I just sat down with the guys of Gaijin Custom Cues, and they want to make a cue to suit you. Robby, Marshall, and Josh are just typical southern guys with a love of the game of pool and non-traditional design. They have a simple philosophy, each of us has a natural stroke and the closer a cue is taylored to the player, the closer the player can stay to the stroke they were born with. Armed with this simple idea, Gaijin Customs was formed. Multiple veneers in the points in v

This specialty jump cue is made out of cored carbon fiber. The shaft is a conical taper down to a 9mm diameter; the tip is a G10 ferrule that flares out. The cue is six ounces and lifts the cue ball very well. The reason I say that it is a specialty jump cue is that the weight of the cue and overall construction of it is designed for very close jump shots. It takes a little different stroke to get lift off the table, but once you learn that stroke it’s easy to apply it. The c

What an honor it is for a junior pool player, age 14 through 18, to be chosen for the spring training camp, sponsored and put on by the Black Widow Foundation, to prepare for the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) Atlantic Challenge Cup. Ten players are invited to the camp and out of ten, six will be chosen as the official starting team. Emily Herpel is one of those ten participants and here is her story. Emily started playing pool when she was six (she’s now 16). She started

The ocean of green felt that canvases most pool halls calls to me, and I feel like a musician when I play the game, holding a good piece of wood in my hand — the instrument we pool players use to perform our art with — the cue stick. This is my Zen. This is where I go to find that inner peace and silence those voices inside my head. This is where I go to find my enlightenment. Like dervish dancers we pool players sashay to the tune of a kaleidoscope of multi-colored balls cli

Hi! Dakotah Schmidtknecht here to do a review of the Viking exact shot shaft. First off, I’m no pro-shooter—I’m a VNEA B-level shooter from Wisconsin with too much time on my hands. I’ve been taught how to test for deflection by Brandon Jacoby of Jacoby Custom Cues. I tested this shaft much like I tested the last one: on seven, eight, and nine-foot tables. The Viking eXact Shot shaft is available to purchase in several pins, including 5/16” x 18 quick release, 5/16 x 18 full