Hard, Medium, Soft?

tashworth19191

tashworth19191

Pool will make you humble
Silver Member
I have always used Elkmaster tips, except on my Predator which has the factory tip on it. I was thinking of trying Kamani tip since I hear so many others on here praise them.

I have no clue what hardness to get, since I never payed much attention to it.

In the past, I went to my billiards shop and told the guy to put an elkmaster on it.

So what are your suggestions?
 
Elkmasters is considered soft. Have you noticed a difference between Elkmasters and the tip on your Predator shaft? If you can adjust quickly and not affect your game, then maybe tip hardness isn't as critical for you as someone else.

Before you buy, consider going to your local poolroom and ask around. If you ask politely, I find many players will let you test hit their cues.
 
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You mean "Kamui" ? Kinda depends on cue type. On a hard-hitting steel joint i've used and liked the softs. On a softer cue like a Meucci you might like med. or hard. I'm talking about Blacks. The Browns are firmer across the board.
 
ctyhntr said:
Elkmasters is considered soft. Have you noticed a difference between Elkmasters and the tip on your Predator shaft? If you can adjust quickly and not affect your game, then maybe tip hardness isn't as critical for you as someone else.
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I have not noticed any major difference. I think I get more solid hit and more english with the Vantage shaft, but I thought that was just the shaft.
 
garczar said:
You mean "Kamui" ? Kinda depends on cue type. On a hard-hitting steel joint i've used and liked the softs. On a softer cue like a Meucci you might like med. or hard. I'm talking about Blacks. The Browns are firmer across the board.
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Yes, I mean Kamui Clear Black Pool Cue Tip. I wanted to try one and figure out which one would be best. I want to put it on a Vantage Shaft for a Predator 8K-4 and on a 314-2 on the same stick. Just trying to figure out if these make any difference (really??) when I play.
 
My own experience is it largely comes down to feel. There are some who claim a softer tip will produce more action and others that believe a hard tip will. Those in the soft tip camp assert it is because a soft tip holds chalk better and stays on the cue ball longer. Others believe that a hard tip gives more spin because it transfers more energy at any given speed.

The best discussion of this is probably on Dr. Dave's site and it seems the actual answer is less conclusive one way or the other:

http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/cue_tip.html#hardness
 
tashworth19191 said:
Yes, I mean Kamui Clear Black Pool Cue Tip. I wanted to try one and figure out which one would be best. I want to put it on a Vantage Shaft for a Predator 8K-4 and on a 314-2 on the same stick. Just trying to figure out if these make any difference (really??) when I play.
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Stick with Elkmaster's.
 
Kamui

tashworth19191 said:
I have always used Elkmaster tips, except on my Predator which has the factory tip on it. I was thinking of trying Kamani tip since I hear so many others on here praise them.

I have no clue what hardness to get, since I never payed much attention to it.

In the past, I went to my billiards shop and told the guy to put an elkmaster on it.

So what are your suggestions?
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Kamui black soft or kamui black super soft.
 
I'll offer two suggestions ... First, if you feel like trying something different, I'd actually go with a hard tip since you have experienced the soft, you will get the opportunity to experience the other end of the spectrum, the hard tips, then there will be a playing field or gauge to fall within to decide if you like hard or soft or medium hard ... etc. better, then you can hone in on the middle ground.

Second, and I consider a biggie ... I'd suggest not falling into that ridiculous high price tip crap regardless of what you do. There are plenty of choices in the 1 dollar to 4 dollar a tip range that will play fine. Muellers has lots of listings to compare tips with hardness ratings, just as an example.
 
tashworth19191 said:
I have always used Elkmaster tips, except on my Predator which has the factory tip on it. I was thinking of trying Kamani tip since I hear so many others on here praise them.

I have no clue what hardness to get, since I never payed much attention to it.

In the past, I went to my billiards shop and told the guy to put an elkmaster on it.

So what are your suggestions?
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If you like elk master, then I'd go with Kamui Black super soft, or brown soft.
 
3andstop said:
I'll offer two suggestions ... First, if you feel like trying something different, I'd actually go with a hard tip since you have experienced the soft, you will get the opportunity to experience the other end of the spectrum, the hard tips, then there will be a playing field or gauge to fall within to decide if you like hard or soft or medium hard ... etc. better, then you can hone in on the middle ground.

Second, and I consider a biggie ... I'd suggest not falling into that ridiculous high price tip crap regardless of what you do. There are plenty of choices in the 1 dollar to 4 dollar a tip range that will play fine. Muellers has lots of listings to compare tips with hardness ratings, just as an example.
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Yeah, I was surprised how much tips can cost. Kamui seems to run $18-$25 depending on the model. Sounds kind of silly expensive compared to a $2 Elkmaster or LePro.

However, $20 difference spread out over the life of the tip is not a big deal to me. My tips last over a year.

I think the cost difference is layered vs. non-layered.
 
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Order a milkdud from pooldawg8 on here. Hard to beat that quality for $3.

They are pressed Elkmasters that offer a lot of action to the cue.

