Jack Justis is a case maker from South Florida. He and I have been making cue cases about the same amount of time. He started in 1989, a few years before I did in 1991. According to an interview Jack got started in the cue case making business because he called Jay Flowers and asked about getting a case and Jay told him it would be 8 weeks and Jack didn’t want to wait that long. So he decided to do it himself. Jack is a good craftsman and he had actually made quite a name for himself as fishing rod builder with special emphasis on the ornate nylon wraps he did on the rods. So it was a probably not a hard thing for Jack to decide to build his own case.
Picture of Flowers cases
Jack’s first cases were very much like the Flower’s (actual brand name J.E.F. Q Cases) that he had wanted. Jack’s first cases were signed J&T for Jack and Toots, Jack’s wife.
Early Justis Case
Jack is reported to have said that Jay Flowers stopped making cases around 1995 because of Jack’s entry into the business despite Jack’s statement to Jay that there was enough business for both of them. Be that as it may it’s clear that Jack’s early look was very close to that which Jay Flowers was doing and that was enough for Jay to make such a statement.
In the intervening years Jack has forged his own style which is has departed from Jay’s. Although the basic construction is the same now as it was then Jack’s look is very distinct now.
Current Justis case
As well he has done some superb collaborative works with master toolers such as saddle maker Ron Ross.
Jack also gives away cases to a lot of top professional players such as Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Allison Fisher and others. His total body of work over the past 20 years is very very impressive and it’s fair to say that Justis cases house some of the world’s most expensive cues.
Which brings me to the reason I am writing this post. I have a fundamental problem with how Jack Justis builds his cases.
It’s that I feel the level of protection in his cases is inadequate.
You see Jack got into building cases because he was impatient. His concern wasn’t really protection so much as a desire to have a nice case.
I got into building cases because my personal case at the time, a Flowers 2×4, did not protect my cues as it should have.
So ironically both Jack and I started building cases because of Jay Flowers. Jack did it because he didn’t want to wait 8 weeks to get a Flowers case and I did it because my cue was damaged when it fell out of a Flowers case.
In my early years I studied everyone’s cases to understand what they did right and what they did wrong. During my time with Instroke I acquired a lot of cases through trade including several Justis cases. So I was quite familiar with exactly how they were built and what level of protection they offered.
When I got on the billiard newsgroups around 1996/97ish I began to talk about protection in cue cases a lot. By that time I pretty much knew just how all the cases on the market were made. Since protection is my entire platform I naturally made comparisons to Justis and Whitten and Guiseppe and anyone else building cases. As I have said many times I am not out to have our cases win beauty contests, I am all about the protection and if the exterior looks pretty then that’s secondary to how the case does it’s job.
Well this comparison stuff didn’t sit well with Jack and he began inventing excuses as to why he built the interiors the way he did. Before we go any further I want to say that in my opinion these excuses were hogwash and made up after the fact just so he wouldn’t have to change the way he was building cases.
One of my complaints about his cases is that the interior is too loose and allows the cues to rattle against the walls of the case and also to fall out of the case should the closure fail or should the user forget to secure the closure.
So he said that the cues are allowed to be very loose in his case because “wood needs to breathe” - and he put up some links to prove it. But he quoted the article out of context and it was about furniture anyway and not pool cues.
Here is how I see it. In just about every other aspect of life when someone is carrying a precision instrument they carry it in a form fitted and padded container. Only in pool have case makers like Justis somehow convinced people that the USER should accept a case that is not really very protective and that they should be then be extra careful with it. To me the case maker should provide plenty of padding and security so that during every day use and in the event of mishaps the cues are well protected.
Ok, so then I said the liner is too hard for the cues. Jack was using a rough cloth liner rather than soft felt. The reason he was using this material is that he could put over the edges of the tubes without sanding the tubes and it would hold up without tearing. So basically the liner was chosen for his convenience instead of whether it was good for the cues in the long run or not. If you had asked any cue maker or high end dealer of cues to polish their cues with this material they would have laughed at you. Yet those very same people drank the Justis Kool-Aid and allowed their precious cues to be jostled around inside overlarge tubes lined with this rough material. Jack contended that the liner posed no danger. Maybe not but it sure would have been better to use a type of cloth that you would use to polish a cue and feel good about.
Old Justis Interior - here it probably difficult to get a feel for how coarse the cloth is but trust me, it was fairly rough to the touch. I think that the looseness of the tubes is apparent.
