Vic Firth 5BB American Classic Hickory

Those sticks are great! I've been using VFs for years and when I saw the black version of the classic 5Bs I thought I'd give it a try.
Unlike cheaper sticks I used before these VFs hold their colour very well and you don't end up with your hands covered in paint after a gig!
You can expect that as the sticks get chipped from playing you'll see the natural wood colour come through. For me that works as a good remainder that I need new sticks!

As usual the quality of this Vic Firth product is amazing. The mat finish provides a better grip (at least in my opinion).

I recommend this product 100%.

Sticks are solid and look cool, but they're finished in a kind of gloss paint. Any time im playing with these and hands get a little sweaty then these sticks are difficult to grip compared to natuaral wooden sticks.

Little over a month of playing into this pair, and they're holding up amazingly well. I love the black finish on them, i get quite the sweaty pair of hands and was afraid that these would just disappear out of my hands in the middle of a blastbeat due to the coating. That hasn't happened so far! Amazing

Good quality Drum Sticks.

not quite smooth and not quite evenly painted, overall everything is ok