Proper cue tip storage (?)

cigardave

cigardave

Who's got a light?
Silver Member
Is there one? Based on my recent experience, there may be one.

Several years ago (~4?) I bought ten (10) domed (pre-shaped) Talisman Medium Pro tips from Tony's website and stored them in a very small ziplock that was kept inside a cue case zippered pouch. I don't know if the ziplock was even sealed. It may have been. I live here in the Seattle area where the ambient relative humidity varies from 50 - 80% on average... and the temperature extremes are rather mild.

Last week my cuemaker replaced a couple of tips for me and while turning down the tips on his lathe (using a razor blade) he commented on how hard the tips were... and now that I have hit some balls with them, he's right!! They are extremely hard. They don't play anywhere near the way that they did shortly after I received them. I'll have them replaced soon.

Does anybody have any insight on why that happened?

BTW, Tony's tips are shipped out of the Chicago area.

I'm going to send Tony an email re this as well.

And I started a similar thread in the Ask the Cuemaker forum as well but there's not much traffic there... and there's a lot of knowledgeable people here.
 
Cue Tips Storage

If you are going to save the tips for a long time, put them in a Humidor (cigar case) and let the tips out a couple of days before you use them to get ambient.
Some people put them in the freezer in a sealed freezer bag and let them out a week or so before use, if a layered tip you may use leather treatment spray before storage (shoe type is good)
That is just some ideas I have used in about 20 years of changing tips
Good luck
Ps. I would like to hear other ideas too
 
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Issue Update:

Tony Jones of Talisman Billiards responded to my email late last night and although they haven't tested his theory, he believes that the tips have hardened due to having dried out while unprotected in Seattle's climate.

He went on to tell me that he has similar tips that are eight (8) years old that are in a sealed ziplock in his desk drawer and they still install and play well... so I guess that my storage method (likely the un-sealed ziplock) is responsible for what happened... lesson learned.

Regardless of my mistake, Tony has generously offered to replace all of the tips that have hardened under his Iron Clad Satisfaction Guarantee.

Thank-you very much, Tony. :thumbup2:

And he also advised me that they changed their glue formula 18 months ago and he expects that I will discover that the replacement tips will play better than the first batch that I bought. Sounds good to me. ;)
 
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