My interior in comparison; Soft cloth, padded form fitting tubes, padding around all parts, and easy to use on top of it. No tipping of the case required to remove the parts.
In the past few years Jack has gone to what he calls his Pro-Lite interior. More on that later.
Now we need to discuss the second reason I am writing this. It’s that in recent years Jack has called me a design thief.
This is particularly preposterous coming from a man who started a case business just an hour south of another case maker and built them with a very very similar look. And just last year Jack partnered up with a Chinese factory that is well known for stealing the designs of others. He not only went to the factory for a week and taught them what he knows of case making he then publicly endorsed them many times.
The reason Jack called me a design thief was that he was looking for the maker of a case which had a similar look to his case and someone sent him a message wherein I stated I would begin importing an existing case that was completely different to the one Jack was asking about. This case had been on the market for many years it was manufactured by Jack’s now partner and offered to me for sale by that factory.
The reason I was even asked about it in a private message was because I had pointed out to Jack and others that such a thing as a vinyl copy of a Justis did in fact exist. When the customer asked me if I could supply it I really had no intention of buying them but I didn’t want to send the customer to my competitor, who happened to be Jack’s representative and who also was responsible for the existence of this case. At the end of the day I never bought these cases, never sold a single one to any person at all. I was upset at some of the treatment online by Mr. Justis and others who like to pile on and so I said in a fit of anger that I would import them. In fact, if I had wanted to do so in earnest then I would have simply built a better version and done so.
This is the case that I was talking about; It is a vinyl, embroidered Justis lookalike. It is made by the Long Chan case factory and has been sold through J&J America for many years. J&J is a Justis representative.
This is NOT the case that Jack was referring to when he asked for the maker of the Justis-like case he saw on AZ Billiards.
So basically Jack Justis makes an accusation against a fellow case maker on the flimsiest of evidence, that being some text that was purported to have been from me.
At this point I should tell you that Jack and I were friends of some sort prior to this. As I stated above we had always had a friendly rivalry concerning the protectiveness of our cases but I have never looked down on him and had a lot of respect for him both as a case maker and as a person.
Many times over the years I had brought customers to his booth at shows when I knew that they were looking for a case that was in the style he built. Many other times I alerted him to copies and look-a-like cases, including the one above the first time I saw it displayed at a show.
If I had wanted to copy his style then I could have at any time. Technically the Instroke case is a much more complicated case to build. A Justis case in comparison is much easier to construct. And as I said at the beginning I had a Flowers case of my own to use as a template had I wanted to build in that style. Jack conveniently forgets that I never did this. Out of all the models we brought out with Instroke none of them were close to a Justis in appearance.
Around 1998 I came out with a line of Instroke cases that were hand tooled. These were called the Saddle Series and the only thing that they had in common with a Justis was that both Justis and the Saddle Series had tooling on them. The patterns and overall look were completely different.
Jack knows full well that had I wanted to then I would have come out with a case very similar to his. But I didn’t and despite his claims he can’t erase that fact.
Which brings me now to his continued claims of design theft.
Last year in September 2008 I introduced a new line of cases called the J.Flowers Tribute Series.
In 2003 I met Jay Flowers in Las Vegas. He gave me permission to do a line of cases using his name. For personal reasons I never was able to follow up on that project until last year. Jay died in 2005 so he never got to see me honor him with this line and give him the credit for this style that he deserves.
I could name this line anything I want to and it would still sell. The basic design is timeless and clean. I deliberately chose the name J.Flowers because I want people to read about Jay and what he brought to cue case making.
The last person to interview Jay before he died was Chris Tate. Chris Tate is an amateur historian for some older cues and cases. His website is www.thepalmercollector.com
Now Jack claims that I am copying his cases more than Jay’s and I am infringing on Jay’s name. And a few others have piled on although they have no clue about the legal basis nor what Jay told me. The fact is that even if Jay had not given me permission to make a line of cases using his brand name, which was in fact J.E.F. Q Cases, then I still could use J.Flowers legally. But in fact Jay did give his blessing and here we are.
So this is what Chris Tate had to say about it as the last person who interviewed Jay Flowers before he died,
“I don’t post here very often, but I know most of the posters well enough to show some honesty and say that I think some of the board got this one wrong.
I spoke with Jay shortly before he passed away. His life had come full circle and he went from a raging bull to a sickly, elderly man with lung cancer. He was honored that someone wanted his story and thought the pool world had forgotten him. At one time, he rolled with the best of them including Buddy Hall and others. He was, at one time, a hard guy. I would say he was even feared. Jay did a lot he wasn’t proud of in his life, but he redeemed himself through religion and his relationship with his dedicated wife.
