Hard Tip vs Soft Tip

HawaiianEye said:

I think Earl has a "power stroke" and he uses an Elk Master.

Efren uses an Elk Master.

According to the Kamui website, Mika uses a Black soft, Niels uses an Original soft, Ralf uses an Original super soft, Thorsten uses an Original soft, Peach uses a Black super soft.

I've been told by many that I have a "powerful" stroke. I had one guy at a tournament keep calling me "Monster Stroke".

Whatever the case, I learned to play old-school pool many, many years ago when the table conditions dictated that you had to have a more powerful stroke to get the ball around the table than you do today.

I prefer a softer tip. I am using a G2 soft on my main playing gue and I have an Ultra Skin Soft on another cue that I just had made. Before I found G2, I had a Black super soft on my cue. Before that I had an old Moori soft.

A soft tip gives me more "feel" for the ball and I can also generate all the spin I ever need from a soft tip. Also, since I tend to hit the ball quite a bit harder than most folks, the soft tip "dampens" my stroke down a bit. When I use a hard tip and hit the balls with my normal stroke, the cue ball comes off the tip too fast and it is harder to control. I don't like babying shots...I like to hit them firm. A softer tip works better for me.

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I know this is an older thread revisited, but I’ve been experimenting with soft tips lately. When new, I absolutely love them. I think there is a consensus that the biggest criticism of a soft tip even for those that like the feel of it, is the high tip maintenance a soft tip requires. Soft tips are virtually guaranteed to mushroom not only when they are new, but numerous times, requiring reshaping to get rid of the mushroom. By the time the mushrooming issue ends, the tip has become too hard and just doesn’t feel the same anymore.

Is anyone aware of a soft tip out there that does not mushroom the way most of them do? If so, I’d like to try one out. Does the Zan premium soft mushroom any less than the Zan soft, for any of you out there that have tried them both? – Thanks

yes, but it's very expensive...

a pressed Elkmaster.

like i said, if you're not in for 25 cents, look elsewhere.

pt109 said:

Joe Davis said the perfect tip is hard, with a soft epidermis.
...that's what I've been going with.

A soft tip, no matter how well it plays, changes shape too much...for my liking.

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I agree.

I have played with lots of harness tips, and I now play with a hard tip and break with an XX hard tip. For me playing my game, the soft tips need weekly maintenance and tend to last only a couple of months (5-ish) while a hard tip lasts for over a year with quarterly maintenance.

pt109 said:

Joe Davis said the perfect tip is hard, with a soft epidermis.
...that's what I've been going with.

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Me too - it's what I like about layered tips.

pj
chgo

ChrisinNC said:

I know this is an older thread revisited, but I’ve been experimenting with soft tips lately. When new, I absolutely love them. I think there is a consensus that the biggest criticism of a soft tip even for those that like the feel of it, is the high tip maintenance a soft tip requires. Soft tips are virtually guaranteed to mushroom not only when they are new, but numerous times, requiring reshaping to get rid of the mushroom. By the time the mushrooming issue ends, the tip has become too hard and just doesn’t feel the same anymore.

Is anyone aware of a soft tip out there that does not mushroom the way most of them do? If so, I’d like to try one out. Does the Zan premium soft mushroom any less than the Zan soft, for any of you out there that have tried them both? – Thanks

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Almost all my current playing cues have Ultra-skin soft black tips on them and none of them have mushroomed. I even break with them a lot of the time.

I never have to detail the sides of my tips.

HawaiianEye said:

Almost all my current playing cues have Ultra-skin soft black tips on them and none of them have mushroomed. I even break with them a lot of the time.

I never have to detail the sides of my tips.

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I’ve tried ultra-skin black soft on few meuccis that arrived to me via the order from budget cues, I gotta hand it for this tip, it is a beauty tip.

However I almost always replace it with what I like the most, I’m a tigers tip products fan, and they have many different tips and hardness.

To ChrisinNC

If you want a soft tip that remains soft and maybe not mushroom, give sniper a try from tigers, or even if you want softer then a sniper, go for tiger tip from tigers company, and of course if you like a little harder than a sniper go for the Everest, all of them are beasts tips, but I think sniper will be best for you.


