Pool Cue News and Review

Wondering about the whole pool cue tip thing? Here’s what you need to know. Tips come with different densities. Tip density effects mushrooming. Get a soft cue tip like an Elk Master and you’ll be shaping the thing all the time. Get a hard tip like a Water Buffalo and you won’t need to shape it much, but its a bitch to scuff.

From what I can tell, the big advantage to a soft tip over a hard tip is control. If you use a soft tip, you should be able to get more english on the ball. If you’re a duffer like me though, you’ll probably want to go with a nice medium tip that will give you equal levels of control and durability. My Predator shaft has a Tiger Everest tip, which seems to work just fine.

As for different animal skins, I have no idea. Leather, pigskin, boar (wait… isn’t that just fancy talk for wild pig?), buffalo. There seems to be a tip for every tasty critter, but damned if I can tell the difference between playing with a leather tip or a pig tip. Just for you, my one and only loyal reader, I ganked the tip densities from Terry Macioge’s book “How To Tip A Pool Cue“:

Soft (Density = 60-65)
Elk Master - 60.1
Royal Oak - 66.5
Blue Knights - 61.2
Silver King - 60.3
Chandivert Eureka - 64.4
Porper Ram - 64.1
Stratos - 65.8
Tiger Laminated - 65.3
Moori - 63.8
Talisman - 64.3

Medium (Density = 66-75)
Tiger Sniper - 66.9
Chandivert Super Royal - 75.8
Porper Ram - 75.1
Tsunami - 75.8
Tiger Everest - 75.1
Tiger Laminated - 74.5
Moori - 74.2
Talisman - 73.9

Medium Hard (Density = 76-80)
Le Pro - 78.2
Triumph - 76.9
Chandivert Champion - 74.2
Chandivert Crown - 77.1
Chandivert Comprime - 78.7
Tiger Dynamite - 77.2
Wild Boar - 77.8
Talisman Pro - 77.0
Porper Majestic - 77.4

Hard (Density = 81-85)
Sumo - 82.0
Triangle - 81.4
Tsunami - 82.4
Stratos - 81.1
Tiger Laminated - 81.0
Stingray - 83.5
Chandivert Rocky - 82.1
Moori - 82.7
Talisman - 81.4

Extra Hard (Density = 86+)
Talisman - 86.1
Stratos - 87.3
Tiger Jump/Break - 99