Mushrooming
Some do, zome don't.
I know several people that play with ext3soft tips that mushroom etc...etc when they shoot even firm shots.
If they break with them, it literally destroys their game due to them spending all thsir time "reshaping" the tip, which leads to replacing the tip more often.
Thise players are better off having a break cue.
If your tip will hold up to breaking, your correct. If it won't, well, read above.
This is essentially the only reason that I even have a break cue. I like medium or medium-hard tips, and like to hit the break shot on the hard side. It did not hurt my playing game, but as you described, the cycle of muchroom-reshape-mushroom-reshape made me chew through tips fast enough that I noticed, and did not like it.
My main break cue is an somewhat old Mali, that was an eBay special for about $35 + shipping, and I wound up changing the tip over to a White Diamond, which doesn't wear. I think I have been using it at least 10 years, with probably the first half of that 2 nights a week--1 night APA Double-Jeopardy, and APA and TAP on the 2nd night. And, I almost always played both 8 and 9, on the Double-Jeopardy nights, and posted on each team the other night (so, 2 matches 2 nights/wk, and I'm a 6 that plays 5-7's, to provide a basic idea of how many games).
Of course, I could not give a count or percentage for games I actually broke, and I would imagine full-phenolic tips *might* be better than the White Diamond, but I'm fine with it.
As for the OP's issue, I would say that using the break cue as a player mostly comes down to the type of tip (#1 material, #2 firmness, if leather), and also whether his play style is mostly center-ball. IMO, the tip firmness almost doesn't matter, when hitting center ball...unless, maybe there are a lot of extreme power shots involved, bu that goes back to the mushrooming problem.