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The Weekend Doesnt Come Often Enough (especially this one)

You don't need to press an Elkmaster for it to be good. :grin-square:

My thoughts are most pros don't have a clue either, including Appleton.

gutshot said:

My thoughts are most pros don't have a clue either, including Appleton.

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I don't care if he has won 10 world championships or 40 cornhole contests, I've played pool for longer than he has been alive and I know what works best for me.

The Ko brothers of Taiwan use soft tips...most of the Taiwan pros do.

That doesn't mean they are good for everyone.

Rodney Morris told me his favorite tip was a Triangle, but that doesn't mean everybody likes them. (For the record, I like the good ones.)

If you can play pool, you know what you like and what works best for YOU.

Don't worry about what works for someone else.

Try a bunch of different tips and different levels of hardness and figure out what you like best.

Learn to put on your own tips and experiment.

If there are a bunch of people in the pool hall when I am playing, there is almost always one person who will come up to me and ask me what kind of tip I am using. When I ask, "Why?', they answer, "You get so much action on the ball (or spin). You make it look easy to go so many rails with the cue ball.".

Then I hand them my cue to try it out and, almost without fail, they can't do what they just saw me do with my cue.

It isn't the tip that let me do it, but it may have helped a little bit.

It is the stroke.

The tip that works best for your stroke is what you need to use.

For me, that is a softer tip.

His Boy Elroy said:

I've played with an Elkmaster straight out of the bag and also an Elkmaster put through the "Milkdud" process by a guy who really knows his stuff. I HATED BOTH TIPS! I'd rather gnaw on my....(nevermind!) than put another one of either of these tips on my cue. Helll....I'd quit the game if all I could play with was an Elkmaster! Both tips felt like miniature marshmellows!

It was an experiment. I went back to playing with Triangles...one of the harder tips around. Having said all that though....ugh....Reyes and Strickland are kinda good! I guess it just goes to show you....Different strokes for different folks!

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EMs can't take much heat. If the trimming the tip caused too much heat it could really affect the way the tip plays. Heat will turn em into fluff.

Another possibility why the pros tend to go soft, or SS on their selection is time. They mostly play 8 hrs, or more a day. Tips compact. How long before it hardens into a really hard tip that doesn't take chalk well anymore? Perhaps they are just trying to play with something that they can get used to, (gradually hardening) and have a similar feel for a greater period of time. There is also the break in period some players don't like. The softer tip gives them a longer ride, and less break ins to deal with. Just a thought. Lastly, not all, but a lot of pros are more worried about tip shape, and mushroom. I have a local guy that plays real well. A lot of players ask me what he's playing with and how he likes it. They all look at me funny when I tell them he doesn't know what tip he's playing with. He just asked for a nicely shaped piece of leather. He'll let me know when its not holding chalk, or starting to feel like a rock.

the best tips are the ones on house cues. ive seen enough players grab one and run a hundred balls so they must have the best tips on them.

or it could be house cues are so great, that other players that are using those custom ones that are really inferior. because most cant run a hundred balls with them.

although i suspect it all boils down to the chalk they are using.

ChicagoRJ said:

A player with no cue power should be using a soft tip and a player with a lot of power should be using a medium or hard tip.

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I don't get Appleton's reasoning here - seems to me it should be the other way around...?

pj
chgo

Patrick Johnson said:

I don't get Appleton's reasoning here - seems to me it should be the other way around...?

pj
chgo

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Makes no sense to me either. Its whatever you like in way of feel. I know hard hitters that love soft tips. Personally i can't stand them. I'm just a basic med. tip guy. Am using the new Ultraskin Fire in med. and i really like it. Can't beat US's for the price.

7-10 years ago I was playing Kamui Black medium and hard tips.

I tried the Kamui Black Clear soft and super soft tips & I switched.

All my cues’ tips are Kamui Clear Black & I have not found any better.

Patrick Johnson said:

I don't get Appleton's reasoning here - seems to me it should be the other way around...?

pj
chgo

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I agree with you.