Lovely pretty black 6' graphite staff, with a core of lightweight wood--which I found all about when the staff snapped in half ten minutes after I unboxed it. The staff is made of two graphite pieces welded together at the center, and the weld was ridiculously inadequate (as can be determined both by evidence of the break, and by examination of the remains). Further, the staff tapered very strongly from the edges to the exact center, leaving the middle of the staff with a distinctly triangular feel; there normally is at least a region in the middle where the taper is gradual, but on these staffs it's very pronounced at the center. Having an expensive staff break in half in my hands might've saved me from having to work with a badly shaped staff in the first place.