two-piece", used by snooker players.Pool
A typical two piece cue for pocket billiards is usually made mostly of hard or rock maple, with a fiberglass or phenolic resin, usually long, and steel and. Pool cues average around long, are commonly available in weights, with being the most common, and usually have a diameter in the range of 12 to 14 mm. A conical, with the gradually shrinking in diameter from joint to ferrule, is favored by some, but the "pro" taper is increasingly popular, straight for most of the length of the shaft from ferrule back, flaring to joint diameter only in the last to of the shaft. While there are many custom cuemakers, a very large number of quality pool cues are manufactured in bulk. In recent years, modern materials such as fiberglass, carbon fiber, aluminum, etc., have been used more and more for shafts and butts. A trend toward experimentation has also developed with rubber, memory foam and other soft.Carom
Carom billiards cues tend to be shorter and lighter than pool cues, with a shorter ferrule, a thicker and joint, a wooden joint pin and collarless wood-to-wood joint, a conical taper, and a smaller tip diameter. Typical dimensions are long, in weight, with an 11–12 mm diameter tip. The specialization makes the cue stiffer, for handling the heavier billiard balls and acting to reduce. The wood used in carom cues can vary widely, and most quality carom cues are handmade.Snooker
At, a cue designed for snooker is usually shorter than the typical 59 inch pool cue and has detachable butt for making the cue longer or more. Many snooker cues are jointed, usually with brass fittings, two-thirds or even three-quarters of the way back toward the butt, providing an unusually long shaft, rather than at the half-way point, where pool and carom cues are jointed. This necessitates an extra long cue case. Some models are jointed in two places, with the long shaft having a smooth and subtle wood-to-wood joint. Snooker cue tips are usually 8.5–10.5 mm in diameter to provide more accuracy and finesse with snooker balls, which are smaller than pool and carom varieties. Snooker butts are usually flat on one side so that the cue may be laid flat on the table and slid along the baize under a to strike the cushion-ward side of the when it is to the cushion. This tactile flat part of the butt also helps the player develop a very specific way of holding the cue, consistent on every shot for a very uniform . Snooker cue weights vary between 16 and 18 oz. While a lighter cue is usually for beginners to develop correct technique when starting out, some professional snooker players use lighter cues, Joe Davis, John Spencer, Terry Griffiths, Mark Williams and Paul Hunter, to name a few. The balance point of a cue is usually 16 to 18 inches from the butt end.Minimum length for a snooker cue
The official rules of both snooker and billiards state that "A cue shall be not less than 3 ft in length and shall show no change from the traditional tapered shape and form, with a tip, used to strike the cue-ball, secured to the thinner end." This rule was introduced following an incident on 14 November 1938 when Alec Brown was playing Tom Newman at Thurston's Hall in the 1938/1939 Daily Mail Gold Cup. In the third frame, Brown potted a red, after which the cue ball was left amidst several reds, with only a narrow way through to the black, the only colour not snookered, and which was near its spot. Playing this with conventional equipment would have been awkward. To the surprise of spectators, Brown produced a small fountain pen-sized cue from his waistcoat pocket, chalked it and played the stroke. Newman protested at this.
The referee, Charles Chambers, then inspected the implement, a strip of ebony about five inches long, with one end having a cue tip. Chambers decided to award a foul and awarded Newman seven points. In response to questions, the referee quoted the rule that said all strokes must be made with the tip of the cue, so he did not regard the "fountain-pen cue" as a valid cue. Eight days later, the Billiards Association and Control Council, which owned the rules, met and decided to introduce a new rule, which has been developed into today's version: "A billiards cue, as recognised by the Billiards and Control Council, shall not be less than three feet in length, and shall show no substantial departure from the traditional and generally accepted shape and form."
Speciality
Manufacturers also provide a variety of specialty cues tailored to specific shots. Pool break cues have tips made from very hard leather or phenolic resin to ensure that the full force of the stroke is transferred to the cue ball during the, and to avoid excessive wear-and-tear on the tips and ferrules of players' main shooting cues. Phenolic-tipped break cues often have a merged phenolic ferrule-tip, instead of two separate pieces.Jump cues are shorter, lighter cues that make performing a legal easier, and also often have a very hard tip. Some standard-sized break cues include a two-piece butt allowing a player to remove the lower, heavier half of the butt to produce a jump cue; these are usually referred to as jump–break or break–jump cues. The uncommon massé cue is short and heavy, with a wider tip to aid in making.
Practitioners of artistic billiards and artistic pool sometimes have twenty or more cues, each specifically tailored to a particular trick shot. Other specialty cues have multiple sections, between which weights can be added. Another specialization is the butt extension, which can be slipped over or screwed into the normal butt, to lengthen the cue and reduce dependency on the.
A high quality two-piece cue with a nearly invisible wood-to-wood, so that it looks like a cheap one-piece, is called a . Such a cue may be used by a hustler to temporarily fool unsuspecting gamblers into thinking that he or she is a novice.