Tips on billiard cues

[mjantti]

I was wondering what kind of tips billiard players use in their cues. The billiard balls are quite heavy and sometimes force shots are needed and I think the tips cannot be too soft. Or am I wrong ?

The reason I'm asking this is because one of my friends, who is an avid Russian billiard fan, has problems with his tips. Russian billiards or sometimes called Pyramid has quite heavy balls, around the weight and diameter of a billiard ball. Well, my friend has tried many different tips, but almost all of them have mushroomed or cracked and can't take the heavy impact of a heavy pyramid ball.

Any tips on tips from billiard players ? (pun intended)

 

[Deno J. Andrews]

I use Moori Hards but each player has his own preference. I would suggest to your friend hard Moori tips. Some players do like soft tips, but the soft tips that have nice elasticity are hard to come by and I don't know of any brand that is consistent. It is basically a tip by tip deal.
Deno

 

[mjantti]

Thanks for the reply, Deno. One more question, do you leave the tip quite "tall" or do you sand it down a bit ? I think tall tips have higher tendency for mushrooming but can't say for sure.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Thanks for the reply, Deno. One more question, do you leave the tip quite "tall" or do you sand it down a bit ? I think tall tips have higher tendency for mushrooming but can't say for sure.

Normally 3-cushion doesn't require much power on most shots. I understand that Russian billiards is a lot different, and requires you to smash the ball into the pocket on pretty much every shot. Is that true?

I tried Mooris for artistic billiard shots, and they did not hold up well. I now just get LePros put on with the realization that some may not last long. A hard Moori may be worth a try, but around here they are about three times the cost, installed.

 

[CrownCityCorey]

I use Moori Hards but each player has his own preference. I would suggest to your friend hard Moori tips. Some players do like soft tips, but the soft tips that have nice elasticity are hard to come by and I don't know of any brand that is consistent. It is basically a tip by tip deal.
Deno

Try a Tiger Soft when you can. Made for 3 Cushion Billiards.

 

[12squared]

Ceuleman's Tips

Thought you might find this interesting:

I was lucky enough to be talking with Raymond Ceulemans last year during his time in Denver while giving a clinic about what tip he uses. Does everyone know who I'm talking about? Maybe the greatest 3-C player of all time. Anyway, he said he walks around his pool room and finds a good used tip on one of his house cues and puts it on his playing cue. If you think about it, that may be the perfect tip. You already know it's held up over time (didn't break down) and it won't mushroom because it's already past that stage. Of course it helps if you own a room or three . And, there's always a chance he was B.S.ing me, but I don't think so.

Good luck with finding your best recipe for tips.

Dave

 

[mjantti]

Normally 3-cushion doesn't require much power on most shots. I understand that Russian billiards is a lot different, and requires you to smash the ball into the pocket on pretty much every shot. Is that true?

Depends if they play object-ball-only Russian billiards (nowadays they usually do) . Then they need to use a lot of power. But if they play the traditional Russian billiards with cueball carom pocketing, then they use power much less often. Russian billiards players are masters at making the cueball from a carom.

 

[mjantti]

Thanks for your inputs. My friend solved the problem. Turned out that the ferrule was too soft to take the impact of heavy pyramid balls. When the ferrule started reshaping, the tip had to reshape too thus destroying a few tips.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... Turned out that the ferrule was too soft to take the impact of heavy pyramid balls. When the ferrule started reshaping, the tip had to reshape too thus destroying a few tips.

Was that a brass or plastic ferrule? All of the ferrules I've seen lately have no problem hitting carom balls (61.5mm) without spreading.

 

[mjantti]

Was that a brass or plastic ferrule? All of the ferrules I've seen lately have no problem hitting carom balls (61.5mm) without spreading.

Plastic. Most cues used for pyramid among Finns are usually made for the special Finnish game of Kaisa, which also has large and heavy balls, but not as quite as heavy as pyramid balls. The Kaisa cues are quite heavy (30-40oz) and most of them have brass ferrules. Russian players use a different kind of cues for their pyramid game. Don't know much about them though...

Off topic, I heard there was an old guy in the Northern part of Finland who used to make beautiful and complex butterfly spliced kaisa-cues. One cue had a fixed price: 2 or 3 (can't remember) bottles of Koskenkorva (traditional Finnish vodka)