Kamui Tips Q/A

KamuiInsider said:
This is another situation where if it always works for you I can't say you're wrong(especially with that resumé!), but I will add my experience. To me it is similar to the instructions for would glue. You want two smooth surfaces. Less is more with the glue in this case. If the ferrule has imperfections then you gotta do something to the ferrule, but if both surfaces are flat and smooth, you shouldn't have to do any scoring.
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You are correct. Both surfaces must be flat. I often worked on that as well using extra fine sandpapaper. I think 400.
 
bbb said:
@KamuiInsider
your long replies would be easier to read
if you made some paragraphs
look at @jay helfert and @GideonF posts above
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When I was in first year university many years ago, an English professor had the following to say when assigning the first essay:

“Please write in paragraphs. If you don’t know how to write in paragraphs, at least group your sentences together so that they look like paragraphs.”
 
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KamuiInsider:
Some players have commented on how Kamui tips have changed. What changes has Kamui made in how it it makes its tips across the last twenty years?​
 
KamuiInsider said:
I've never heard of them using super glue! That sounds like a terrible idea to me. The whole purpose of the clear pad is to keep the glue from oxidizing the tip over time. Spit or Tokonole is the only things besides chalk that should touch the tip! The black tip DEFINITELY gives more spin than the brown tip. This is why some prefer the brown medium so they can hit consistently with more precision rather than focusing on spin with low effort.
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The pad is not there to stop 'oxidation' of any kind. That clear pad just keeps the glue from soaking into the tip causing the tip to come off. If you would just put a dab of glue on the tip, spread it thin , let it set, then sand flat you will seal the surface and the tip will never pop off. As for spin? Give me break, they may 'feel' different but you can generate just as much spin with either tip. I've used every tip from Elk's to rock-hard buffalo to everything in between and i could spin it with any of them. This 'more precision, more spin' is just pr bullshit.
 
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garczar said:
The pad is not there to stop 'oxidation' of any kind. That clear pad just keeps the glue from soaking into the tip causing the tip to come off. If you would just put a dab of glue on the tip, spread it thin , let it set, then sand flat you will seal the surface and the tip will never pop off. As for spin? Give me break, they may 'feel' different but you can generate just as much spin with either tip. I've used every tip from Elk's to rock-hard buffalo to everything in between and i could spin it with any of them. This 'more precision, more spin' is just pr bullshit.
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You're right about oxidation at least. I just used the wrong word, but yes can confirm it is to keep the glue from soaking into the tip.
 
ldmitchell said:
Are the Kamui tips being sold on Amazon authentic or are they knockoffs?
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Great question! Some are authentic and some are not. I have been setting up an Amazon store to have some sway over counterfeits. You can always buy direct from Kamuitips.com though. We've been selling retail on our website for the last year or two.

A good indication is if they're about $25 or under, it has a good chance of being fake. If you do decide to buy from Amazon, use the serial number checker at kamuibrand.com/sn.
 
Paul Bell said:
KamuiInsider:
Some players have commented on how Kamui tips have changed. What changes has Kamui made in how it it makes its tips across the last twenty years?​
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I'm going to get back to you on this one. Japan has an answer for me. I'll likely hear back by Wednesday.
 
KamuiInsider said:
A question for everyone from the factory: About how long did it take your Kamui tip to glaze over?
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As I said earlier in the thread, I used Kamui Clear Black mediums for about 10 years (~2014 - ~2024). During that time I had at least 5 Kamui tips on at least 2 shafts. It was likely more, but that's what I remember for sure. The shafts I remember for sure are a McDermott i-2 and a Predator Revo 12.9. I might still have the Kamui on the i-2, I'd have to look.

The last two or three tips I had glazed over enough that I generally had to scuff my tip at least every other time I played. I don't remember enough about the earlier 2 in order to gauge timeframe, but on the last one, it was within a couple months for sure. At that point, I was using Kamui Roku or Taom V10 chalk whereas earlier on, I used Master chalk exclusively (probably for the first 3 tips). While using Master, I don't remember the same issue being a problem, but it could have been.

The Kamui/Taom chalk did its job well enough, but I'd have to reapply every few shots. In the last 3 years or so and with the tips that I have used more recently, I can play a full rack at a minimum without needing to chalk again.

I've used Whitten, Zan Hybrid Max, and Taom Fusion tips in the last 3 years with Kamui Roku without seeing a similar issue with glazing. I scuff maybe once a month playing 3-4 days a week.
 
june-bug said:
I recently had a Kamui Athlete medium installed on a carbon fiber shaft and so far I really like it. But what is the difference between Athlete, Black, Original etc.?
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Hey I'm sorry, I was going through the forum and seemed to have missed you!

In a simpler explanation the purpose of the brown tips are for precise shooting.

Black tips generate more spin with less effort.

