Cocobolo Pool Cues: An Exotic Accent For Your Favorite Toy
In this article, we’ll discuss a topic that’s been popular for quite awhile in the billiards world – exotic woods. More specifically, we’ll be chatting about the highly sought after Cocobolo hard wood.
Cocobolo offers a modern, yet modest custom addition to your custom pool cue, and is readily available through different cue manufacturers.
First, let’s talk a little bit more about exotic woods in general.
What is an Exotic Wood?
Put simply, exotic hardwoods are different wood species found throughout the world, typically outside of the United States. Exotic woods attract a lot of attention because of the massive variety of colors and the beautiful appearances. These different woods often come from tropical areas and are preferred for projects that need a more modern aesthetic.
Some examples of exotic woods include Bocote, Olive Wood, Gabon Ebony, Brazilian Cherry, Snakewood, and Birdseye Maple, just to name a few. There are so many more species than we could possibly discuss in this article.
The main exotic wood we’ll discuss in this article is Cocobolo. It is semi-rare as exotic hardwoods go since only a portion of the wood is harvested. It can be bought from a variety of cue manufacturers – custom or non-custom. Let’s quickly discuss why exotic woods are used in the first place.
Why Are Exotic Woods Used for Pool Cues?
Exotic woods are used for pool cues for many of the same reasons they are used for things like hardwood floors – they look good and some are incredibly durable. Exotic wood pool cues will also catch the eye of those around you, if you like to show off once in awhile.
Some of the hardest exotic woods that are used in pool cue building include Snakewood, Brazilian Olivewood, Brazilian Ebony, and Brazilian Walnut. These woods will ensure a very strong and durable pool cue.
Now, let’s discuss the elegant, high performing hardwood known as Cocobolo.
Where Does Cocobolo Wood Come From?
Cocobolo wood comes from trees in Central America. The Cocobolo is a small to medium sized tree that is native to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.
Cocobolo can range from an orange color to red/brown and typically has dark lines through the grain. It is also commonly called “cocobola” or “black rosewood”. Cocobolo is a true rosewood and is more dense than most woods that are in this family.
Is Cocobolo Wood Expensive?
Cocobolo is fairly expensive, selling anywhere from about $50 to $65 per foot. For context, Pink Ivory and Brazilian Rosewood are both more expensive than this, but Bocote and Purple Heart are both typically cheaper than Cocobolo.
Cocobolo is on the medium-high end as far as cost goes, but cue manufacturers are charging more for the time and craftsmanship that’s put into a specific cue. Once you get into the higher end woods, you’ll see more expensive cues that are priced out in relation to the expense of the wood.
Is Cocobolo Wood Good for Pool Cues?
Cocobolo is great for pool cues, for the following reasons:
- High natural oil content gives the wood a natural polish that is also waterproof
- It’s hard and dense – a durable profile that is perfect for a pool cue
- Colorful – the character of this wood is stunning and is always fun to look at
Cocobolo is usually used as an inlay or at the end of the butt on a pool cue because it makes for an awesome accent on a custom cue.
Who Makes Cocobolo Pool Cues and Where Can I Buy Them?
There are a variety of respected pool cue manufacturers that build out cues featuring cocobolo wood. You can find cocobolo cues from Schmelke, McDermott, Tiger, Meucci, Joss, and Jacoby, to name a few.
The best thing to do when searching for cocobolo cue options would be to head on over to Seybert’s or Ozone Billiards and type in “cocobolo” in the search bar. We’ve done the work for you at the two links provided.
As always, it’s worth a search at eBay to see if you can come across any cocobolo cue models you wouldn’t find elsewhere.
There aren’t many cocobolo wood options on Amazon, but this cue is probably our favorite listing available right now. This is McDermott’s G-series cue and features 5 different cocobolo wood rings.
*link above contains an amazon affiliate listing
Wrap Up
Cocobolo is one of many great exotic wood options available for pool cues. Pool player preferences are all over the board as far as exotic woods go, so it just depends on what you like.
That being said, cues that feature cocobolo aren’t always as expensive as cues that have more rare woods contained within them, so there’s definitely some value to be had.
We hope you learned more about the beautiful cocobolo hardwood and have enough information to decide whether or not you want to incorporate this wood into one of your pool cues.
Take care and happy shooting!