Gaffed vs. UnGaffed

There was a post on The Cafe today that made me start thinking about something that I've said before. The post can be found here.

The post starts with someone discussing how they used to use tons of gaffed decks and then moved on to using completely ungimmicked decks. I for one have always found using ungimmicked decks a bit more rewarding than playing up a gimmick; you put time and effort, blood and sweat, and in the end a bit of yourself into an effect and it can be done by someone with a trick deck and no training. It's more than a little aggravating.

However, I'd like everyone to consider the following:

Person A is a purist. He trains with cards and coins and is an expert at sleight of hand. Every one of his peers knows that he'd never use a gaffed anything, and he often speaks out against gaffs saying that they are like training wheels: something to start with but to be shed ASAP.

Person B is also a purist...mostly. He trains with cards and coins and is an expert in sleight of hand. Every one of his peers knows that he'd never use a gaffed anything. But the dirty little secret is that occasionally, every now and again, he finds a trick that blows him away. Now he knows it's gaffed, but he gets it anyway and uses his purist reputation to introduce the trick into "polite society" as it were. Surrounded by magician friends, he does a few tricks and then pulls out his gaff. He executes the trick and gets rid of the gaff, and nobody suspects a thing. After all, he would never use a gimmicked deck, right?

The point of the above scenes is to show that while it is often rewarding to yourself to never use gaffed anything (it's certainly cheaper), sometimes throwing in a gaffed routine can cement your reputation.

As a magician you are to use every tool at your disposal to create illusion and entertainment. So don't throw away a tool for no reason; keep that tool for the one day when it will prove most useful.

~Cameron Rivers, Kings To You Magic