A Visit with Mr. Moori

Yeah, cuestix.com is a large wholesaler. Atlas is cuestik.com.

Atlas pretty blatantly sells knock-offs, they don't even try to mimic the Moori packaging. They're also 9 layers while current Moori tips are 8 layers.

Genuine Moori Packaging:
moori-tips.jpg


Atlas Moori Packaging:
Moori4Tin.jpg
 
I have been lax in giving feedback on this tip as there was an issue with customs (on the US side) when importing these tips. They sat for nearly 3 months for secondary inspection. Guess they looked like pills or something?

Anyway, the tip review:
These tips are definitely harder than the Moori soft and I feel like their grip potential is lower, but not drastically. After taking an instant dislike to the Kamui black soft (compared to the Moori soft), I would still put the Moori soft as providing more feedback and more available spin on the ball over the malachite. But the Soft is so high maintenance that I find the tip wears down quite quickly due to frequent tip reshaping or mushrooming. The malachite may lose out on total grip and a bit less feedback (as it was intended to), but its wear characteristics and forgiving nature make up for that in my opinion.

I have experienced no noticeable mushrooming after hundreds of strokes on the malachite tip. They do not glaze over as expected and take chalk very nicely. They also do not seem to need reshaping all that often either.

I can foresee moving to this tip (malachite) full time as it won't require any maintenance during a long event or session like the Moori soft does. The goal is to migrate to the malachite tip full time before the Vegas tournament but will require further play to become completely comfortable with the tip and ingrain the muscle memory of how it will interact with the cueball.

The comparison has been limited due to the following issues:
1) The pool team played in a regional tournament and I did not want to switch tips prior to a elimination tournament (we won and made it to vegas).

2) The pool table was finally installed after almost 3 years of delays, so the comparison has been ramping up drastically as of late. (thanks to Real King Cobra for his expert table work!)

3) Kamui black soft has been excluded from this test as it is on a 13 mm shaft and the two Moori tips are on 12mm shafts, which I prefer. It seemed that changing shaft diameter would create such a difference in parameters that it wouldn't be an apples to apples comparison.

Full disclosures:
1) I am just an APA ball banger and don't put food on the table by playing pool. Skill level 5/6. So you pro's out there that discount all of us types from having any valuable feedback, feel free to ignore everything I have to say. There will be no debate on the subject and I don't care. This is just my opinion.

2) The cue used is a custom Ariel Carmeli with matching 12mm shafts with identical fuerells and ringwork. They are alternated on the same butt and thus the same pin. Both shafts were turned down by Ariel from his standard 13mm shafts. He had complete control of however he does that work, but it took months (I make no claim to understand woodworking or building cues but assume that Ariel knows his craft well enough to trust he did it properly).
 
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Moori tips

Until moori tips starts supporting their customers to help protect them from buying fake moori tips , I am done with moori tips ...................................

Thousand of fake tips on the market, And what has moori done to help their customers from buying fakes ??????????

Even most of the billiards and cue supply houses were selling fake moori tips too.
 
Until moori tips starts supporting their customers to help protect them from buying fake moori tips , I am done with moori tips ...................................

Thousand of fake tips on the market, And what has moori done to help their customers from buying fakes ??????????

Even most of the billiards and cue supply houses were selling fake moori tips too.

Interesting position, mmmmike. I presume you mean things like packaging, authorized distributor list, etc...?

I am sure mr moori would also like to protect his brand, but it does not sound like he is sufficiently large to keep up with demand, much less devote time to defending his position in the tip world.

Maybe it is time for the AZB to do a bit of brainstorming an come up with some helpful ideas?
 
Interesting position, mmmmike. I presume you mean things like packaging, authorized distributor list, etc...?

I am sure mr moori would also like to protect his brand, but it does not sound like he is sufficiently large to keep up with demand, much less devote time to defending his position in the tip world.

