Kamui Soft Black hardening up

It seems I have fake kamuis.... they don´t last 2 months, I have a Black S on my playing cue and It´s driving me crazy. It became really hard and I miscue a lot with it, I used the gator grip, 80 grit sand paper and nothing seems to work. Some in here will say it´s the stroke, but I practiced full table length draw with my break cue (Phenolic) and no miscues at all, this kamuis are being a pain in the neck.

The brown ones feels better, but they mushroom a lot too. Maybe I´m getting fake kamuis..........

Wow, makes me wonder if I just got lucky with the few I have bought. If I spent 20 dollars on a tip I expect it to be not only good but one of the best tips out there.
 
Wow, makes me wonder if I just got lucky with the few I have bought. If I spent 20 dollars on a tip I expect it to be not only good but one of the best tips out there.

My tip came directly from Kamui, and the one on my son's cue came from Players when he hot the HTX cue, so in my case I am sure that at least one of the tips are not fake.
 
This is correct. As I like to say, Kamui doesn't make a "Soft" tip. Their tips start at "Hard" and get harder.

I agree, the Soft felt about like a Medium Moori (the old school ones) to me. I think I'll order a couple of SS ones to try before I go looking for another brand.
 
I have a Kamui Soft Black on my Players HXTE10 (came standard with the cue). It gets about 2 hours of play a day, combo of hard, medium and soft hits. No breaking.

I haven't noticed any change in the tip's feel. The tip would glaze over pretty easily during the first couple of months, but since then it has been average. Quick dash with the 4EverTipTool and it holds chalk very well.

I'm not a real experienced player but I certainly wouldn't call it a hard tip compared to a few cues I've used that had med-hard to hard tips. There's no "ping" when striking the CB; the cue doesn't vibrate in my hand, etc.
 
Maybe it has something to do with it, but if you are not generating too much heat then it's probably something else.

Not a lot of heat at all, I don't use a lot of force on the tip tool, I can't spin it at the speed of a lathe even if I tried LOL

Maybe I'll have Webb take a look at it when I can get to RI again.
 
I have a Kamui Soft Black on my Players HXTE10 (came standard with the cue). It gets about 2 hours of play a day, combo of hard, medium and soft hits. No breaking.

I haven't noticed any change in the tip's feel. The tip would glaze over pretty easily during the first couple of months, but since then it has been average. Quick dash with the 4EverTipTool and it holds chalk very well.

I'm not a real experienced player but I certainly wouldn't call it a hard tip compared to a few cues I've used that had med-hard to hard tips. There's no "ping" when striking the CB; the cue doesn't vibrate in my hand, etc.

That is the exact cue my son has, he is complaining about the tip being too hard and thunking, my tip also feels about the same, I am actually a bit wary or putting a good stroke on the cue because it feels like it will just glance off the cueball. I think I need to take a bit off the top and see how it plays again after that.
 
That is the exact cue my son has, he is complaining about the tip being too hard and thunking, my tip also feels about the same, I am actually a bit wary or putting a good stroke on the cue because it feels like it will just glance off the cueball. I think I need to take a bit off the top and see how it plays again after that.

I´m trying the Tom´s ultraskins, from what I´ve heard they´re really good, and with the price of a single kamui you have a whole year covered:eek:
 
I agree, the Soft felt about like a Medium Moori (the old school ones) to me. I think I'll order a couple of SS ones to try before I go looking for another brand.

I have heard good things about ultra skin tips. The look similar to the Kamui's but I have no idea if they are made the same or not. At any rate they cost less that half of what a Kamui costs. I have considered giving them a try.
 
One word "ULTRASKINS" Loving these tips. Unless something else better comes along I won't play with anything else. Excellent price, control, and shaping. Holds chalk very well.

Black Cat :cool:
 
I have the super soft on one of my shafts. I haven't noticed a difference in over a year with the same tip. Do you tend to hit the balls hard? The only reason I ask is that I would think that a lot of hard impact on the tip will eventually cause the leather to harden some.

You have just gotten used to the changes as they have occurred.... I can almost guarantee the super soft has hardened 8-10 points on a scale d if you play much at all and do anything but slow roll the ball... I have tested enough of them to know... They usually harden 6 points in the first month for most players... I loved em.. for 6 weeks.....

