Tips pros use?

PoolBoy1

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Efren Reyes - Elk Master, that is a beautiful thing. $0.43 cents a tip. hahaha. My next tip. What a racket this cue and tip business is.
 

Ak Guy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Many good ones

Efren always uses a Elk Master and SVB uses Kamui Brown Medium and Appleton was using a Kamui Soft. Pretty much proves great players can use and adjust to any reasonably good tip, shaft or cue butt. it's the rest of us that are always searching for an equipment edge.
 

john noe

Registered
Yes, I read that Efren uses Elkmaster tips on his cues........ but not really due to the fact that he has them hardened up a bit using milk cream and a vice or something. So if we want to use the same tip Efren uses we are going to have to find out who treats his Elkmaster tips and try to get them to some for us.
 

pinkspider

Crap user name, I know.
Silver Member
I know Shane will sometimes use a tip till all that's left is a sliver of leather and I'm sure a lot of pros will only change it once it is absolutely necessary. A lot of people will tell you that once you get used to something you don't change it unless you have to.

Just to add to that i think it depends on the individual.. tips behave differently throughout its life and some would prefer the tips during the first couple of weeks (more lively) and some may prefer it when they are more or less hardened. Either way they choose to approach it, its as mentioned here: they want the behaviour of the tip to be consistent.
 

Shuddy

Diamond Dave’s babysitter
Silver Member
Efren Reyes - Elk Master, that is a beautiful thing. $0.43 cents a tip. hahaha. My next tip. What a racket this cue and tip business is.

I wouldn’t say that. Markets lead to innovation. If people are willing to spend the money on new products, then companies will continue to develop new products, and every now and then we’ll get something awesome. For example, snooker players used triangle chalk for years. Then Taom comes along and makes the game better. I’m sure that all the competition over chalk in the pool market contributed to their ability to develop the Taom chalk.

I don’t think anyone actually believes a $25 tip will make them win more games, but if they enjoy the tip, good on ‘em. If they like the sound of a Zan Hybrid over an Elk Master, sweet. And well, even enjoying the appearance of one tip over another might be enough to give them a little more confidence.

Layered tips also last a looooong time. I don’t mind paying $25 every 12-18 months on something I use 10-15 hours a week.
 

Johnny Rosato

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yes, I read that Efren uses Elkmaster tips on his cues........ but not really due to the fact that he has them hardened up a bit using milk cream and a vice or something. So if we want to use the same tip Efren uses we are going to have to find out who treats his Elkmaster tips and try to get them to some for us.
I was recently told the guy that makes Efren's uses 'Milk of Magnesia' to soak 'em for a couple days.
He does 50 at a time, lays 'em out lengthwise between 2 strips of duct tape and tapes it down on a railroad track, one straight row. Whatever he can find are good ones and he usually finds about half of 'em. Sells 'em for 3 beers each, (premium beer)!
 

Tronpocket

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
To be more specific ...while he was playing here..., Earl used primarily ELK Duds from a guy in NYC. Rock hard and cut low. But he's got a few shafts that may not have all same.
 

JolietJames

Boot Party Coordinator
Silver Member
To be more specific ...while he was playing here..., Earl used primarily ELK Duds from a guy in NYC. Rock hard and cut low. But he's got a few shafts that may not have all same.

Most duds are pretty short from the start.
 

Geosnooker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Not likely. I remember Appleton saying on one of the TAR podcasts that he has had the same tip for over 2 years.

True.

I’m never too sure how people can have more than a superficial opinion on different brands of cues and tips. Most players that I play with have used the same cue for years and usually have a package of tips that they have used, also for years.

Many pro Snooker players use elk masters and triangle tips. However, even though playing hours a day, might change tips twice a year. They certainly don’t keep changing Cues.

It always baffles me how anyone has reasonable length first-hand experience with new cues and tips. It takes me a couple weeks to get used to the replacement tip....from the same box! And even then, it has been shaped how I like it and on my familiar cue, If I picked up the best cue with the best tip in the world, prepared by the best cue technician, I likely wouldn’t like it until I had played with it for a couple months. My cue and tip are like my worn out baseball glove...it’s ‘just right’...I can catch anything in it. I could try out the gloves of a hundred MLB players and not catch as well...drop.
 
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