Cue Tips

Q: When was the last time you gave serious thought to your cue tip?

A: You probably never have! Just soldiered on changing tip after tip...

 

Facts

• The cue tip makes all the difference when it comes to a cue's playability
• It doesn't matter how good your cue is, it's useless if the tip is no good
• Put a good tip on a cheap cue, and you've got half a chance...

 

Tips on Tips...

You may re-tip your own cue but, like most players, you probably get your cue tipped by the 'bloke down the club'.

You may not even know what tip you use, but you more than likely using an Elkmaster or Blue Diamond. These two tips are far and away the most popular tips in the U.K., used for both Snooker and English Pool.

If you're adventurous, you may have had a chance to try one of the relatively new laminated multi layered tips.

Either way, here's the low down on tips...

 

Traditional Cue Tips

These tips are cut and pressed from a single layer of leather. There are many different brands but the two I will be talking about are Elkmasters and Blue Diamonds.

Firstly, let's get one thing clear. Elkmasters and Blue Diamonds are similar tips. Some people swear by one brand, some by another.

In my opinion, the difference between the two is negligible. A good Elkmaster is all you ever need in a cue tip. It can produce just the right 'feel' over the whole range of shots.

The problem with both has always been consistency. You may need to try quite a few tips before you get one that actually 'feels' right when you hit a ball.

But when you do find a good one, it really is a good tip.

 

Laminated Cue Tips

These tips are made by laminating very thin pieces of leather on top of each other. Again there are many different brands. Amongst others, there are Moori from Japan, Tiger from the U.S., and Talisman from Thailand.

All these manufacturers claim their tip to be more likely to keep their shape (i.e. not 'mushroom'), and longer lasting than 'normal' tips.

Actually, in my opinion those guys seem a bit too obsessed with tips not 'mushrooming' and I believe they should concentrate on the tip actually being able to produce the full range of shots...

In my opinion, most of these tips are useless for Snooker and English Pool They are far too hard and whilst they may last a long time and 'keep their shape', they just cant perform the range of shots required for the far more skilful game of Snooker.

Ask an American Pool player (thats the game American Pool, not an 'American' Pool player - not trying to offend anyone here!) to play screwback on a snooker table and see how well they do...

Those guys are brought up on whacking the hell out of big heavy balls, which is why they need a harder tip that does not lose its shape as quickly as a single layer tip. That's the main reason these tips were developed - to not 'mushroom', and retain their all round shape as long as possible.

However, there are some that are not 'too hard', and are capable of playing reasonably well in Snooker, notably the Talisman Soft Pro tip from Thailand. It holds the chalk okay but it's much harder than an elkmaster and takes a lot of getting used, not least the harsh sound made when striking the cueball.

 

Mike Wooldridge SuperTips

 

Pimp my Elk!

With all these new laminated tips appearing (but not all that good in my opinion), and the 'old' traditional tips notoriously inconsistent, I decided it was time to see if I could do better.

First, I took a good look at the Elkmaster. Essentially, when you find a good one, it's a great tip, but the usual problem is finding a good one that plays well as soon as you re-tip your cue. Many wasted hours spent ripping off bad tips...

So, I studied it's design, raw materials, production, and then added the improvements that would make it more consistent yet retain, dare I say even improve, the 'feel' one gets when you get a really good one.

The Original SuperTips were born.

 

Multi-Layered improvements

Having thoroughly researched the available laminated tips, I found none were really right for Snooker/English Pool. There were various problems, but generally it was the fact that they just don't 'feel' or play well enough.

They may be consistent and 'hold their shape' better. But so does metal. And it doesn't make a good tip!

So, I developed my own Laminated SuperTip.

Designed specifically with Snooker/English Pool in mind and not just a scaled down American Pool tip. There are significant differences, notably in the most important area - the 'feel'.

 

Which is best?

If you're a traditionalist, you can't go wrong the Original SuperTip. Over the past couple of years it has proved to be very popular, with a large number of players now 'swearing' by them.

However, if you like Talisman tips for example, you are sure to like the Laminated SuperTip. And most probably prefer it.

But I recommend an open mind. Try each one and decide for yourself. You may prefer the 'feel' of one over another, but you'll never know unless you try.

The revolution starts here folks...