How to adjust to changes in humidity

KoolKat9Lives

KoolKat9Lives

Taught 'em all I know
Silver Member
I hear Earl talk about humidity almost every time I happen upon him.

"The best shot I ever saw was when I was playing Efren in (some island, Phillipines?) in an open air place and it was so humid and a typhoon was blowing in and, and ..."

Anyway... I was just reading JoeyA's blog where he tells how the tables would get "boingy". Nice read Joey!

How does a table play differently with changes in humidity and how do you adjust?

Thanks!

Matt
 
.

wrap a tennis grip around you cue, grab a baseball glove and some medical tape and you should be all set. :confused:

.... oh and don't play in the Phillipines.

Up here in Mass I deal with both extremes(in my basement). So cold in the winter and hot in the summer. I've noticed alot more miss cues in the winter because of the cold.(at least for my competition or lack their of;)) As for the humidity it tends to get sticky and my felt rolls slower. IMO
 
I tend to use a more heavy duty anti-persperent. In really humid situations I remove my pants and wear a towel on my head. If I get ball in hand, I'll rub the cue ball on my butt for an extended period to dry the ball off.
 
In very high humidity (over 75 %) the table bed is very slow and the rails are very bouncy and play very short. If you shoot hard into a rail for a kick from long rail side to side, don't be shocked when the QB jumps up off rail and hits you in the face or chest. I'm the humidity king...Tampa, FL, table outside on screened room. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
In very high humidity (over 75 %) the table bed is very slow and the rails are very bouncy and play very short. If you shoot hard into a rail for a kick from long rail side to side, don't be shocked when the QB jumps up off rail and hits you in the face or chest. I'm the humidity king...Tampa, FL, table outside on screened room. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

Do you wear a catcher's mask when you play?
 
NewStroke said:
I tend to use a more heavy duty anti-persperent. In really humid situations I remove my pants and wear a towel on my head. If I get ball in hand, I'll rub the cue ball on my butt for an extended period to dry the ball off.
Click to expand...

Please post a pict... Ohh wait, nevermind! lol

Seriously though... As humidity gets higher:

- the table surely plays slower

- Do bank angles get longer or shorter?

- I assume the rails "grab" more, so do they take more english and open the angles?

- is collision induced throw more pronounced?

- What other effects are material?
 
KoolKat9Lives said:
Please post a pict... Ohh wait, nevermind! lol

Seriously though... As humidity gets higher:

- the table surely plays slower

- Do bank angles get longer or shorter?

- I assume the rails "grab" more, so do they take more english and open the angles?

- is collision induced throw more pronounced?

- What other effects are material?
Click to expand...

Banks angles get shorter. Johnnyt
 
I do agree they get shorter even with slightly higher humidity. Also, doesn't the cue ball tend to roll a bit slower?
 
Johnnyt said:
In very high humidity (over 75 %) the table bed is very slow and the rails are very bouncy and play very short. If you shoot hard into a rail for a kick from long rail side to side, don't be shocked when the QB jumps up off rail and hits you in the face or chest. I'm the humidity king...Tampa, FL, table outside on screened room. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

Good info JT, thanks. Two nights ago while playing in humid North Carolina I had a long kick that I decided to play with speed. The OB was @ a diamond off the rail and the CB barely jumped right over it. Perhaps here in winter that shot makes a good hit.
 
Pockets play a little bit tighter as well imho.

How to adjust? I usually play less soft spin shots and avoid using a lot of english because you'll get more "action" from the cushion with english. I like to play harder stun shots for position with humid conditions and more straightforward draw/follow position without english. And when the conditions get humid, you have to realize that it's easier to kill the cueball and it's harder to play multi-rail positional shots so I think the key to humid conditions is to simplify everything. It's also worth playing a safety instead of a difficult bank if you're not sure how much the humidity will make the bank play shorter.

So, in a nutshell:
-use less english
-shoot harder (increased collision-induced throw will make soft cut shots a bit more difficult)
-avoid banks
-play more safeties
-simplify
 
Last edited:
The speed of your stroke may need to increase a lot for draw and stun shots.

Inside becomes a much more powerful tool relative to draw because the english will take better and you don't have to hit them harder to fight the increased drag as you do with draw shots.

Inside draw kill shots also become a much better option because they can be hit harder and still kill and are not as touchy as outside draw/drag kill.
 
Here are few more things that happen in humid conditions.
Balls don't spread well on the break. There are far more clusters after the break as the balls act like their in love, clinging and marrying each other like they were on Ecstasy.
Humid conditions make it horrible to try and play 14.1. Johnnyt
 
As far as the shortened angle off the rail - you can look at it like this... The rails become more "springy" with humidity, so the ball coming off the rail faster means it travels further "in line" before it can open up. Same effect as hitting the rail harder, crushing the ball further into it, and seeing the effect of the lines of force within the cushion pushing the ball out. It can make you about half crazy trying to factor the increased speed off the rails with the decreased cloth rolling speed.
In the end, any time you're playing in conditions outside what you would consider your norm, you have to be more critical in your choices. Getting lax will hurt you how it does, when it does - you don't get to choose once you give up control.
 
Measuring & calibrating the humidity effect

Does anyone have a sort of "calibration" process?

Can I witness this effect by setting up a bank - a specific point to point bank - first on a dry day, and next on a humid day?

I'm a black and white/ left hemisphere processor. I need to see it for myself.

Thanks gang for all the input. :thumbup: I think learning this & knowing how to adjust will help me get to the next level so I can beat SVB every time, not just every other. ;)
 
FYI, I have a good summary of humidity effects here:


Regards,
Dave

KoolKat9Lives said:
I hear Earl talk about humidity almost every time I happen upon him.

"The best shot I ever saw was when I was playing Efren in (some island, Phillipines?) in an open air place and it was so humid and a typhoon was blowing in and, and ..."

Anyway... I was just reading JoeyA's blog where he tells how the tables would get "boingy". Nice read Joey!

How does a table play differently with changes in humidity and how do you adjust?

Thanks!

Matt
Click to expand...
 
dr_dave said:
FYI, I have a good summary of humidity effects here:


Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...

Thank you for this Dave. I have found all 7 of the above true as my table is on a screened room in Tampa, FL. I might add...55 % from 45% is barely noticable. 65% from 55% is noticable, but does not effect play that much. 75% from 65% is very noticable and you need to play a good percentage of your shots differently. 85% from 75% is horrible. You can't bank anyway but with very soft stokes. The rail bounce is very bad at this level of humidity. From 85% and up the table becomes unplayable. Even long but only slight angled cut-shots are way off compared to the lower humidity. Johnnyt
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top