I might have one at home I can ship you
 
My personal opinion is that buying one of the high dollar "hard" layered tips is a complete waste of money. The whole idea of layered tips is that you can use softer, more elastic leather for the tips and they still won't fall apart. A very hard tip, layered or not, will always be a hard tip. There won't be much difference in playability between a cheap layered hard tip and a high dollar one in my experience. So if that is what you want there are a million cheap layered tips that will do the job just as well as a Kamui or Moori. Soft layered tips are a completely different matter. There is nothing that plays quite like a super soft Kamui. Don't like them myself, but they are different from anything else I've tried. They are so "grabby" they completely change the way I play, I just want to soft spin absolutely every shot, lol. If you like soft tips, like the Elkmaster, that's what I would have tried. If you want something different buy a cheap hard tip.
 
ronscuba said:
Yeah, I was surprised how much tips can cost. Kamui seems to run $18-$25 depending on the model. Sounds kind of silly expensive compared to a $2 Elkmaster or LePro.

However, $20 difference spread out over the life of the tip is not a big deal to me. My tips last over a year.

I think the cost difference is layered vs. non-layered.
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I like to look through the Muellers website, only because they give a nice photo of the tips and the hardness rating. They are not the best prices, but there are plenty of layered tips ... even on that website for under 7 bucks.

Once you find one you're interested in, most likely you can save 20% by searching for them on ebay, but regardless ... there are lots of layered tips reasonably priced.

I know 20 bucks isn't a lot of money over the course of a year or so ... but I don't like the idea of these tip manufacturers pissing in my hand and telling me it's raining. The BS is waist deep with cue tips, No need to be taken advantage of in the name of some horseshit marketing hype. But that's just me ... :thumbup:
 
My personal preference is for a medium tip, but I have shot with all types. Whatever the type, I like a tip I can "trust". If I can trust the tip, I can adjust to any feel and hardness after a while.

I don't like a mushy tip and I don't like what I call a "pachinko" tip (the kind that pings and has too much UNINTENDED action) that magnifies or amplifies spin.

A "neutral" tip is what I prefer...a tip that I trust and only puts English on the ball when I want it to (hopefully). For me, a medium tip is better at doing this.

The only thing that will enable you to trust your tip is to have a straight, repeatable stroke from shot to shot.

I'm not a person who goes from tip to tip looking for the "magic" solution. I find one I can "trust" and stay with that one.

At the moment, the two I'm liking a lot are Milk Duds and TNT Mac Pro tips.
 
3andstop said:
I like to look through the Muellers website, only because they give a nice photo of the tips and the hardness rating. They are not the best prices, but there are plenty of layered tips ... even on that website for under 7 bucks.

Once you find one you're interested in, most likely you can save 20% by searching for them on ebay, but regardless ... there are lots of layered tips reasonably priced.

I know 20 bucks isn't a lot of money over the course of a year or so ... but I don't like the idea of these tip manufacturers pissing in my hand and telling me it's raining. The BS is waist deep with cue tips, No need to be taken advantage of in the name of some horseshit marketing hype. But that's just me ... :thumbup:
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Yeah, I hate marketing crap too. At least the tip BS is not as bad as the mud slinging in some other pool topic discussions.

My cue came with a Moori medium. When it came time to replace the tip, my local pool guy recommended a Kamui brown soft as being the closest replacement since Moori tips are not the same anymore.

So I went Kamui brown not because of marketing, but because I liked the original tip and wanted similar.

FYI, my local pool "mechanic" said no reason to go Kamui black since I always play in an air conditioned pool hall. He said black works well for very humid environments. Kamui clear ? Now that IMHO is marketing.
 
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I play with a Kamui S Black. Going to go to a SS real soon. I love kamui. Yea its 20 dollars. Oh well. The only unintentional spin i get from this tip is when my STROKE is off. Has nothing to do with the tip. I havent tried all the tips in the world but im not gonna fix what isnt broken. BTW i HATE triangles.
 
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masato_Hiraoka

Masato met with my business partner when he was in town dealing with Viking. According to my partner Masato definitely loves pool and he is a very cool guy. They went to dinner together and went boating the following day on lake Mendota and discussed business theory and customer satisfaction. Some guys are only in it for the money, Masato is not one of them, he 100% believes in his companies products. R&D is quit expensive and with Kamui it is ongoing....
 
I've played Elk Masters & Brunswick Blue Diamonds for 45 years.

I picked up an OB Classic with a Kamui Super Soft Black tip.

At first it seemed like it was sticking to the ball until someone here told to me to take several layers off of it. I did... & has has played very well ever since.

So if you want to, go with it.

I'd say the SS Black plays very close to the Elk Master, perhaps a tad better but then it cost about 15 tads more.

Best 2 You & All,
Rick
 
I love pooldawg8 (az handle) pressed elkmasters. Tips don't mushroom, play well, and have qualities that seem to fit my game. I have played with hard tips for most of my life, and his tips give me the same feel of a hard tip, without many of the issues.
 
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