Kamui black soft or medium?

Charles Hartfield

Charles Hartfield

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I currently use an Everest tip but it’s about time to replace it. I’m going to try a Kamui black and would like it to be the one that is the closest hardness to the Everest. I have looked at the hardness chart and the Everest is almost exactly in between the soft and medium Kamui blacks. Any advice on which hardness to try first? Thanks for replying in advance.
 
Charles Hartfield said:
I currently use an Everest tip but it’s about time to replace it. I’m going to try a Kamui black and would like it to be the one that is the closest hardness to the Everest. I have looked at the hardness chart and the Everest is almost exactly in between the soft and medium Kamui blacks. Any advice on which hardness to try first? Thanks for replying in advance.
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How 'bout neither?? Try a Ultraskin med. Great tips. IMO Kamui are very over-rated. The Black's tend to glaze pretty quick.
 
I have installed Ultraskins on most every cue my wife and I have. Started with a couple softs, didn't end up liking them. Then tried medium fires, liked them a lot. Now have converted two of my shafts to Ultraskin black mediums, especially on my Jacoby Ultra wood shafts. Occasionally playing with my stock Schon shaft made me want to move up to the firmer hit of the medium black tips. I still have a couple shafts with the fire mediums, in fact one is the shaft I use in league, but it hits as crisp as the black medium due I think to the fact that it is wore down to the point that I need to replace it soon. As to Kamui tips, I only have used one, a tan soft, it came on a Jacoby Black carbon shaft I got for my Schon cues. I have to admit, I like it. The sides mushroomed out once, and after that has mostly held it's shape but it does flat spot in the center occasionally and need to be rounded up again. I haven't noticed any glazing, and even though I have a cue lathe, I will leave that tip on till it wears out and replace it with a Ultraskin as I think they are at least as good or better, and a whole lot better value.
 
Try the Kamui brown S with no pad first . They do settle to medium after a while .
 
garczar said:
How 'bout neither?? Try a Ultraskin med. Great tips. IMO Kamui are very over-rated. The Black's tend to glaze pretty quick.
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I had black Kamui super soft tips on some shafts and I cut them off and replaced them with Ultraskin black soft tips.

The Kamui tips constantly glazed over and sucked.

I like the Ultraskins and have bought them from Tom a couple times.
 
Kamui black soft. Gets harder with use. Never have had them glaze over like other tips I've used. I play often and they last me 2-3 years easily with no maintenance.
 
I tried a Kamui Black medium 6 or 7 years ago. After a few weeks I had it replaced with a good 'ol
Triangle or LePro, I forget which. It just didn't feel "right", I had always used Triangles, LePros, and
Chandivert Champions.
Now I recently bought a DZ cue that came with a Kamui Black Clear medium.
I haven't had the chance to play much lately but I plan on giving it hell tomorrow and Sunday.
The little I've played, it plays fine, it feels soft but not mushy. Good spin and draw but I get that with Triangles and LePros also.
The DZ cue is masterpiece. Fancy Sneaky with Juma joint, modified 3/8x10 pin and Tomahawk ferrule. I'm gonna really work it this weekend and this Kamui tip and pay close attention to every detail of both of feel, feedback, firmness, etc.
 
Johnny, interesting to hear your DZ came with a Kamui as the DZ I picked up a few months back came with a Triangle. Played with that tip for a little over a month and changed it to a Ultraskin black medium and so far am happier with that. I did get a 30" shaft at 12.8mm with it. I really, really, like the feel and hit of his cues, although now my wife has declared the DZ is hers, and given me back a Schon she took from me before. Would like to see a picture of your cue as I have been in talks with him to make me a more plain no wrap.
 
Cheers for any DZ cue - the one that I own is a masterpiece in construction technique, equal to any U.S builder I have ever seen. As per the cue tips, I like the Ultrskins for the fact that they play consistently , my Ultraskin softs all required a mushroom fix after about 10 hours of play- but stayed good after that. I think that the Kamui tips play harder than their ratings, but good as well, and honestly, I have been migrating back to the non layer Triangle tip - it just seems to stay the same for it's entire life with no effort on my part.

I find for me that if I play enough with any tip hardness rating that I just get used to it- so I am now going to Triangle for simplicity:)
 
Charles Hartfield said:
I currently use an Everest tip but it’s about time to replace it. I’m going to try a Kamui black and would like it to be the one that is the closest hardness to the Everest. I have looked at the hardness chart and the Everest is almost exactly in between the soft and medium Kamui blacks. Any advice on which hardness to try first? Thanks for replying in advance.
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Try the mako Pro V2 clear medium. They are a bit pricy but I love them,
The ultraskin medium is another great tip about 1/2 the price.
 
OP, did you say of your shaft was maple or cf?

Tom's ultra skins were just right for my maple shafts, except the LD. Can't figure that out as they played fine on my Becue shafts.

Now that I use only cf shafts on wood butts, I use only Kamui clear black med. This was after getting a used shaft with one. Tested every subsequent cf (all came non Kamui) vs it, and changed each one.

