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Article Title: All About Pool Cue Tips
Author: Bob Meucci
Word Count: 917
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?id=13661&ca=Sports
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Do you think that your choice in tips is the right choice or
simply politically correct? What I mean by politically correct
is, is your choice in tips controlled by the opinion of your
peers or some professional player that you know, or is it based
on fact? By the end of this article you should be able to answer
this question for youself.

What are the differences in pool cue tips?

As you probably already know, you have everything from very
soft singlepiece animal skin tips from various types of animals
(elk, cow, water buffalo and cape buffalo) to very hard single
piece animal skins. There is also the laminated tips ranging
anywhere from three to fifteen layers. The laminated tips also
range from soft to extremely hard using various animal skins
and tannages. The end result is a myriad of confusing choices.
I would like to unmuddy the water for you somewhat. All of
these variables can impact power, accuracy, and your sight
picture.

First let's assume that you already know that the shape or
radius of the tip is of utmost importance and must be
maintained at all times during gameplay. That very important
shape that I just mentioned is the radius of a dime (roughly)
or a "0.375" radius. In other words, hold a dime edgewise up to
your tip and look over the top... If it does not match the shape
or radius of a dime on the top of your tip, you've already got a
problem.

When the ball is struck by the tip, the portion of the tip that
takes the force is no more than an eighth of an inch offcenter
in all directions. This is true regardless of whether you've
struck the cue ball a sixteenth off center, or a full tip off
center. What this radius does is generate the force, regardless
of where it is struck, to the center of the tip and down through
the center of your cue. Soft tips create more distortion than
harder tips. In otherwords, a larger area of the tip makes
contact and wraps around the cue ball in the case of a soft
tip. This may give you more tip confidence, particularily if
you're a beginner, because you will miscue less, despite having
a sloppy stroke; but, the price you will pay is less power and a
whole lot more deflection of the cue ball, because you have
moved all of the tip to one side of the cue ball with virtually
no penetration. On the other hand, a hard tip will focus the
energy in a much smaller area at impact and will give you a
higher degree of penetration. When I speak of penetration, I
mean the force being directed to the cue ball by virtue of the
direction the cue is being swung or pointed and that force
penetrates the cue ball in the direction that the shaft or cue
is being driven. As an added bonus, a harder tip lasts longer.


What about miscueing with hard cue tips?

The simple fact of the matter is, that the small, glasslike
particles of chalk, which cause the friction, are held higher
up on the surface on a hard tip so that they will penetrate
deeper into the surface of the cueball at impact. A soft tip
allows more particles to come into contact because of it's
increased tip surface at impact; however, though there be more
particles in contact with the cue ball, it does not penetrate
the cue ball as deeply and therefore creates less friction per
particle. Bottomline: You have the choice of either more
particles penetrating less or fewer particles penetrating
more... The net total friction is about a trade-off. Whether
the tip you choose is one single piece of hide or laminated
multipe pieces of hide, the key issue is the more penetration
means more accuracy, more power, and tremendously less cue ball
deflection and negative effects on your sight picture. As a side
note: You've probably noticed, if you've played much, that a tip
plays its best just before it has to be changed. This is because
it has been pounded enough through constant play to make the tip
more dense (harder in all areas).

What does Meucci Originals do with this information?

After testing every tip on the market, and measuring it's
resultant power and deflection variation, we have found that a
hard tip with even harder outside edges around the
circumference will perform the best. Harder outside edges so
that the energy is directed into the cue will be focused more
towards the center of the shaft, while at the same time keeping
the outside walls of the tip from breaking down. There is only
two ways to get this result: 1. A hard water buffalo tip. or 2.
To compress the tip of your choice as hard as you can, then
shape to a dime radius and then pound the outside edges to
further harden the circumference and reshape that area to be
once again a dime radius.

We take both the latter and former choice at Meucci Originals
with the well-known Le Professional tips or hard water buffalo
tips. I hope I haven't caused you even more confusion. I think
the choice should now be simple: your choice should be made
according to knowledge and experience instead of the fashion of
the day.


About The Author: Bob Meucci is the owner of a pool cue
manufacturing company ( http://www.meuccicues.com/ ). More
information can be found at Budget Billiards pool cue tips page
( http://www.budgetcues.com/accessories/tips.htm ).
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