Athlete tips are hybrid tips to improve the play of a carbon fiber shaft. Harder on the bottom layers to prevent loss of power and softer on the top to keep the elasticity of the tip. This is the tip I've been using since it came out. I like it quite a bit. After about a year I had to have it shaped. I'll probably scuff once every 4 sessions with the dragon tongue.

When the Kamui ACE cowhide tip comes out, I'll probably be switching to that just to try it.
 
Paul Bell said:
KamuiInsider:
Some players have commented on how Kamui tips have changed. What changes has Kamui made in how it it makes its tips across the last twenty years?​
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This is the answer I have for you now directly from the factory:

"Our Manufacturing team has continuously made small improvements to our production process. These are often very minor changes, such as adjusting processing time or temperature. Materials and the overall process stays the same.

We usually evaluate these changes based on short-term quality, particularly hardness variation and delamination, but we have not always been able to conduct long-term evaluations."

So not only do we want to know how long it takes for a tip to glaze over for those having this experience, but also if you liked Kamui for however long then one time you got the tip again and it felt like crap, what year was that? 😅
 
JasonATX said:
As I said earlier in the thread, I used Kamui Clear Black mediums for about 10 years (~2014 - ~2024). During that time I had at least 5 Kamui tips on at least 2 shafts. It was likely more, but that's what I remember for sure. The shafts I remember for sure are a McDermott i-2 and a Predator Revo 12.9. I might still have the Kamui on the i-2, I'd have to look.

The last two or three tips I had glazed over enough that I generally had to scuff my tip at least every other time I played. I don't remember enough about the earlier 2 in order to gauge timeframe, but on the last one, it was within a couple months for sure. At that point, I was using Kamui Roku or Taom V10 chalk whereas earlier on, I used Master chalk exclusively (probably for the first 3 tips). While using Master, I don't remember the same issue being a problem, but it could have been.

The Kamui/Taom chalk did its job well enough, but I'd have to reapply every few shots. In the last 3 years or so and with the tips that I have used more recently, I can play a full rack at a minimum without needing to chalk again.

I've used Whitten, Zan Hybrid Max, and Taom Fusion tips in the last 3 years with Kamui Roku without seeing a similar issue with glazing. I scuff maybe once a month playing 3-4 days a week.
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Thank you for your detailed answer! I'm passing this straight to the big guys.
 
KamuiInsider said:
"Our Manufacturing team has continuously made small improvements to our production process. These are often very minor changes, such as adjusting processing time or temperature.
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Interesting.
There might be something there, despite what appear to be minor changes in processing time or temperature, that affected the tips' glazing resistance. Processing time and temperature may be potentially major --- not minor --- changes in preparing the cue tip.
 
KamuiInsider said:
That's understandable and kind of what I mean. I don't even typically believe in the term "common knowledge" as it is usually applied, because what everybody "knows to be true" could be wrong. Also, depending on the specific subject, there are so many differences due to habits, tip maintenance, skill levels, strokes or whatever else plays a part in different experiences with different products. I've seen seen someone use a Kamui Clear Black Hard to draw across a table with minimal effort. He used to make his money strictly playing pool. He's always preferred a hard tip. This blew away everything I knew about how a Hard tip is supposed to perform. So as a newbie to AZBilliards, I'm not going to be pushy about the concept especially with Dr. Dave and other real world examples proving otherwise and I'm sure it's been discussed to death already. There's always some level of difference between the science of how we think something is supposed to work vs practical application, but I will say that there's a reason more trickshot artists prefer using Black SS vs a H. Even how a mid/high level player will immediately have a wildly different game just from moving from SS to a S.
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Truthfully, Kamui and others opened a bag of worms with the whole S, SS, M, MH, H crap. It’s really nothing more than a marketing fantasy to sell more tips.

Don’t you find it kind of funny that prior to all of you layered tip companies coming out of the woodwork with your 47 different varieties of hardness, color, etc. that the pool world functioned for a long, long time with single layer tips that essentially were very similar in hardness?

At the end of the day it’s a tiny piece of leather getting pounded repeatedly against a hard phenolic sphere. How long do you suppose it is before it’s hard as a rock? All these S,SS tips differ in, is how much maintenance time you spend trimming mushrooms and reshaping it before it settles into a hard form, but that sells more tips so I’m sure that isn’t a concern right?

You speak to hard hitters causing glazing in your tips, I’m thinking it’s more what you’re chemically treating them with, because there’s something unnatural about them. I installed a black once long ago and it launched the cue ball like it was a super ball. Just leather doesn’t do that, and whatever you do to it that gives that effect is probably what’s behind your glazing issue.
 
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I've been using clear Blacks for the past four years and i have no clue what people are talking about with this Glazing issue. I've put on over a dozen tips in that time and not once i've seen this glazing issue. I'm just guessing people don't know how to maintain tips.
 
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