To me a case exists in two parts. The first part is the construction. How well is it built, how comfortable are the handles and straps, how easy is it to use and most importantly how well does it protect. So when I look at a case then I look at those aspects first.

For me the secondary aspect is the decoration on the case. All the superficial characteristics that have nothing to do with how it’s built.

What bothers me though is when case makers and consumers put decoration at the forefront. When they look at a case that is loaded with tooling or inlays or made of exotic skin and proclaim that this is the best case ever built. To be completely crass about it that’s like putting a ton of whipped cream and a cherry on top of a pile of crap and calling it chocolate mousse.

To me decoration should be well thought out, balanced or artfully unbalanced, well executed and be in an original arrangement. I don’t care if people use patterns from other people. Singers take songs and make them their own all the time, the florists didn’t make the roses but some are better than others at showing them off.

I get upset though when someone presents a case and the decorative work is not up to par. The tooling lines are jagged, the background is uneven, the elements are not balanced, etc… It bothers me because in the area of pool cue cases people can get away with offering work that really isn’t that great because the consumers don’t know enough about it to make accurate comparisons.

So what you say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” as the saying goes. True and I would never tell a person that the thing they think is beautiful is not. Because it is. Flaws and all it is.

I tend to get upset when that person tries to foist their opinion on others in an ignorant way. When they say for example that the work of so and so is the greatest and better than everyone else yet they have no basis to make that statement. They have no expertise in the subject, no experience with various cases from others to compare to and yet they make grandiose statements as if they are the world’s foremost authority on tooling and cue case making. If you want to say that something is the best then have the character and courtesy to let everyone know that your statement is either an inexperienced opinion or that it is based on experience and you can describe in detail WHY you feel this way. This helps the readers AND the case makers to better understand what they are buying and selling and how it’s perceived.

I wish that they would confine their joy to amount that one feels for a newborn, and just gush without the need to impress on us that their new case is “better than” everyone else’s. It’s not. Not ours, not anyone’s cases “look better” than anyone else’s. Some are better structurally than others of course. Of course everyone always thinks that “their” baby is cuter than everyone else’s. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade and don’t want them to rain on mine.

Don’t confuse appearance with construction. For example if you purchase a Prada or Coach handbag you wouldn’t proclaim that it’s the best tool bag ever. So don’t claim that your pretty cue case is the most protective unless you KNOW that it is and can back it up.

So, please, next time you buy a cue case don’t just blurt out that it’s the “best case on the market” unless you have pretty good experience with a lot of brands and all the aspects that are important to consumers. OR if it’s my design you are free to just say it’s the best.

Kidding……..really………just do your homework.