When I called him, he was flattered that his name was remembered in the pool world, that someone wanted to know about him and his story. I felt he was on the verge of tears. I was nervous because I knew he was very ill, but I asked at least a few decent questions. If I could go back, I would have asked a lot more.
I honestly think that Jay would be proud that someone, one day, would make a case to tribute his style, and put his name on them.
Chris” - written on an internet message board. (email me for the link if you want it).
So, ok now that we have established that I am within my legal and more importantly my moral rights to call these cases “J.Flowers” cases let’s look at the actual cases which Jack claims are copies of his.
This is a standard J.Flowers case;
This is a Justis case;
As are these;
and these;
So it’s fairly obvious that the J.Flowers series case does have some similarity to the type of case that Justis does but is in no way a copy of any particular Justis. So what is Jack claiming that I copied?
He claims that I copied the way the case lid is fastened on on side. I believe that there are enough old cases in the world which have lids that are fastened in this way for it to be common sense that this method of fastening a lid to a case is not in any way a design innovation by Jack Justis that he can claim ownership of.
Then he claimed that I stole the way he rivets the lid together. Well there are only so many ways to do this and in fact although we did have ONE and ONLY ONE case that wasn’t even a J.Flowers series case that had a rivet placement on one part that was similar to his he forgot to tell everyone that we improved on what he did by adding two more rivets in a place that he uses staples to hold his lid together. So it’s reaching at best to call me a design thief because rivets happen to be in the same place. If he truly believes this then he should call himself a design thief for stealing Jay Flowers’ method of closing the back piece with two rows of rivets.
Which then leaves us with the size of the pockets. He also claims that our pockets are just like his. First this is not true. Our pockets on the J.Flowers series cases are 15″ and 8″ with a compartment for a jump handle on one side, which is an invention of my own that neither Jay Flowers nor Jack Justis has ever done. Why are the pockets this size? Well, as most people know who are aware of some case history before jump cues became popular pocket sizes were generally a lot shorter. We at Instroke started out with a 12″ lower pocket and in 1995 I lengthened it to 15″ to accommodate the new jump cue handle compartment. To my knowledge I was the first case maker to make a standard 15″ pocket. The upper 8″ pocket is that length because there is only a side zipper and this size makes it easier to use the pocket with only a side zipper. Surely Jack Justis does not feel that he has the right to tell me what length of pockets I can make when his own cases have had many different pocket lengths.
So then I suppose that he feels that the “look” might be too close.
To that I say that this look was created by Jay Flowers and not Jack Justis. The cases I make which bear the name J.Flowers have a look that is much closer to the original Jay Flowers cases than to contemporary Jack Justis cue cases. Jack’s current cases are defined by lots of engraved straight lines, scroll wheel lines, rectangular leather patches sewn on top of the pockets and on the back, diamond shaped inlays and the use of arrowheads and fleur de lis stamps.
This is a typical Jack Justis case in 2009.
Contrast this with the last 100 J.Flowers series cases we have made:
http://www.jbcases.com/jflowers.html
These is the the most far out J.Flowers Cases we have made:
None of Justis decorative elements were used. We do things that Justis either can’t or won’t do.
It’s fair to say that almost no one who is familiar with the work of Jack Justis would confuse our J.Flowers series cases with his. So hopefully this will put to bed Jack’s accusations that we have copied him.
Now, let’s talk about quality.
For ages I have given Jack Justis plenty of respect as a fellow case maker and not commented on the overall quality of his work. I have been however constantly amazed at the shoddiness displayed on Justis cases. There is a good reason why Justis never shows detailed pictures of all parts of his cases like we do. Because if one compares apples to apples it is clear that Justis cases are sorely lacking in the quality of build area.
Now we are going to get back to the Pro-Lite interior. Around 2005 Jack decided that it would be easier for him to build his cases using a pre-made large tube rather than to bundle together six or nine smaller tubes. Jack began using the same tube and liner as were then found on the very cheap cases sold by importer J&J America. It was later confirmed that Jack was purchasing these from from the manufacturer in China, Long Chan.
Jack posted on the AZ Billiard forum that he needed a name and out of all the entries “ProLite” was chosen. Jack made a big deal out of this “new interior” and told everyone he created it. In fact, he didn’t create it. This interior has been around in various forms for more than 50 years. It is an extruded tube with a fabric liner which has divided compartments.
