At one time, the cue tip rule specifically said "compressible material", and referenced leather. After the Bunjee and Sledgehammer came out, and the WPA was petitioned, they changed the rules to accommodate the tip. Now it reads "pliable" material. I have no clue in which world phenolic is considered "pliable". Even chemically treated leather isn't pliable. Pliable = easily bent; flexible. So, how phenolic or treated leather meets that specification boggles my mind. Apparently, it slides in under the loophole of "not damaging the cueball", I guess?
You really don't like to have facts as your foundation do you?
No one petitioned the WPA about this. I know I didn't and I was the
OWNER of the Bunjee Brand. I am 99.99% sure that Mike Gulyassy didn't petition them either. And if he had I am 99.99% sure that the WPA would NOT have changed the rules to accommodate a manufacturer and especially not tiny ones like Mike and myself.
WPA rule: 17. Cue Sticks
Cue Sticks used at WPA competitions should comply with the following
during play at table:
Length of Cue: 40 inches [1.016 m] minimum / No Maximum
Weight of Cue: No minimum / 25 oz. [708.75 gm] maximum
Width of Tip: No minimum / 14mm maximum
The cue tip may not be of a material that can scratch or damage the addressed ball. The cue tip on any stick must be composed of a piece of specially processed leather or other fibrous or pliable material that extends the natural line of the shaft end of the cue and contacts the cue ball when the shot is executed..
The ferrule of the cue stick, if of a metal material, may not be more than 1 inch [2.54 cm] in length.
Pliable:
pli·a·ble
ˈplīəb(ə)l/
adjective
1.
easily bent; flexible.
"quality leather is pliable and will not crack"
synonyms: flexible, pliant, bendable, elastic, supple, malleable, workable, plastic, springy, ductile; informalbendy
"leather is pliable"
2.
easily influenced.
"pliable teenage minds"
synonyms: malleable, impressionable, flexible, adaptable, pliant, compliant, biddable, tractable, yielding, amenable, susceptible, suggestible, persuadable, manipulable, receptive
"pliable teenage minds"
While leather cue tips are compressible they are not EASILY compressible and thus even they do not meet the first definition of pliable. They do meet the second definition as do phenolic tips and composite tips.
As I have said before the it is entirely possible to make jump cues with leather tips that are not artificially hardened with any chemical which have nearly the jumpability of any phenolic tip. So making the tip out to be the villain here is simply silly. Yes a hard tip makes the actual jumping part easier, just like chalk makes the spinning part easier. But the actual shotmaking, the amount of force, the angle used, the judgement, the spin applied, that's ALL skill on the part of the shooter.
And the success of the shot depends far more on that than the tip. The tip only means that the shot is possible as opposed to impossible.
Just like a table length draw shot without chalk is IMPOSSIBLE. Yet if you draw your rock 8.7 feet into a 3" window for perfect shape you don't want me screaming that it's all chalk and not you.
Maufacturers comply with the rules. We don't make them. Isn't that evident in your own example of Speedo's razr suits being banned from swimming? If the world's largest maker of swimsuits can't get the rules to allow their amazing suits in competition then what makes you think a teeny pair of jump cue makers can do to influence the rule makers at the WPA/BCA/Texas Express?
Unless you have evidence of this alleged petitioning and timeline showing a change soon afterward? Bueller? Bueller?????