A cue stick (or simply cue, or more specifically pool cue, snooker cue, or billiards cue), 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 cue ball. Cues are tapered sticks, typically about 1.5 m (57" to 59") and 510–600 g (18–21 oz). Most cues are made of wood, but fiberglass cues are growing in popularity due to their durability, flex, feel and cost.

Cues average around 57 inches in length and are of three major types. One type is a one piece cue; these are generally stocked in pool halls for use by the casual player. They have a uniform taper, meaning they decrease in diameter evenly from the end or butt to the tip. The other type is the two piece cue, divided in the middle for ease of transport, usually in a cue case. The third is another two piece cue but the joint is located three-quarters down the cue (usually 12 or 16 inches away from the butt). There are also cues that have more, notably three to five. They are usually for intermediate cues that can be used for breaking, jumping, changing of weights on the butt, as well as extensions on the butt end for longer reaches. As well, some cues have screw-in tips that can be interchanged (larger, smaller, denser, softer, etc...) in order to change the impact and path of the cue ball.

A high-quality but plain two piece cue, that looks like one-piece, run-of-the-mill house or bar cue, is called a sneaky pete. Such cues have a joint that is wood-on-wood, and barely visible. The subterfuge often enables a hustler to fool unsuspecting gamblers into thinking that he or she is an unskilled player with no regard for equipment quality or finesse, until too late. It is common for a competitive league player to also use a comparatively inexpensive sneaky pete as a break cue, to avoid excessive wear-and-tear on the tip of his or her main shooting cue.

Joints

The large heavy piece of the cue is known as the cue butt and the smaller end is known as the shaft. The two pieces of the cue are attached at the joint, which is normally made up of a screw rising from butt end's joint (male) which is threaded into a receptacle on the shaft (female). The joints are made of various materials; usually a plastic, brass, stainless steel, or wood outer layer, but sometimes custom cues are made of bone, antlers, and other more expensive materials that are usually less common, but serve the same effect. However, the main for snooker cues are brass. The internal male and female connection points are almost always brass, or steel since they respond less to temperature changes and thus expand and contract less than other materials, preserving the life of the cue. Joints have different sizes as well as different male and female ends on the shaft and butts of the cues. Traditional designs employ a fully threaded connection, while newer versions such as Uni-loc, Accu-loc, or Tru-loc, employ half threaded "Quick pin release" connections to allow for players to assemble and disassemble their cues faster.

Parts of the Shaft

Shafts are made with various tapers, the two most common being the Pro taper and the European taper. The Pro taper has the same diameter from the tip to 30-35 cm (12-14 inches) down. The European taper is conical and widens towards the joint.

Ferrule

The end of the shaft has a cuff known as the ferrule which is used to hold the cue tip in place and to bear the brunt of impact with the cue ball so that the less resilient shaft wood does not split. Ferrules are predominantly made of ivory, carbon fiber, or a plastic such as melamine resin, aegis or phenolic resin which are extremely durable, high-impact materials that are resistant to cracking, chipping, and breaking. Brass is popular among snooker cues.

Tips

Layered Tip

Billiard Chalk

Leather tips of varying degrees of shapes and hardness are affixed to the ferrule. The standard shapes for a tip are nickel and dime, determined by shaping a tip so that when one puts a nickel or dime to it, they are the same curvature. Quarter-shaped tips are less common, though are usually used for breaking cues because less curvature means less accidental spin and more accuracy for a straight shot such as the break. Rounder tips impart English (more colloquially known as spin) more easily since the point of contact between a tip and the cueball requires less distance from the center hit to do the same amount of spin due to the increased tangential contact. Tips are sometimes made of harder materials such as phenolic resin because it is favored upon for a break cue (Breaks usually require less spin, thus less round harder tips preserve the shape of the tip longer without sacrificing the effectiviness of the break). The tip end of the cue will vary in diameter but is typically in the 11 to 14 millimeter ('mm') range with 13 mm for pool cues being most common and 9.5 mm for Snooker cues being most common. Because leather naturally compresses and hardens with consequent shots, it is more likely to slide off of the cueball, from smoothness/glossiness of the tip, on the hit without some material allowing it to grip the cue ball. To help in this matter, cue chalk is placed on the tip of the cue, ideally after every shot, so that the player does not miscue. This is especially important when the player is not hitting the cue ball in the center and is, thus, imparting English to the cue ball. There are different grades of hardness for tips, ranging from very soft to very hard. Softer tips like "Elk Master" hold chalk better, but tend to degrade faster from abrasion (from chalk and scuffers), shaping (from cue tip shapers/tackers/picks), and mushrooming (from normal use or hard hits that compact the tip from all directions). Harder tips like "Triangle" and "Blue Diamond" maintain their shape much better, but because of their hardness, chalk tends to not hold as well as it does on softer tip materials. Usually the hardness of a tip is from the compression that was used in making it. Some tips are layered (like "Moori" and "Talisman") and some are one-piece (like "LePro"). Layered tips hold their shape better than one-piece tips, but they can sometimes delaminate from use, overly hard shots, or misuse of tip tools. One-piece tips don't have this disadvantage, but do tend to mushroom more easily.

