The great CHALK DEBATE, Blue v/s Green

CocoboloCowboy

Cowboys are my hero's
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Our Recreation Center reopened after being closed two week, now about the Chalk, some of the table were recovered, and there is now talk about the HOUSE CHANGING from Master Blue, to Master Green to cut down maintenance?

I really don't care as our cloth is Green, I bring my Own Chalk, Pre Flag Master Green, so if the house changes to PINK I do not care as long as they don't say NO GREEN.

Personally think Green is not as Messy as Blue on Green Cloth.

Any input?
 
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The poolroom i used to play in switched from blue masters to green masters a couple years ago. EVERYONE that played there immediately HATED it! We all miscued more and it just didnt coat the tip the way the blue did. Maybe they just got a bad batch who knows........
 
Master Blue chalk outsells all other colors of Masters chalk. Therefore Masters Blue tends to always be more fresh in its quality than the other colors. Because the other colors are more dry for being in storage longer than the Masters Blue you tend to experience more miscue issues with the non-blue colors of Masters chalk.
 
Our Recreation Center reopened after being closed two week, now about the Chalk, some of the table were recovered, and there is now talk about the HOUSE CHANGING from Master Blue, to Master Green to cut down maintenance?

I really don't care as our cloth is Green, I bring my Own Chalk, Pre Flag Master Green, so if the house changes to PINK I do not care as long as they don't say NO GREEN.

Personally think Green is not as Messy as Blue on Green Cloth.

Any input?



As you know I own a Pool Room some of my tables are covered in Blue and some are covered in Green Simonis 860 HR. As far as the color of Masters Chalk is concerned Blue or Green really doesn't make that much difference. At least in my Room chalk is not the problem, the problem is how some people use the chalk.

Some people have never been taught how to properly apply chalk to their tip. As most know when chalking a cue, chalk should be applied by brushing chalk on the cues tip, not by placing the cube of chalk on the tip and turning it until you drill a hole through the middle of the cube of chalk. In addition when chalking the tip, it should be done away from the table, and if you do not use a pocket chalker the chalk should not be placed on the rail exposed chalk side down.

Hope this helps Cowboy.
 
I had been curious about Master green for a while. I finally managed to find a piece without committing to a whole box. Not for me.

Managed to find a piece of spruce (a darker green) and it's acceptable, better than light green.

I still like blue the best.
 
I used green for 20 plus years and just recently switched to blue when I went to blue felt on my table. I can tell no difference.
 
Kind of off topic but is anyone else irked when there's two different colors of chalk on the table at one time? For some reason it really bothers me when I chalk with a different color than the one thats already on the tip. Makes for a cool tie-dye pattern on the tip though.......
 
Too much time on my hands...

Because I am the kind of guy who weighs tips and balls and neurotic nonsense like that i did some testing. I felt the consistency of 12 pieces each of master blue, green, grey and pre flag Green. I used unscented moisturizer free baby wipes to clean my right index finger after each rub totally not joking. I also weighed them 12 pieces of each except for the green I weighed two 12 piece boxes of green (very inconsistent sizes). All of the chalk was taken from 12 piece boxes (not the gross boxes I also have).

I figured moisture would have a impact on the test so for background my chalk is stored at 80 degrees (my utility room) and I live in New Mexico so not much ambient moisture. First of all all the chalk felt exactly the same and adhered to my finger with startling regularity. And all the flag master was very irregular in size and shape some boxes (blue about .75 mm thicker than any other color.) therefore weight for flag master kinda irrelevant. But they varied between an average weight in grams of 16.518g for Green to 17.581g for blue. The average for the pre flag was 18.6g and here is the only major difference that I could see for sure. The pre Flag has way higher quality control and was a little bigger in size than the Flag. The labels adhered better to the pre flag chalk and the chalk fit better in the labels (a few pieces of green actually have a whole side of paper that can't touch the chalk bc/ it is too skinny by 1.25mm) but to my touch it all feels the same.

I kinda think the differences people attribute to the whole pre flag post flag thing is really a observation of how drastically moisture affects chalk adhesion and how drastically temperature affects a tip's ability to hold chalk.

Also the prevalence of magical thinking in pool and maybe a common lack of sustainable consistent performance and routine by most pool players.

:smile:
 
How 'bout the red chalk?

Because I am the kind of guy who weighs tips and balls and neurotic nonsense like that i did some testing. I felt the consistency of 12 pieces each of master blue, green, grey and pre flag Green. I used unscented moisturizer free baby wipes to clean my right index finger after each rub totally not joking. I also weighed them 12 pieces of each except for the green I weighed two 12 piece boxes of green (very inconsistent sizes). All of the chalk was taken from 12 piece boxes (not the gross boxes I also have).

I figured moisture would have a impact on the test so for background my chalk is stored at 80 degrees (my utility room) and I live in New Mexico so not much ambient moisture. First of all all the chalk felt exactly the same and adhered to my finger with startling regularity. And all the flag master was very irregular in size and shape some boxes (blue about .75 mm thicker than any other color.) therefore weight for flag master kinda irrelevant. But they varied between an average weight in grams of 16.518g for Green to 17.581g for blue. The average for the pre flag was 18.6g and here is the only major difference that I could see for sure. The pre Flag has way higher quality control and was a little bigger in size than the Flag. The labels adhered better to the pre flag chalk and the chalk fit better in the labels (a few pieces of green actually have a whole side of paper that can't touch the chalk bc/ it is too skinny by 1.25mm) but to my touch it all feels the same.

