Better & Reasonably Priced Chalk

Someone who thinks this much about the intricacies of chalk should definitely spend more time working on their actual pool game and less time thinking about chalk.
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To all the folks saying these things or agreeing with it, I will say is this; In my opinion chalk does make a difference. I have experienced it. With better chalk you can go further toward the edge of the cue ball without miscuing.

Now you have the right to your opinion. But I have the right to mine, which is this; You have not observed what I have because you are not paying close enough attention to your own shots to realize that there is really a difference.

Now I know you didn't ask me for my negative opinion about your pool game, but that makes us even, because I didn't ask you for yours either.

If people want to address the topic at hand, but just happen to disagree with me, I'm OK with that.
 
Pre-Flag Master said:
Seems like the chalks I like are the older ones that had a more gritty consistency. Seems like the "grit" gets into the texture of the tip's leather better. I thought I had a make shift solution by baking Master chalk. But that only fixed the pasty-ness problem. eventually I realized it didn't really make the chalk adhere better. I'm going to try Silver Cup again, but from what I recall it was only a little grittier than Master and the grit particles were too fine anyway, and too dry to stay on the tip. I am also going to try the new Balabushka, but people are saying it's only a little better than Blue Diamond. I personally feel that Blue Diamond isn't really all that great either - just not that gritty really. Old Pre-Flag can be a little hard. It's like the grittiness is there, but sometimes too hard to really coat easily - you have to work it a bit. I might try leaving it in the bathroom - as I have read others have done with chalk - to see if it will absorb moisture and soften up.

But still, pre-flag is expensive and not readily available. Blue Diamond and Balabushka, too expensive in my opinion, but at least I would buy them if they worked as well as I wanted. And obviously, therefore, I think Kamui is too expensive.

So if there are any billiard chalk industry manufacturers out there reading this, I'd like to suggest some specifications. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels this way, so you would probably have a market if you created a new line of chalk that is...

1. Gritty enough to go into the leather.
2. Soft enough and moist enough to stay on the tip.
3. Not so soft or moist as to be too pasty and leave a thick cakey-ness on the tip which would then get on the cue ball. This leads to skids, and also makes a mess on the cloth.

Price it right, and you might have a great selling product. I wouldn't necessarily suggest replacing any current lines of chalk because different people like different things. If the SRP for a box of 12 was $7.50, that would be very affordable. If retailers broke out individual cubes for $.75 or even $1.00 each I would be fine with that, and think most people would be too.

Market the new line as "Blue Grit". Get some John Wayne movie clips with the right verbal snippets and IMO, you have a winner... "Here, you'll shoot straight with this!"

If anyone here feels the same way, post a reply to show your vote. Maybe this could actually happen (well maybe not the John Wayne part). Does anybody know if the people at Tweeten or Silver Cup or NTC read these forums?

Fatz
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The Kamui 1.21 is exactly what you want. Not so greasy like the 0.98, and for this it leaves not more chalk on the cueball than a master or blue diamond.

I also see that the master, blue diamond or NIR has sometimes bad adhesion to different types of tips. With the Kamui there is very good adhesion on all tips I had so far.
 
riedmich said:
The Kamui 1.21 is exactly what you want.
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Thank you, but you are forgetting the "Reasonably Priced" part. I wouldn't pay US$30 per cube for chalk unless it lasted a long time.

People were saying that the .98 lasted a long time. Is that also true for the 1.21?

thanks
Fatz
 
The Kamui 1.21 lasts much longer than a master or blue diamond. But if it lasts as long as the 0.98 I'm not sure.

Beside this primary issue how long the chalk lasts you also can see that the tip lasts much longer, for 2 reasons: First is that you have to roughen a tip from time to time, and this is by far not so often necessary with the Kamui chalk because of its fine grit and high surface energy. Second reason is also not so unimportant - with a usual chalk you sand the tip a bit depending on several factors. With the Kamui you have a chalk that can be applied onto the tip with much less pressure than a usual chalk, and therefore it abrases the tip less. Also the very fine grit of the Kamui sands the tip less.

I'm not an enthusiastic fan of the Kamui chalks and the 0.98 is too pasty and greazy and too much of it keeps on the cueball. But I use the 1.21 from time to time and have to admit that you can call it perfect.

About the price of it to discuss it is not helpful I think. Pay it or not. I am not of scottish blood so I don't care spending a few money more (or not) a month on billard. I'm happy to know there is a super chalk that I can use when a usual chalk doesn't work as it should, for what reason ever.
 
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Bake away!!! Chalk has physical and chemical water in it's break down... An oven can bake out the physical water but you would need a kiln to bake out the chemical.... The difference in the Kamui .98 and 1.21 likely has everything to do with the baking time and how much moisture that leaves in the cubes....

And as for prices... good chemicals aren't cheap... quality control dictating small batch runs is not cheap... Masters, made by Tweeten, is still pretty much made close to the patent from like 1898....

Tweeten makes Blue Diamond for Longoni so it follows since Ballabushka is a Longoni line it will have been made by Tweeten.... I'll also wager Tweeten is making the predator stuff...

Like it or not Kamui has raised the bar.... The price tag may be somewhat out of line but make no mistake... it is a superior product....
 
I haven't had the chance to try the Kamui but I find a distinct difference for the better between Blue Diamond and Master. Doesn't mean I don't think Master is adequate but Blue Diamond seems to apply with less pressure and more evenly and also seems to stick better.

I will probably try the Kamui. Who cares if it is $30. You have a bunch of guys who spend $500 to $5,000 on a cue and who knows how much on other pool expenses over the course of a year. Yet, those same people would balk at spending $100 on the part that actually contacts the ball? I struggle a bit to make sense of that. That is of course assuming the Kamui is actually a superior product and has positive attributes to justify the additional expense.
 
Snapshot9 said:
I find a product I like, and stick with it.

If someone can prove to me that a product is better, and the price is reasonable, then I will try something new.
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Sounds like good advice to me. I'm guilty of spending more than I ever thought I would on Kamui chalk, but I really like it. I don't have to chalk as much, it works well, and it lasts a long time. I got mine from a dealer wholesale, but it still wasn't cheap.

James
 
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