Carbon fibre is the most stable material a cue can be made from. Heat and humidity have no effect on it at all, so a carbon cue plays exactly the same in every season, every venue and every year you own it.

That consistency is worth a great deal to a serious player. The cue you practise with is the cue you compete with, with no variable introduced by the weather or where it has been stored. The hit is stiff and direct, and deflection is noticeably lower than timber — so when you play with side, the cue ball goes closer to where you aimed and you have less to compensate for.

Maintenance is essentially nil. A wipe down is the whole routine: no oiling, no sealing, no sanding. For a cue you intend to own for decades, that is a genuine advantage.