Chris
 
I agree, the Soft felt about like a Medium Moori (the old school ones) to me. I think I'll order a couple of SS ones to try before I go looking for another brand.

Send me your address and I will send out one of the Outsville Ki-Tech One softs... These are a single layer tip that has been put thru multiple processes to up the COR and resistance to change...

The Ki-Tech Medium would be closer to a Kamui soft as an fyi.... And the Kamui ss will only stay soft for about a month before it's a medium...

Chris
 
You have just gotten used to the changes as they have occurred.... I can almost guarantee the super soft has hardened 8-10 points on a scale d if you play much at all and do anything but slow roll the ball... I have tested enough of them to know... They usually harden 6 points in the first month for most players... I loved em.. for 6 weeks.....

Chris

Wow, that's disappointing to hear. Thanks for the heads up though.
 
Send me your address and I will send out one of the Outsville Ki-Tech One softs... These are a single layer tip that has been put thru multiple processes to up the COR and resistance to change...

The Ki-Tech Medium would be closer to a Kamui soft as an fyi.... And the Kamui ss will only stay soft for about a month before it's a medium...

Chris

Thanks for the offer! I'll try it on my cue, if my son likes it we'll re-do our cues. Send a PM over.
 
Send me your address and I will send out one of the Outsville Ki-Tech One softs... These are a single layer tip that has been put thru multiple processes to up the COR and resistance to change...

The Ki-Tech Medium would be closer to a Kamui soft as an fyi.... And the Kamui ss will only stay soft for about a month before it's a medium...

Chris

Chris, is this the one you are sending me? Feedback on it?
 
Chris, is this the one you are sending me? Feedback on it?

Sending you the medium... Will likely send hang-the-9 A soft and medium since he has been playing with the Kamuis.. If the soft is too soft, which I doubt as long as it's shaped smooth, he can move up... I noticed he indicated sound in one of the posts... Sound and feel actually have a lot todo with each other for lots of folks... The soft is quieter and has a slightly softer feel than the medium but they are what I would call firm and not squishy...

Hard, Medium and Soft is pretty relative to the specific tip.. A soft in one construction may be more like a medium in another... You can use a durometer to measure the same tip for hard medium and soft but using the ratings to compare different tips won't always fall in line with what you would assume....
 
Sounds good man, thanks. I have two shafts so I can probably change out the other tip and give it a try to see which I like better.
 
Sending you the medium... Will likely send hang-the-9 A soft and medium since he has been playing with the Kamuis.. If the soft is too soft, which I doubt as long as it's shaped smooth, he can move up... I noticed he indicated sound in one of the posts... Sound and feel actually have a lot todo with each other for lots of folks... The soft is quieter and has a slightly softer feel than the medium but they are what I would call firm and not squishy...

Hard, Medium and Soft is pretty relative to the specific tip.. A soft in one construction may be more like a medium in another... You can use a durometer to measure the same tip for hard medium and soft but using the ratings to compare different tips won't always fall in line with what you would assume....

Hm.. the way I associate a "soft" tip with feel and sound, it will feel a bit like an eraser when it strikes the ball, no give like a mushy cheap house cue tip that feels like the tip compresses into the ferrule, but a bit of a grip and hold as it goes off the ball.
 
I played with a Kamui for a month or two before going back to my trusty Sniper. It was too hard for my tastes. There are too many good tips out there for me to waste time and money figuring out the non-standard Kamui scale and exactly how I have to break in a Kamui tip.
 
One of the things I have tried to do is to simply look at the performance of my equipment and not let the subjective things get in the way of equating the performance.

The main things that I pay attention to is:
1. Am I miscueing with this tip?
2. Am I drawing the cue ball with the same amount of effort? (Sometimes, I shape my tip more than other times)
3. Is the tip mushrooming or becoming misshapen with play?

If the answer is No to all of the above, I keep using the tip and only scuff and shape as necessary, although I try to scuff before each visit to the poolroom and more if needed.

I try not to worry about how it "sounds" or "feels". Maybe this is wrong and maybe it is the right way to consider things. Each to his own. That's mine. You have to watch yourself when complaining about not getting enough English. Most of the time, that is just you, not the tip.
 
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