Butt

In the cue butt portion of the cue, the bulk of the weight of the cue is usually distributed here. Whether the weight be 18 oz. or 22 oz., the weight change is mainly in the butt (usually in the core, under the wrap). Butts have varying constructions, from 3-piece to one-piece, as well as other custom versions that people have developed. These translate into different "feels" because of the distribution of weight as well as the balance point of the cue. Traditionally, players want the balance point of a cue near the top end of the wrap or around 7 inches from where they grip the butt. The cue butt is often inlaid with exotic woods such as cocobolo and bocote as well as other materials such as ebony and ivory. Usually parts of the butt are sectioned off with decorative rings. The use of various types of wraps on the cue butt, such as Irish linen or leather, provide a player with a better grip as well as absorbing moisture. Cheaper cues usually feature a nylon wrap which is considered not as good a "feel" as Irish Linen. Fiberglass and Graphite cues usually have a "Veltex" grip that is made of fiberglass/graphite, but is smoother and not glossy. Some people also prefer a cue with no wrap, and thus just a glossed finish on wood. Sometimes these no-wrap cues are more decorated because of the increased area for design and imagination. The butt of cheaper cues are usually spliced hardwood and a plastic covering while more high-end cues use solid rosewood or ebony.

Materials and design

The choice of materials used in the construction of the cue butt and the artistry of the design can lead to cues of great beauty and high price. Good quality pool cues are customarily made from straight grained hard rock maple wood, especially the shaft. Snooker cues, by contrast, are almost always made of ash wood. Cues are not always for play, some are purely collectible and can reach prices of tens of thousands of dollars for the materials they are made of and their exquisite craftsmanship. There have been a number of famous cue makers over the years. Among the most famous are George Balabushka, Herman Rambow, John Parris, Palmer, Longoni, Samsara, Southwest, and Szamboti whose cues are often very valuable to collectors. "Collector" cues often use elaborate inlays with precious metals and stones with varying woods to display designs and works of art, but mainly are made by skilled craftsmen who use top quality materials. The woods can be stained to be absorbed into the wood and transparent or painted upon. These cues are also valued because of how well they perform. Competitors of custom cue makers and mass-production manufacturers usually try to make cues look like they are made of expensive materials by using overlays and decals. Although these deter the cost of the cues, they do not degrade the cues effectiveness in game play. Another mark of quality is the precision that inlays are set in the wood. High quality inlays are set perfectly in the wood without any extra space to be filled; they are also perfectly symmetrical on all sides as well as clean cut so that the points are sharp and not rounded. The use of machines has aided much in the production of high quality inlays as well as other ornaments.

Bumper

The last but not least portion of a cue is the bumper. Though often disregarded in importance compared to the other parts, this part is essential in protecting a cue as well as preserving its "feel". The bumper protects the cue whenever one puts it on the ground or hits it against a wall, person, or table. Without it, the vibrations would ruin the wood over time. The vibrations also play a role in the "feel" of the cue. Without the bumper, the resonance of a hit for cue and cueball vibrates differently than in a cue with a properly screwed on and tight bumper. Though minuscule, the bumper also adds some weight on the end of the cue, preserving a balance that also relates to the feel of a cue. The bumper in snooker cues is made of leather in high-end models.

"Feel"

Some people think that the "feel" of the cue is distorted with different materials used in the construction of a cue. Different hardnesses in tips, ferrules, woods, steels, and plastics alter the vibration felt in an experienced player's hands.

Much has been done to have a better feeling cue, leading to a debate between whether major cue manufacturers make better cues or if custom cue makers do. Brand names have been criticized for their production lines of plain designs and poor materials compared to hand-selected materials used by custom cue makers. Whatever the matter, the feel of a cue is usually a personal preference and may be influenced by the first cue that a person has gotten used to. Some say though that the feel of the synthetic materials are better because it slides on your "bridge hand" easier than wood materials do. Often you have to use hand chalk when using wooden cues because the wood soaks up the sweat that often accumulates on your hand causing it to stick to your "bridge hand" rather than sliding across it.

Deflection

Also known as "squirt", cue ball deflection is the natural result of stroking with sidespin, or "English". When the cue ball is struck to the left or right of center, it does not go exactly in the direction of the stroke of the cue but rather is deflected offline, making it necessary for the player to compensate. The farther the strike is from the center, the more the cue ball is deflected offline. Cue ball deflection also tends to increase somewhat with a faster stroke, for most cues from 2% to 3% over the normal playing range of 5mph to 15 mph cue ball speed.

Cues vary widely in how much they deflect the cue ball. The lowest deflecting cue that one billiards retailer has tested has only eliminated about 20% of the deflection caused by the average cue. Lower deflecting shafts require less compensation and many believe this equals greater accuracy, but they also tend to spin the ball more and some feel that means less control. Also there is a period of adjustment to a shaft that performs very differently and some are not willing or able to take the time to change from what has become so familiar over many years.

Pivot points

Each shaft has its own "pivot point" which is directly determined by the amount of cue ball deflection or "squirt" it produces. The calculated pivot point for each shaft is measured from the front of the tip. If one bridges exactly at a shaft's pivot point and holds the bridge very steady, one can pivot the cue by moving one's back hand and no matter where one strikes the cue ball it will track off on the same line as if struck dead center. Pivot points are interesting and may be useful but the player must also consider "swerve" and "throw". Swerve is the tendency of the cue ball to curve slightly in the direction of the applied sidespin, like a mild form of massé. Throw is caused by the friction between the cue ball and the object ball and is much stronger than most realize – for example, if one shoots a straight in shot firmly with left spin and hit the back of the pocket, if a snapshot could be taken at the moment the cue ball contacts the object ball one would see that the balls are actually aligned significantly to the left of the center of the pocket.