wraps Irish linen vs leather

berlowmj said:
Are there differences in playability & feel or is it purely an issue of personal preference?
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I played with Irish Linen for a long time, and switched to leather. I didn't like it at first, but now I really think it is better for me. I can keep a looser grip on the cue for some reason. But both are good and bad in different ways I think.
 
its more a preference thing...but leather doesn't fray and its doesn't get dirty as easily. those would be my two pros for leather. but linen just looks and feels old school like a cue should IMO.
 
I think there is

berlowmj said:
Are there differences in playability & feel or is it purely an issue of personal preference?
Click to expand...

First of all I do not have sweaty hands...... I picked up a old Willie Hoppe cue with a leather wrap. After playing with it. I noticed that my right hand was sweating. This happened every time I played with that cue. I wonder if anyone else has come across that problem with the leather wrap?
It never happens with a Irish Linen wrap. I have an old Palmer with Irish linen wrap that I play with and I love it. I also like the look that Irish Linen has over Leather.
 
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this is a great post. I was going to post the same question as I am about to pull the trigger on ordering a cue from Keith Josey. I have been debating switching from Irish Linen (which I have always played with) to leather. Thanks for posting!
 
i like leather wrap it feels slicker an it just feels better then Linen u can do a better slip stroke better with leather if u use a slip stroke
 
i use stacked leather wrap......love the feel and it looks great..........
 
Wraps

THere's a guy who actually done a study of the fuctionality of the wrap i remember how they ranked, i'll find the actual artical and repost tomorrow if i can find it but the ranking went like this in terms of the quality of the grip:

Wrapless = #1
Leather= #2
Linen = #3
 
Irish linen is better if you have a slip-stroke, ala Jimmy Moore and so many other great players. The linen slides easily on your hand. Leather is great if your hand does not slide during stroking. Not so many slip-strokers around anymore. :smile:
 
berlowmj said:
Are there differences in playability & feel or is it purely an issue of personal preference?
Click to expand...

The grip should match the hand (oilyness and do you sweat, are your hands naturally warm or cold) with the amount of tack/grip you want, there are different leather finishes with some being more porus than others. Leather in a cold pool room stays dry and firm too long for me (had a zam/leather wrap for over ten years). If your the type of person with warm hands and you like a tacky wrap, you may be able to keep the grip soft, unless you don't like it soft. It's such a personal thing, one almost has to play with each type of surface to realized what does/doesn't work for them. I had kirschenbrock, no wrap, was great, cept when I got near the finals, room got warmer/more humid, then the tacky lacquer finish started to slip. When I had my zam to keep the tack of the leather just right, I had to hold it in my lap with both hands to keep it just right....too much maintenance. Actually, there's no one simple answer, me I settled on linen, and the dirtier it got the more I liked it, a little hint, I never wash my grip hand during a match, only my bridge hand.
 
Leather wraps can be very different from each other. I had a flat black leather wrap that absorbed moisture very well. I bought another cue with lizard embossed leather wrap that was quite shinny and it didn't absorb moisture very well at all. I am currently playing with an elephant ear leather wrap that is flat black and it absorbs moister the best of the leather wraps I have tried.

My hands sweat only in a pressured situation and I don't like wraps that can't absorb moisture. Bottom line is if your hands have a tendency to sweat now and then I recommend you stay with a flat (no finish) leather wrap. If you never have a problem with a sweaty hands then a leather embossed "shiny" leather wrap is fine.

I also feel that Irish linen wraps absorb mositure pretty good but not as good as a flat black leather wrap (untreated).
 
I've always played with irish linen and i've never really found any reason to change to leather. I just get a new one about every five years or so. It has to be the best for hand sweating. Also, some leather wraps have a seam down the wrap. Stacked leather is nice with no seam.
 
berlowmj said:
Are there differences in playability & feel or is it purely an issue of personal preference?
Click to expand...
There is a very large factor of playability. If you want your hand to slip on the butt during the stroke, then you want a slippery wrap. If you want a more repeatable, consistent, simple stroke, like the vast majority of good players, then you don't want your hand to slip.

I find that if I'm playing with a slippery wrap, my grip hand has to tighten to get control of the stroke, and that seems to have bad results.

Carom players, who tend to use a lot of stroke on far more shots than pool players, nearly all use rubber grips. Easy power with a relaxed hand.
 
I had a ring tail lizzard put on my player, I think I may try stacked leather on another just to experiment. Tried an old sshelved player last night after reading this thread since I was experimenting now anyway-the irish linen felt pretty good...so did the old player!
 
What about cork?

Somebody was asking about cork wraps a few months ago, but they were asking about how and where to get it done. I've been dead curious to hear how it went, but now I can't remember who it was.

Does anyone have any experience of cork wraps? Moisture/ slip/ discoloring/ nicks/ rankings against the others... anything to report?
 
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