I kinda think the differences people attribute to the whole pre flag post flag thing is really a observation of how drastically moisture affects chalk adhesion and how drastically temperature affects a tip's ability to hold chalk.

Also the prevalence of magical thinking in pool and maybe a common lack of sustainable consistent performance and routine by most pool players.

:smile:

A place where I played for a while, put new red Simonis on their tables (I believe because it's cheaper than green or blue) and of course went to red chalk too.

In the past, and once again, I found that I miscued with the red, something I rarely do with the blue or green.

Any opinions on this?

Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
 
860 cloth

i have used the blue chalk on my tables, i have had 4 different tables in the last 40 years, and it seems that my hands were always dirty. was told the green was cleaner. i had a box of green that came with the brunswick table i bought about 8 years ago. so i decided to give it a try. my hands, shaft and table are much cleaner using the green, and in my opinion it plays same as the blue.
cleaner, plays the same, cost the same = no brainer for me
 
i have used the blue chalk on my tables, i have had 4 different tables in the last 40 years, and it seems that my hands were always dirty. was told the green was cleaner. i had a box of green that came with the brunswick table i bought about 8 years ago. so i decided to give it a try. my hands, shaft and table are much cleaner using the green, and in my opinion it plays same as the blue.
cleaner, plays the same, cost the same = no brainer for me

If you want to talk about Chalk, Skip at Tweetens is the man, he tell you how it is, and why Chalks work.

As for Master it is all the same, per Skip be it any color, just different DYE Color to make it what ever color it is. The Flag that appeared was all about 911, and supporting the USA, and the Chalk post & pre 09/11/01 is the same.
 
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When He invented the game, He intended cloth to be green and the chalk to be blue. :wink:
 
Chalk Should Match Felt Color

At Everything Billiards, we supply our customers with the color chalk that matches the felt. This prevents unsightly, different-colored chalk marks on the felt.

- Everything Billiards
 
Not a choice between green or blue for me. It's...

Grey or gold. Doesn't stain the hand, the ferrule, or the shaft. Gold leaves more noticeable marks on the cloth. Grey, not so much. Either way, it's not my job to clean the table at the taproom.
 
A place where I played for a while, put new red Simonis on their tables (I believe because it's cheaper than green or blue) and of course went to red chalk too.

In the past, and once again, I found that I miscued with the red, something I rarely do with the blue or green.

Any opinions on this?

Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor

Could be lots of things. I have alson noticed that it is harder to play consistently on red tables. On a quick google search for humans perception of red I found this (click me) and the photo below. Pool is a visual game our ability to objectively and accurately evaluate the position of the balls in a three dimensional space has a very real impact on our ability to use those evaluations to execute you shot. My wife loves to tell people how when we first met one of the first things I told her was "why don't you look at the shot before you take it!" clearly I am quite the ladys man...:smile

.........
Eyesensitivity.png
 
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Serval years ago Pool and Billiard did a piece on chalk...The conclusion was that Green was the best one to use...They said Blue has so much dye in it you sometimes can't tell if your tip really needs chalk because your tip has been dyed blue...Also Blue makes more of a mess on table, hands shaft etc. ..Not my words, this from Pool and Billiard....
So I switched to Green to give it a try...I have been using it for 9 years now....No miscuing....I have also used Tan chalk for awhile and no miscues...Tan chalk does show on blue cloth though....
I do think Green keeps things a little cleaner but I think any color chalk does the job on your tip...Can't blame miscues on the chalk...Any color works....
 
The decision maker & bill payer is going to get enough Green Master for 25 or all the 29 Tables, and see if clean up is easier, and we have less mess. I can not wait to hear the crying.
 
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Yep, preflag green is the way to go, its different chalk than postflag green. Leaded vs. unleaded (in the dye). Also green should be less visible on green cloth, but that doesn't mean there's less mess to clean up.
 
As you know I own a Pool Room some of my tables are covered in Blue and some are covered in Green Simonis 860 HR. As far as the color of Masters Chalk is concerned Blue or Green really doesn't make that much difference. At least in my Room chalk is not the problem, the problem is how some people use the chalk.

Some people have never been taught how to properly apply chalk to their tip. As most know when chalking a cue, chalk should be applied by brushing chalk on the cues tip, not by placing the cube of chalk on the tip and turning it until you drill a hole through the middle of the cube of chalk. In addition when chalking the tip, it should be done away from the table, and if you do not use a pocket chalker the chalk should not be placed on the rail exposed chalk side down.

Hope this helps Cowboy.

I agree, use green or blue...makes sense, It' blends in? The Master Gold enthusiastic people? It's just food coloring?

If I had a pool room, I would put up a big sign that say's blue/green chalk only.

I still use Brunswick Chalk, only available in blue?
 
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