Recommend it for cf.
 
NathanDetroit said:
OP, did you say of your shaft was maple or cf?

Tom's ultra skins were just right for my maple shafts, except the LD. Can't figure that out as they played fine on my Becue shafts.

Now that I use only cf shafts on wood butts, I use only Kamui clear black med. This was after getting a used shaft with one. Tested every subsequent cf (all came non Kamui) vs it, and changed each one.

Recommend it for cf.
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My shaft is maple.
 
Charles Hartfield said:
I currently use an Everest tip but it’s about time to replace it. I’m going to try a Kamui black and would like it to be the one that is the closest hardness to the Everest. I have looked at the hardness chart and the Everest is almost exactly in between the soft and medium Kamui blacks. Any advice on which hardness to try first? Thanks for replying in advance.
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The Kamui Black Soft is pretty close to Everest, it's just a tiny bit harder. The Kamui Black Mediums are actually pretty hard for a medium and the newer ones I've gotten have have given me so many miscues I wont use them anymore. For the first 3 days or so they play great then they harden up and are garbage and any time I'm on the rail or need to hit the ball hard or very soft with draw I'm afraid I will miscue. Right now I'm using up my supply of Everests and when that is gone I will be going back to Kamui Black Soft which like Everest has never given me any problems as long as the tip isnt down to 2 layers at which point it starts miscueing like the Mediums..
 
pw98 said:
... The Kamui Black Mediums are actually pretty hard for a medium ,,,
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Agreed. I used to play with medium tips (Kamui brown, Wizard, Ultraskin, etc.) and the Kamui browns especially were always glazing over and I had to constantly futz with them (scuffer and tip pick). Switched to a Kamui black med. and it seemed much harder and I miscued a lot -- quickly cut it off and switched to Kamui black soft -- love them and no maintenance required and no mushrooming.

Recently tried a clear Kamui black soft on a second hand snooker shaft I bought. Seemed a bit harder than the regular Kamui black soft and I miscued a bit at first but it's starting to break in fine the more I play with it. Could be the snooker shaft itself plays harder since it's made of ash versus the maple shafts I'm used to?
 
WoodyJ said:
Agreed. I used to play with medium tips (Kamui brown, Wizard, Ultraskin, etc.) and the Kamui browns especially were always glazing over and I had to constantly futz with them (scuffer and tip pick). Switched to a Kamui black med. and it seemed much harder and I miscued a lot -- quickly cut it off and switched to Kamui black soft -- love them and no maintenance required and no mushrooming.

Recently tried a clear Kamui black soft on a second hand snooker shaft I bought. Seemed a bit harder than the regular Kamui black soft and I miscued a bit at first but it's starting to break in fine the more I play with it. Could be the snooker shaft itself plays harder since it's made of ash versus the maple shafts I'm used to?
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I think it might be more that the Kamui Blacks are starting to run harder than they used to: The black mediums are like old black hards and the black softs are now more like old black mediums.

To put it in a nutshell I dont think their quality control is what it used to be.
 
pw98 said:
I think it might be more that the Kamui Blacks are starting to run harder than they used to: The black mediums are like old black hards and the black softs are now more like old black mediums.

To put it in a nutshell I dont think their quality control is what it used to be.
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IMO they always played a little harder than the rating. The Black Softs always felt like a med. to me. I think they're waaaaaaay overpriced.
 
garczar said:
IMO they always played a little harder than the rating. The Black Softs always felt like a med. to me. I think they're waaaaaaay overpriced.
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Yep, I saw a chart that had all the black and brown Kamui tips rated by hardness. The blacks across the board were harder than the browns. Guess that's why I used to play with Kamui brown mediums and the Kamui black med. was too hard for me. Like you said the Black softs feel like a med. to me.

As for being overpriced. Yeah. But, I play 16-20 hrs/wk and they last me 4 yrs or so. $35 (Kamui) - $10 (cheaper tip) = $25 / 4 yrs = approx. $6 / yr. extra. To me, a small price to pay for no mushrooming and the only maintenance I need to do is wipe the chalk off before I put my stick in its case.

As for quality control. If they make them harder in the future, there's always their super soft.
 
WoodyJ said:
Yep, I saw a chart that had all the black and brown Kamui tips rated by hardness. The blacks across the board were harder than the browns. Guess that's why I used to play with Kamui brown mediums and the Kamui black med. was too hard for me. Like you said the Black softs feel like a med. to me.

As for being overpriced. Yeah. But, I play 16-20 hrs/wk and they last me 4 yrs or so. $35 (Kamui) - $10 (cheaper tip) = $25 / 4 yrs = approx. $6 / yr. extra. To me, a small price to pay for no mushrooming and the only maintenance I need to do is wipe the chalk off before I put my stick in its case.

As for quality control. If they make them harder in the future, there's always their super soft.
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https://www.kamuibrand.com/en/hardness-standard They rate them the same for hardness but differently for elasticity. Whatever. The browns are harder. Always have been.
 
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