Jack didn’t even bother to change his patterns on the exterior to fit the new interior. He just drops it in despite the loose fit. With very little effort the whole interior on a Justis case can be taken out. Justis calls this a feature when called on it. I call it pure laziness and contempt for the customer to give them a case where the exterior and interior do not fit snugly together.
Here is an example of this.
So not only does the interior not fit properly but it’s also not sealed or padded at the bottom. Which means that the cues are not protected in if the tube should slide up a little.
For more of this case please go here - Get What You Pay For
The cavities on the case are so loose that the cues rattle and bang against each other. Again Mr. Justis tries to sell this as a feature by telling people that the cues move in unison. This is not true. When you are bouncing down a bumpy road your six pieces are clattering against each other inside the cases as well as sliding up and down the length.
Mr. Justis is so proud of this that he even advises people to over stuff their cavities in order to get more pieces in the case.
Ironically this may keep the cues somewhat safer as stuffing more in reduces the movement. But if you wanted to have all of your cues stuffed in together then what’s the point of buying a case with separate cavities? I just find it funny that the normal state is to have the cues be incredibly loose and then the only way to better protect them is to crowd more in.
In contrast this is how we do it. Our interiors have a lot more padding and protect the cues from excess movement and from contacting each other while in the case. You can overstuff ours as well but I warn that this is at your own risk. I do it myself with cues that I don’t particularly care whether they get scratched or not.
Empty.
Full.
Overstuffed - a 2×4 size case becomes a 3×6
Now Jack has also maintained that I copied him in regards to this interior. In fact we have not copied anything. As I stated previously case makers have been using extruded plastic tubes with fabric liners for 50 years. I don’t buy my interiors premade as Jack does. I developed the sizes I wanted and I had the molds made and the tubes are manufactured to my demanding specifications. Jack Justis uses what the factory gives him and those are nothing more than they use in their $15 cases except they charge him $17 for just the interior.
Our interior fabric is softer and better than his. We put a generous amount of foam rubber between each layer and our tubes are sealed to prevent excess moisture from entering the case.
Jack put out this statement on the AZ Billiards newsgroup in 2006 concerning his interiors;
“ATTENTION: Justis Case Owners - 09-21-2006, 10:55 AM
It has recently come to my attention that some of you may not be aware of our recommendation on how to place your cues and shafts in our cases.
Each case comes with a care sheet that explains this but I though it might be a good idea to review this on this forum since many of my valued customers are AZ members. The following is verbatim from our care sheet.
TO PREVENT PIN AND COLLAR DAMAGE, PLACE THE RUBBER BUMPER PORTION OF YOUR CUE AND THE TIP SECTION OF THE SHAFT DOWN TOWARD THE BOTTOM OF THE CASE.
If the pin and collar are installed down and the case is accidentally dropped, it could result in a bent pin or chipped collar from the force. I think this is a carry over from owners of cases with tapered tubes where you didn’t have the choice but to install pin down.
Jack ”
Honestly, this has to be the craziest thing I have ever read concerning a cue case. How can a maker make a case where the cue can be damaged by inserting it into the case? What if the person using it didn’t get the memo? Jack, spend a dollar more a case and put some padding in the bottom and you won’t need to warn people like this.
Well folks if you made it this far you must be exhausted or gluttons for punishment.
This is truly the blog entry I didn’t want to write.
Jack Justis has turned from a friend and someone I looked up to into someone I almost despise. I thought I had let it all go concerning him but I haven’t and I sincerely hope that this blog entry can be the catharsis to allow me to stop obsessing about his comments.
Jack is truly a good case maker when it comes to exterior design. Over the past twenty years and especially in the last three he has built a portfolio of cases that are magnificent. The Ron Ross collaborations are out of this world and have raised the bar for all of us.
Although the preceding post is full of my frustration over Jack’s false claims I cannot begin to convey the deep appreciation for what Jack HAS brought to the art of cue case making. Time after time he comes with a really nice case. I might not agree with how well it functions in the protectiveness department but I will never say that his cases are not stunning to look at. I deeply hope that we can achieve the level of sophistication that his cases exhibit in the finished product.
This is what a Justis Case is:
Not this:
Two cases. Two makers. Both inspired by the same man, Jay Flowers. One has forged his own path and the other has created one line among all else he does to pay homage to that man.
Sincererly,
John Barton
