Mike Ratledge wrote:I didn't even look at the "Stud" finish, but the "JNugg" one does indeed remind me of the silky smooth yet precise handling of the OG nuggets. Of course as I have said before, I am far from a cardist and my essentially one handed technique leaves a lot to be desired.
Your mileage will vary, as always.
I don't know what kind of nuggets you've been handling, but I wouldn't classify Jerry's Nuggets as "silky smooth". I don't know how many times I have to say this, but even if you crack open a sealed deck of Jerrys, you have to realize the cards inside are over 45 years old, and for their age they handle remarkably well. But casino grade Bee's are actually silky smooth. Ellusionist UV500 decks are silky smooth. Ohio produced blue-labeled Q1 Tally Ho's are silky smooth. JNs? Just adequately smooth. You just have to accept JNs for what they are: a deck with uniquely stiff, yet thin stock made artificially rare because some French magician bought up almost all of the remaining stock when they were being sold as souvenirs at the Jerry's Nugget gift shop for a buck a deck.
I usually don't pay attention to the BS Bill Kalush spouts on about his "JN-like" decks and usually don't buy his decks. For once, I'd like to hear someone who doesn't have a financial or personal stake in LPCC (like Kalush, Don Boyer, or Lee Asher do), and who is an experienced cardist who's actually handled real JNs, give an unbiased comparison.
As for Studs, there's two versions: The modern Studs that were sold at Walgreens, and the "old" Studs. The modern Studs were basically like Bicycle Riderbacks, nothing remarkable about them. The old Studs were lighter in color, and had a very soft stock. Usually very soft stock equates to low elastic deformation and low durability. What made old Studs unique is that for as soft as their stock was, they were fairly durable and lasted a while. But more importantly, they had decent elastic deformation, or in other words, you could bend them, spring them, snap them, and they returned to their original form. So for cardists who didn't like thick, stiff decks of Bee's or UV500 decks that were difficult to break in, they turned to old Studs because they fanned like typical Air Cushioned USPCC decks but were easier on the hands when manipulating the cards.
Originally, JNs and old Studs were decks primarily sought after by cardists only for their opposite, but unique characteristics (of course the Bucks eventually made JNs relevant for collectors as well). I wonder why Kalush is even messing around trying to recreate these particular decks, since he's never catered to cardists before. Probably marketing to hook the gullible. Plus, from what it sounds like from those who got their decks, these seem to handle like crap anyways, sort of defeats the purpose. . .
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