I have a cake due saturday, 12" round on bottom with 8" round of top castle cake. I've always used dowels before but I am so sick and tired of trying to cut them so I bought 4 packages of bubble tea straws. Who has used these before? Any advise for using them? TIA
After reading responses on other threads about the success they have had with bubble straws and I also was tired of cutting dowel rods tried them and love them to pieces. I stacked a 10, 8 and 6 inch cake and transported on a 40 minute ride and never moved. 
Love them!!! I still use a wooden skewer or 2 down through the center of all tiers though.
I use them...they work well for me and rather inexpensive...I like them!
We were able to purchase straws from Panera Bread which are very similar to the bubble tea straws.
Paul
I live in a remote part of the usa that it is not near anything that has cake supplies besides walmart and that is very limited... I was wondering where I can get the starws that everyone is raving about... Please Help..
Thanks 
lurvely.. couldn,t have said it any better.. 2 tier and small 3 tier.. .
I, too, am in love with bubble tea straws. They are light weight, incredibly strong, easy to cut and remove and inexpensive, to boot. I had never heard of them until purchasing Sharon Zambito's video on stacking cakes. Like the others who have posted before me, I drive a final center dowel thru all layers and have never had a problem with transporting. I just googled bubble tea and all kinds of sites came up. (I didn't even know what bubble tea was, and really, still don't). There you can compare costs and order your best buy. You will love them.
I, too, am in love with bubble tea straws. They are light weight, incredibly strong, easy to cut and remove and inexpensive, to boot. I had never heard of them until purchasing Sharon Zambito's video on stacking cakes. Like the others who have posted before me, I drive a final center dowel thru all layers and have never had a problem with transporting. I just googled bubble tea and all kinds of sites came up. (I didn't even know what bubble tea was, and really, still don't). There you can compare costs and order your best buy. You will love them.
Bubble tea is tea prepared with giant pearl tapioca in it... the straw is big to suck the tapioca up.
does anyone know if any store sells them? where do you guys get them?
Wow, Sugarfrosted...That's a visual I almost don't want to entertain. Love big pearl tapioca pudding...but sucking them down the gullet?....I guess it is popular for there are lots of sources for the straws. Hope the trend stays for the sake of the straws!
I don't care for tapioca so I have not had any Bubble tea, but as I understand, the tapioca is sucked up and chewed.
(Yuck from me!) Bleh 
Here's what it looks like:
I like them, however, I have yet to be able to cut them level AND I have Sharon's DVD and have tried her method with the sewing gauge, etc. I tried to cut them on my miter saw but they just frayed and there is no way I can get them straight with scissors. They come with the ends uneven so you have to cut them even and that is one thing I just can't seem to do - at all - so I'm back to wooden dowels because I can cut those on my miter saw and get them all the exact same length with ease. Anyone have any tips for that???
I use them too - they're so much easier to work with. I don't make big giant stacked cakes though - just small ones.
Also, they showed a quick scene on Ace of Cakes with Geoff snipping a group of them level to the cake..so I figured if it's good enough for them....
Buy them on eBay.
Thanks for the Panera Bread tip we have one locally I will try there. Even though the straws are cheap on e-bay the shipping sure is high for something so light weight.
I have used them for 2 years now, with no problems.
If you are having trouble cutting them, you must not have sharp scissors. They are a dream to cut and get even for me. (If you watch the Ace of Cakes, you can sometimes see them just snipping them right in the cake! - I am not that brave)
My cakes are generally no shorter than 4" so I can get only one support out of one straw. I measure the depth first, mark the straw, and cut with not even particularly sharp scissors. One end of the straw already comes flat, so I use that end for my support. The scissored end is fairly even. My biggest problem is searching the kitchen floor afterward for all the pointy pieces that have flown everywhere. The second problem is trying to find a use for all those too-short pointy pieces I have collected cuz I'm too cheap to throw them away! (There just must be some kind of project I will find to make me glad I saved them?!)
My cakes are generally no shorter than 4" so I can get only one support out of one straw. I measure the depth first, mark the straw, and cut with not even particularly sharp scissors. One end of the straw already comes flat, so I use that end for my support. The scissored end is fairly even. My biggest problem is searching the kitchen floor afterward for all the pointy pieces that have flown everywhere. The second problem is trying to find a use for all those too-short pointy pieces I have collected cuz I'm too cheap to throw them away! (There just must be some kind of project I will find to make me glad I saved them?!)
I use them to support rkt as in my phote of the baseball cap and ball on sheet cakes
I also use the short ones for playing with my grandson we use them with play dough and make whatever comes to his 3 year old mine lol he has so much fun and so do I, trucks are alway carring them around also his logs lol
Here is the biggest one I have done so far with them - 4 tiers - not a problem!
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1408710
Three tiers but I've never done a four tier yet (will do a four tier at the end of the month but am planning to use those gigantic Wilton plastic dowels - don't want to leave anything to chance) I LOVE bubble tea straws - cheap and easy - I have no idea how people use wooden dowels actually - they look so skinny and difficult to cut to size. I should try them once or twice before making comparisons though
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%