Maybe it is time for the AZB to do a bit of brainstorming an come up with some helpful ideas?

the simplest start to a fix would be a list of usa distributors
and more pictures from mr. moori on what a real one looks like including packaging
 
Viideo

Interesting position, mmmmike. I presume you mean things like packaging, authorized distributor list, etc...?

I am sure mr moori would also like to protect his brand, but it does not sound like he is sufficiently large to keep up with demand, much less devote time to defending his position in the tip world.

Maybe it is time for the AZB to do a bit of brainstorming an come up with some helpful ideas?


I want to make sure if a customer wants a moori tip installed on there cue I don't sale them some fake tips...
How can I do that without Moori tips keeping everyone up dated ?

There is decade of fake Moori tips on the market.
Where has been the Mr Moori.

Its only takes a few minutes to post updates on the fakes moori tips hitting the market and how to spot them .

He could send me the info and I would do the up dates for free just to keep everyone honest.
 
I've settled on the Moori J tip and buy them from Joe Rackem on ebay. It is the only tip that makes a noticeable difference in my playing ability and plan on using them as long as I can still obtain them.
 
(Sorry, long story, could have been even longer!)

The first time I saw Mr. Moori, I had stopped by a local pool hall for some practice and noticed a railbird sitting at one of the tables watching the three-cushion action. Something struck me as kind of odd about him, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I later realized that he was watching the table intently, but his eyes weren't following the balls around. It was like he was listening, not looking.

Occasionally, people would come up to him and show him their cues, some really nice ones as well, but he'd just look at the tip, give it a squeeze and nod in approval. Then someone brought a cue over and asked him to replace the tip. He proceeded to pull out a selection of tips, a tube of glue and a Japanese leather knife and started working right there on the spot.

I change my own tips by hand, as many players here do, but it was clear this guy had the process down pat, just from the way he seemed to do everything in one smooth motion. I couldn't help but watch as he cut the excess leather off the tip and then trimmed it flush to the ferrule with lathe-like precision. When he was done, the owner of the cue came over and said, "Thank you, Moori-san" and I finally realized what he had been listening for.

On another occasion, I had a chance to actually speak with him about his products, and pool in general and it was clear the man is obsessed with cue tips. He asked if he could try out my cue, and after a couple of shots, he gave a nod and said, "I see, you're one of those players". Before I could ask him what he meant, he walked off, then reappeared with a tip packaged in that familiar plastic and foil package and told me, "Here, you'll like this".

We spent almost an hour talking about tips, cues, the state of the game and I was very impressed by his knowledge and understanding of the game and its players. I also asked him about some of the rumors floating around about Moori tips. He said he still makes them himself using the same process as always, and he takes great pride in that. No gimmicks or false marketing claims, just quality tips. In fact, for a few years recently, due to his own health issues, production nearly came to a halt since he does so much of the work himself.

He asked me to help translate his website into English, which I'm very happy to do, since it's packed with interesting information about his products, the history of Moori tips, and even a detailed look at the production process. I'll share it here when it's all done.

Oh, and I went home and put on the tip he gave me, and Mr. Moori was right, it's the nuts.

That is so awesome. Please preserve this information and legend's legacy for all of us.
 
the real question to ask Moori San relates to quality control, there have been many sub par tips from him over the years
 
the real question to ask Moori San relates to quality control, there have been many sub par tips from him over the years

I have never had a bad Moori that I knew to be from Moori directly.

At one time I handled a couple hundred of them which we got for clients from a Japanese customer who bought directly from Mr. Moori.
 
I have never had a bad Moori that I knew to be from Moori directly.

At one time I handled a couple hundred of them which we got for clients from a Japanese customer who bought directly from Mr. Moori.

^^^ This..... Ask Moori San who was the main US Importer/contact when the fakes showed up? I would love to hear his answer.....

In other instances the shady practice is to order just enough of a genuine product to keep the supply channel open while ordering way more of fakes you can purchase for pennies..

There is no way to know how many bad Moori tips were never really Moori tips to begin with but instead were a knockoff that had a Moori logo on it...
 
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