RNT2 SBL Strolling Chop Cup Heavy CopperTo each his own… I found my own. The RNT2 SBL Strolling Chop Cup made of heavy copper is the best Chop Cup I have seen… period.Back Ground Story:Let me explain (this might be a little drawn out), I have always loved the Cups and Balls but when I started out in magic during my early teens, I didn’t had the discipline to really learn to perform with them correctly. I tried, but never felt confident performing the Cups and Balls, thus giving up on them. Back then, if I couldn’t learn a trick in a week, I moved on to something else.
On a trip to visit Tannen’s in New York City, I was watching a demo of some forgettable card trick, during which another demonstrator was showing another boy a trick with a silver colored cup and a red ball. This caught my eye; I am always attracted to shiny things. I asked my demonstrator “What is it that the other guy is doing?” and he said “Oh that’s the Chop Cup. It’s an old trick that has been around for a while. You don’t want it.” and he began to do another card trick for me. I asked if he could show the Chop Cup to me and he said “No, I only do card tricks.” I politely thanked him and waited for the other guy to finish.
I approached the second demonstrator and asked him about the Chop Cup, he was more then glad to show it to me. He did the standard routine of the ball appearing and disappearing from the cup to the pocket of his loud plaid polyester sports coat (this was the 70’s). After this went on for a couple of times he lifted the cup and the small red ball vanished and under the cup was a large yellow ball. I was totally blown away.
I just had to have this trick… My reasoning was, this is just as cool as the Cups and Balls and must be easier to learn, there is only one cup. I told the man that I wanted it, and with that he did not miss a beat and asked me “How much money do you have?” I told him that I had $50.00 and to this he said “Great, kid I’m going to set you up right.” He went on to tell me that I did not want the crappy silver aluminum cup that he had just shown me but a professional model, the kind that real magicians use… he then showed me a so called Tannen’s exclusive, their “Hammered Copper Finished Chop Cup.”
It was beautiful; this was the first copper cup that I have ever seen. He was right, it made the silver aluminum cup look like a toy. He could tell that I was hooked. Here he went for the kill and said “I can tell you want the better Chop Cup, but I can’t sell it to you unless you also buy this book… this Chop Cup can only be sold to serious magicians.” He then pulled from the bookshelf a copy of “The Chop Cup Book (Mark Wilson Publications).” He said to me “Kid because I like you, I will sell the Chop Cup and book to you for $40.00 out the door tax included.”
I was under his spell and of course I did it. I made my purchase and left Tannen’s beaming, proud of my purchase. I have to say that this was my first purchase of a trick and magic book that I really cared about. I studied all the routines in the book, there were seven to choose from. I learned the basic Chop Cup routine as shown to me at Tannen’s, but the one that became my favorite was “The Multiplication Cup” routine.
“The Multiplication Cup” routine offers much of a good Cups and Balls routine that is vanishes, penetrations, the appearance of four balls and a final load. The Tannen’s Chop Cup could hold large fruit or a tennis ball (thus my love for big Chop Cups). This routine has stayed with me over the years; I have not seen any others perform it. I have tried other Chop Cups over the years, but have always gone back to the Tannen’s Hammered Finished Copper Chop Cup, its size always seemed right. My only dissatisfaction with the Cup has been its lack of heft, it is quite light.
I found out subsequently that I over paid by about $10.00 for the Cup and book (Oh well, live and learn).
The Review: Hopefully you now understand why I like a big Chop Cup, so when I first saw the RNT2 SBL Strolling Chop Cup I thought to myself, “I must have this Cup.” Everything I read from their website’s description leads to believe that I have found my “Holy Grail” of a Chop Cups…
(From RNT2.com) Perfect for strolling and packs small in a pouch. This is a true Workers cup. Spun with no visible gaff this cup will pass any rigorous examination. The SBL cup has been designed to take a full size regulation tennis ball as a final load, with very tight tolerances for fitting inside the cup, but still allowing the ball to be easily loaded without fear of the load sticking.
The SBL cup is spun from 2 discs of 050 copper, making this a very heavy & sturdy cup. The cup measures 2 1/4" at the saddle, 3 1/4" in height and has a mouth ID of 2 11/16". The cup is brilliantly polished to a mirror finish and is also available in brush finish as well.I quickly added it to my short list of purchases and was pleasantly surprised when its price went down during RNT2’s first go round of their pricing restructure of several months ago. I took this as a sign that I must order this Cup, so I did.
Other Chop Cups that I have liked but never really warmed up to have been the Johnson Products Chop Cup (Brass) and the RNT2 Mendoza Chop Cup (purchased as a Combo Cup Set). Each had the weight or heft behind them that I desired, but the rings on the Cups just bugged me. To me they looked out of place by them selves, they looked to much like odd Cups from a Cups and Balls set (which they are). I know this isn’t a problem to others but it bothered me. I just wanted another Chop Cup that had straight sides like my Tannen’s Cup.
When the SBL Strolling Chop Cup arrived I was excited by just feeling the shipping box, it was heavy. It comes packed as a set with a very nice bag and two black balls (one gaffed and one straight), no routine is included. From the first time that I caught a glimmer of its highly polished surface as I opened the bag, I knew that I was in love (PIC-1 and PIC-2). My only disappointment was that RNT2 forgot to pack the balls, this was no worry because I have other working RNT2 balls to try the Cup out with and RNT2 always makes things right.
The Cup is of a good size and as I indicated before is very heavy compared to other Cups I have seen; I would guess it is short of a pound in weight (PIC-3 and PIC-4). It is very substantial to say the least. It has no problem handling a large final load be it fruit or a tennis ball (PIC-5). With a tennis ball placed upon the top of the Cup (or bottom), it really creates the illusion of the Cup being too small to hold such (PIC-6). PIC-7 show the SBL Strolling Chop Cup with a tennis ball and 4 1’ balls as used in “The Multiplication Cup routine.” For comparison sake, I have included pictures of the SBL Strolling Chop Cup with the Tannen’s Chop Cup and the RNT2 Mendoza Chop Cup to give you an idea of size (PIC-8 and PIC-9).
The SBL Strolling Chop Cup like all the RNT2 Chop Cups is a joy to use. RNT2’s gaffed balls are unique in the sense that you can fine tune the ball to the Cup and your movements. I had to adjust the ball I had on hand for minimum sensitivity… the Cup is so heavy it does all the work for you, there is no perceivable action for it to do its thing.
To sum things up, the SBL Strolling Chop Cup is the best Chop Cup I have ever used. It is beautiful to look at and to touch. You couldn’t ask for a better performing Chop Cup. I think that at any price, this Cup is hard to beat. I thought it was a great value at $250.00 when I first saw it, but at its current selling price of $125.00, to me it is one of the best deals in magic that I have ever come across. I would strongly recommend this Chop Cup to anyone.
PIC-1
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1017.jpgPIC-2
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1014.jpgPIC-3
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1016.jpgPIC-4
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1018.jpgPIC-5
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1019.jpgPIC-6
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1020.jpgPIC-7
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1022.jpgPIC-8
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1021.jpgPIC-9
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm227/BCSDenver/Cups/IMG_1023.jpg
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