That was my opinion until the "don't knock it until you've tried it" crowd convinced me to at least give Kamui chalk a shot, no pun intended. Feeling like a fool, I ordered a piece, which I just got in the mail a couple days ago.
The first thing I did is weigh it. I've been using Blue Diamond chalk (already feeling like a fool paying $2.50/cube). I weighed a handful of my unused Blue Diamond pieces and got an average of 17.4g (range of 16.6 - 18.1g). The Kamui chalk weighed in at 13.6g, so it's about 78% the weight of a typical piece of Blue Diamond chalk.
Therefore, by weight, Kamui is 12.8 times as expensive as Blue Diamond.
Knowing this and extremely skeptical, I went to shoot using my new chalk that is 35% more expensive than silver.
I shot alone. I used Blue Diamond for the first rack of 10-ball, which went as quickly as it normally does given I'm a B- player on a good day, a C+ player much more often. Comfortable and familiar with my cue and my chalk for comparison's sake, I then scuffed the chalk off my tip and applied, for the first time, the light-blue marvel from the small silver bag. People who compared this stuff to makeup weren't far off, but my impression was that this stuff was just a lot, well, chalkier than other chalk. It seems dense, and not nearly as dry, but still chalk.
I applied it to my freshly scuffed tip, covered every bit of brown, and immediately noticed the first big advantage Kamui chalk has over the competition: there's no dust falling down on my hands, my cue, my clothes, the table, into my drink, etc. This alone felt like it was worth some multiple of other chalks.
I'd read reports of people shooting 50, 60+ balls without having to rechalk, so I decided to do a test. I chalked thoroughly then started running racks. Ok, running racks is a bit generous given my playing ability, but I did limp through 5 full racks without so much as an issue. That's at least 50 shots, and given how I was shooting, probably closer to 100. Even at the end I was shooting draw shots confidently and without issue. In fact, I was getting more action on the cue ball despite 60+ shots since my last chalking than I do with a fresh Blue-Diamond-chalked tip (or, for that matter, master's).
That's the second big advantage this chalk has, is I feel it does help impart more spin, especially on draw shots. Someone who already has an expert stroke might not notice much of a difference (that's not something I would know) but I noticed that I had to work less hard to get action. In fact, I was taking so many shots to finish a rack of 10-ball in part because I was out of line so much because I was getting more action than I was used to given the same stroke, and tip placement on the cue ball compared to Blue Diamond. Of course, maybe this advantage is really not an advantage at all: if I use this stuff as a crutch to avoid having to perfect my stroke, it might not have helped me at all. Or maybe with increased confidence I'll stroke better naturally. Who knows.
Eventually, someone stopped at my table and offered to play some, so I accepted and chalked my cue again. I painted a little more chalk over top of what was still left and it felt almost unnecessary. I shot for another hour without chalking again and had no issues at all.
So that's the third advantage Kamui has over other chalk: it just sticks there and won't budge. I chalked twice in about 2 hours, and probably could have stretched it out to 2.5 or 3 hours without much of an issue. I have no clue how long it will take me to go through this $25 piece of chalk (it would take a more extended evaluation period to even hazard a guess), but I can imagine it taking as long as $10, 15, maybe even more, worth of Blue Diamond.
I'm a believer. This chalk is fantastic. I'm not yet sure that makes it worth $25/cube just on principal, but holy crap do I feel like much less of a fool for shelling out that kind of cash for a damn piece of chalk. If it lasts 6.4 times as long as Blue Diamond, and the no mess/greater response aspect is worth twice as much as Blue Diamond, then presto, we've reached the 12.8 multiple we need to make it worthwhile.
I sure as hell hope it's cheaper when it's released in larger quantities in August. But I definitely am no longer going to laugh at anyone who shells out the cash for this stuff.
The first thing I did is weigh it. I've been using Blue Diamond chalk (already feeling like a fool paying $2.50/cube). I weighed a handful of my unused Blue Diamond pieces and got an average of 17.4g (range of 16.6 - 18.1g). The Kamui chalk weighed in at 13.6g, so it's about 78% the weight of a typical piece of Blue Diamond chalk.
Therefore, by weight, Kamui is 12.8 times as expensive as Blue Diamond.
Knowing this and extremely skeptical, I went to shoot using my new chalk that is 35% more expensive than silver.
I shot alone. I used Blue Diamond for the first rack of 10-ball, which went as quickly as it normally does given I'm a B- player on a good day, a C+ player much more often. Comfortable and familiar with my cue and my chalk for comparison's sake, I then scuffed the chalk off my tip and applied, for the first time, the light-blue marvel from the small silver bag. People who compared this stuff to makeup weren't far off, but my impression was that this stuff was just a lot, well, chalkier than other chalk. It seems dense, and not nearly as dry, but still chalk.
I applied it to my freshly scuffed tip, covered every bit of brown, and immediately noticed the first big advantage Kamui chalk has over the competition: there's no dust falling down on my hands, my cue, my clothes, the table, into my drink, etc. This alone felt like it was worth some multiple of other chalks.
I'd read reports of people shooting 50, 60+ balls without having to rechalk, so I decided to do a test. I chalked thoroughly then started running racks. Ok, running racks is a bit generous given my playing ability, but I did limp through 5 full racks without so much as an issue. That's at least 50 shots, and given how I was shooting, probably closer to 100. Even at the end I was shooting draw shots confidently and without issue. In fact, I was getting more action on the cue ball despite 60+ shots since my last chalking than I do with a fresh Blue-Diamond-chalked tip (or, for that matter, master's).
That's the second big advantage this chalk has, is I feel it does help impart more spin, especially on draw shots. Someone who already has an expert stroke might not notice much of a difference (that's not something I would know) but I noticed that I had to work less hard to get action. In fact, I was taking so many shots to finish a rack of 10-ball in part because I was out of line so much because I was getting more action than I was used to given the same stroke, and tip placement on the cue ball compared to Blue Diamond. Of course, maybe this advantage is really not an advantage at all: if I use this stuff as a crutch to avoid having to perfect my stroke, it might not have helped me at all. Or maybe with increased confidence I'll stroke better naturally. Who knows.
Eventually, someone stopped at my table and offered to play some, so I accepted and chalked my cue again. I painted a little more chalk over top of what was still left and it felt almost unnecessary. I shot for another hour without chalking again and had no issues at all.
So that's the third advantage Kamui has over other chalk: it just sticks there and won't budge. I chalked twice in about 2 hours, and probably could have stretched it out to 2.5 or 3 hours without much of an issue. I have no clue how long it will take me to go through this $25 piece of chalk (it would take a more extended evaluation period to even hazard a guess), but I can imagine it taking as long as $10, 15, maybe even more, worth of Blue Diamond.
I'm a believer. This chalk is fantastic. I'm not yet sure that makes it worth $25/cube just on principal, but holy crap do I feel like much less of a fool for shelling out that kind of cash for a damn piece of chalk. If it lasts 6.4 times as long as Blue Diamond, and the no mess/greater response aspect is worth twice as much as Blue Diamond, then presto, we've reached the 12.8 multiple we need to make it worthwhile.
I sure as hell hope it's cheaper when it's released in larger quantities in August. But I definitely am no longer going to laugh at anyone who shells out the cash for this stuff.
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