Hi,
I am seeing more and more people use straws for cake supports. I think that is nice because they would cut evenly and easily but I always worry about the weight of cakes.
I have been using wiltons "hidden" pillars cut to level.. where the above cake plate sits right in the pillars...for me it adds more support nice. and If would need to put a support down the middle the cake plate can be adjusted. Just wish that wilton would make the pillars 4 inches instead of 5 & 9 inch. Just cutting them is a pain
So anyone who can tell me about these heavy duty straws and where you get them would be great.

They are the straws that you get at a bubble tea shop. That's the iced tea with tapioca pearls. If you don't have that kind of shop to scoop a couple to try [;°)] then you can get them at just about any asian supermarket. If not, the wonderful world of online shopping awaits you!

They are called boba tea straws in case you can't find them. They were and are used for an asian tea that has tapioca balls in them that can't because of their size fit through a regular size straw. I find mind in asian markets but they can be purchased online at ( just did a quick google search):
http://www.google.com/search?q=boba+tea+straws&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7RNSN_en

Bubble tea straws can be found at pretty much any asian supply store or you could try any restaurants in your area that specializes in Thai food. I actually found some at a party supply store too!