Pool Cue News and Review

Another interesting patent read. The claim made by the manufacturers of Scorpion cues is that their cuemaking process provides protection from atmospheric extremes by their “Armor Effect” technique of coating the shaft with fiberglass, effectively sealing the wood and protecting it from moisture. According to the patent though, the real protection comes from the following:

“A process for manufacturing wooden cues involves turning a wooden stick to obtain a certain diameter cue. This cue is then drilled to form holes, thereby destroying the composition of the wood fibers. Next, a glue and composite material are coated on the cue resulting in a preferred diameter cue size. The cue is then placed in a mold, pressed and heat dryed. The ends of the cue are then cut to an appropriate length and stoppers are added to the ends thereof. The resulting cue will be water-proof and will avoid warping, even over an extended period of use.”

So the coating is part of it, but the other big part is the act of drilling holes in the shaft and filling them with a composite in order to break up the wood fibers. Pretty interesting stuff. This should protect the cue from warping, but the wood does have to be straight prior to the process in order for it to work.

Personal experience, I have a bunch of friends that play with Scorpion cues and none of them have had any warping problems. They can take a pretty decent beating too. I prefer the feel of a more traditional cue to a Scorpion, but that’s just me.

Scorpion SC71 Hot Pink Pool Cue

Scorpion has jumped on the pink pool cue bandwagon with three new pool cues of the hot pink variety. Scorpion has created a hot pink cue stick, a break cue and a jump cue, each featuring a near blinding hot pink coating. There’s more good news if you’re a pink fan: the break cue and the jump cue are both pink from head to toe. These pool cues have a standard natural colored, fiberglass bonded Scorpion shaft that comes with it.

The Pros:

The best thing you can say about all three of these cues is that they are exactly what you’d expect from a Scorpion pool cue. Solid craftsmanship and rock bottom prices. The cues are in fact, exactly the same as a standard Scorpion shooting cue like the Scorpion 24 Black Pool Cue, their Break cue and their Jump cue. The break cue features Scoprion’s Power Rings in the butt and all the other materials are exactly the same except for the fact that the cues are pink instead of black.

The Cons:

All I can say is that you better really, really like the color pink if you’re going to pick one of these pool cues up. Personally, I’m not a fan of the color, but considering the fact that there are so few cues that are made or designed for the ladies, I suspect there will be a lot of people lining up to get their hands on one of these cues.

The Bottom Line:

From a construction standpoint, the cues are great for the price. I would have liked to see a phenolic tip on the break cue instead of an extra hard tip, but seeing how not all leagues allow use of phenolic tip break cues, it’s not that big of a gripe. If you know someone that just has to have everything pink, these are the pool cues for them.