9-Ball
Topic: Cue Tip Manufacturers

Can someone give me a list of the different cue tip manufacturers that are out there. Cheers

I´ll start of with one I use a lot, they are from Thailand and their service is excellent, I have tipped many cues over here with their products and everyone is very satisfied.


TALISMAN

Moori

Tiger

some other makes are

Le Pro

Elk Master

Triangle

kamui

White diamond

Diamondback

Hercules

Blackjack

Water buffalo

Sterling

Triumph

there's a few more aswell...IMO Kamui M is the best

I think 3 or 4 of the already mentioned are made by Tweeten

yes

Triangle

Le Pro

Elk master

Triumph are all made by tweeten

Any comments by anyone about this article i came across?!

Do you think that your choice in tips is the right choice or simply politically correct? What I mean by politically correct is, is your choice in tips controlled by the opinion of your peers or some professional player that you know, or is it based on fact? By the end of this article you should be able to answer this question for youself.



What are the differences in cue tips?
As you probably already know, you have everything from very soft singlepiece animal skin tips from various types of animals (elk, cow, water buffalo and cape buffalo) to very hard single piece animal skins. There is also the laminated tips ranging anywhere from three to fifteen layers. The laminated tips also range from soft to extremely hard using various animal skins and tannages. The end result is a myriad of confusing choices. I would like to unmuddy the water for you somewhat. All of these variables can impact power, accuracy, and your sight picture.

First let's assume that you already know that the shape or radius of the tip is of utmost importance and must be maintained at all times during gameplay. That very important shape that I just mentioned is the radius of a dime (roughly) or a "0.375" radius. In other words, hold a dime edgewise up to your tip and look over the top... If it does not match the shape or radius of a dime on the top of your tip, you've already got a problem.

When the ball is struck by the tip, the portion of the tip that takes the force is no more than an eighth of an inch offcenter in all directions. This is true regardless of whether you've struck the cue ball a sixteenth off center, or a full tip off center. What this radius does is generate the force, regardless of where it is struck, to the center of the tip and down through the center of your cue. Soft tips create more distortion than harder tips. In otherwords, a larger area of the tip makes contact and wraps around the cue ball in the case of a soft tip. This may give you more tip confidence, particularily if you're a beginner, because you will miscue less, despite having a sloppy stroke; but, the price you will pay is less power and a whole lot more deflection of the cue ball, because you have moved all of the tip to one side of the cue ball with virtually no penetration. On the other hand, a hard tip will focus the energy in a much smaller area at impact and will give you a higher degree of penetration. When I speak of penetration, I mean the force being directed to the cue ball by virtue of the direction the cue is being swung or pointed and that force penetrates the cue ball in the direction that the shaft or cue is being driven. As an added bonus, a harder tip lasts longer.

What about miscueing with hard cue tips?
The simple fact of the matter is, that the small, glasslike particles of chalk, which cause the friction, are held higher up on the surface on a hard tip so that they will penetrate deeper into the surface of the cueball at impact. A soft tip allows more particles to come into contact because of it's increased tip surface at impact; however, though there be more particles in contact with the cue ball, it does not penetrate the cue ball as deeply and therefore creates less friction per particle. Bottomline: You have the choice of either more particles penetrating less or fewer particles penetrating more... The net total friction is about a trade-off. Whether the tip you choose is one single piece of hide or laminated multipe pieces of hide, the key issue is the more penetration means more accuracy, more power, and tremendously less cue ball deflection and negative effects on your sight picture. As a side note: You've probably noticed, if you've played much, that a tip plays its best just before it has to be changed. This is because it has been pounded enough through constant play to make the tip more dense (harder in all areas).

What does Meucci Originals do with this information?
After testing every tip on the market, and measuring it's resultant power and deflection variation, we have found that a hard tip with even harder outside edges around the circumference will perform the best. Harder outside edges so that the energy is directed into the cue will be focused more towards the center of the shaft, while at the same time keeping the outside walls of the tip from breaking down. There is only two ways to get this result: 1. A hard water buffalo tip. or 2. To compress the tip of your choice as hard as you can, then shape to a dime radius and then pound the outside edges to further harden the circumference and reshape that area to be once again a dime radius.

We take both the latter and former choice at Meucci Originals with the well-known Le Professional tips or hard water buffalo tips. I hope I haven't caused you even more confusion. I think the choice should now be simple: your choice should be made according to knowledge and experience instead of the fashion of the day.

IMO I think talisman tips are very good! check them out for yourself!
www.talismanbilliards.com

The best tip have used is a Tiger Everest, but i hear that Kamui are also good.

I might have to try one of these for myself.

We have an account with Talisman, but I was wondering if it was worth getting them in, give me a shout if you want some, we get great prices.

Royal Oak are also manufactured by Tweeten Fibre Co. in IL, USA.

They are a soft/medium tip and give good grip on the snowball when looking for that little extra English.

I personally had these cue tips on the Meucci Gambler 2, (When I had it for the 6/7 years) and to be honest, in thinking back, I personally thought they played better, than a Moori, and I've had moori tips over the past few years, (including the last 12 - 18 months of having the "Gambler 2").

No matter how you look at it, it really is down to personally choice, so forget about what this player or that player recommends, get yourself a lash of various cue tips, of different brand/model to the hardness that you prefer and just try 'em out, and then narrow it down to whichever cue tip is best suited to your game.

I hope that this helps a little in some way.

Willie

I've always been more confortable with a soft tip but see more and more pros saying that it makes for a harder game and makes you more prone to errors. I guess that's because they are *too* responsive so it's hard to judge a short draw shot without overdrawing it for example and then of course you do get a lot more deflection when playign with side. So I keep being tempted into trying something harder but I've just been brought up with soft tips and my brain expects lots of deflection so I'm not sure how easy it would be to adjust.

I'm worried that I might put a lot of effort into changing to a harder tip in the belief my game will be stronger in the long run and then if it proves not to be the case I'll be stuck in no mans land not knowing what to use.

If your game is suited to using a soft tip, and your game is not bad riggers, then stick to using a soft tip. Your brain has obviously realised that you need to adjust for shots you need to use english on.

Another plus point with this is that you'll want to play more shots with no english to avoid the deflection, reducing the number of shots you play with unnesassary english

Overall, it's down to the individual player's game, not the cue stick or the brand/model of cue tip, purely because everyone has their own style of playing, and their own preferences to what suits them, and so long as you're happy with your game and that you're comfortable with your equipment, then that is what matters most

Always remember that a player's stroke on a shot, plays a major part in how much deflection and English that is imparted as well, which is why that I feel it's best to try out various brands/models with varying speeds' of your preference and see whih cue tip you play best with overall

Another thing that I forgot to mention is, the different types of leather used is another factor, weather it be buffalo hide, pig skin, cow hide, glass based or canvas based pheonolic resin, etc. and so this too is another factor to keep in mind when choosing a cue tip.

Willie


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If ya got 'em, smoke 'em