No Matter what you think about anything else that you read on this web site (or anywhere else for that matter), the simple truth is that without a decent tip on your shaft, you might just as well be playing with a Mop Handle! Matter of fact, a Mop Handle with a decent tip glued to the end of it will probably play better than a $1000 custom cue with a bad tip!*

*Note -- Even a very expensive tip that is not properly maintained is still a "bad tip", so please don't think that an expensive but "poorly maintained" tip is acceptable...IT IS NOT!

Six questions to ask yourself about how you're playing -- Players are probably more passionate AND opinionated on the subject of the "BEST TIP TO USE" than on any other topic with respect to their cues, and frankly, I'm no exception.

So, that being said, let's start off with a basic assumption -- EVERY PLAYER that I've ever met is constantly on the look-out for something that will give them a competitive "edge" when they're shooting. Invariably, they are always evaluating their equipment by asking something analogous to the following six questions:

1. Am I happy with the performance of my cue?

2. Am I miscuing more than I think I should ?

3. Am I applying DRAW the way I want to?

4. Am I applying FOLLOW the way I want to?

5. Am I applying ENGLISH (side-spin) the way I want to?

6. Does the hit "FEEL" the way I want it to?

Lots of Choices -- Well, with ALL THAT out of the way, let's talk about tips. There are no fewer than 50 different tips that you can use on your cue (and I'm sure that the actual number is MUCH higher), so how are you going to choose....The choice of a tip is a personal thing and it stems from several factors, some of which is a fundamental understanding of the Tip itself.

When it comes to tips that are used in "standard play" there are two broad "tip types" which I will class as "regular" and "layered". Each class can be further broken down into four major categories: Cow Hide, Pig Skin, Boar Hide, or Water Buffalo Hide (I'm sure that there may be the odd exotic material or two used in tips slated for "standard play", but I'll choose to ignore them due to their lack of wide usage)*. These can further be broken down into "degrees of hardness" usually represented by the general terms of SOFT, MEDIUM, and HARD. Of course, as always, there are exceptions to the rule when it comes to Tip Manufacturer's classifications as you will see in the table below.

I have also included some new data that may help those of you who like to know PRECISELY how hard (or soft) a specific tip is. This new data is from Mueller Recreational Products and while I don't fully understand the method that they used to derive the data, they are a highly reputable reseller of billiard products (among other things) and do lot's of billiard repair work so I would tend to believe that their testing methods are sound.

The data that they provide categorizes tips into 5 scaled categories which are:

1. Soft -- 60-65 (Mueller Hardness Index or "MHI")

2. Medium -- 66-75 "MHI"

3. Medium-Hard -- 76-80 "MHI"

4. Hard -- 81-85 "MHI"

5. Extra hard -- 86 and up "MHI"

Now frankly, I don't know how big a statistical sample they took when they tested each manufacturer's tips, but the data is interesting and for all of you hard-core data geeks (like me) it may be worthwhile reading and internalizing. Of course, as we all know, tips can, and often DO, change their characteristics after you play pool with them for a while, so you should consider all of the Hardness Data to be "accurate" when the tip is FIRST INSTALLED and not necessarily valid after you've been playing with it for a few months.

While Table 1 is not an "exhaustive" list of all possible tips available, it does give a pretty fair representation of the "most popular" tips used by players.

* Note: Composite Materials (like Phenolic, Linen, etc) are also used for "specialized" jump cue and break cue tips which will be covered separately and not as part of this "standard playing tip" discussion. See the Specialized Tips section below for some thoughts on this subject.

None "officially" but considered by most to be a Hard tip

None "officially" but considered by most to be a Soft tip

None "officially" but considered by most to be a Medium tip

Hard

Medium (M)

Medium-Hard (M-H)

Champion: Medium-Hard with a fiber backing

Crown: Hard

Eureka: Soft

Match: Medium

Rocky: Super-Hard

Super Royal: Medium

Laminate: Medium-Hard (Layered Tip)

Slow (S) which is their version of a Soft tip

Medium (M)

Quick (Q) which is their version of a Hard tip

Slow (S) which is their version of a Soft tip

Medium (M)

Quick (Q) which is their version of a Hard tip

Soft (S)

Medium (M)

Hard (H)

Medium-Hard (M-H)

This is difficult to say based on Manufacturer's claims, but in using them I have personally found the tips to be in the Medium-Hard range

This is difficult to say based on Manufacturer's claims, and since I have no experience with them, I candidly don't know what to think :-)

Soft (S)

Medium (M)

Medium-Hard (M-H)

Hard (H)

Extra Hard (X)

Medium (M)

Hard (H)

Medium (M)

Hard (H)

Extra Hard (X)

Hard (H)

1. What is your particular style of play?
   1. Do you use lot's of English (side-spin)?
   2. Do you mostly use Center-Ball hits?
   3. Do you use lot's of Draw and Follow?
   4. Do you (typically) use a Hard/Fast stroke?
   5. Do you (typically) use a Soft/Slow stroke?
2. Do you typically play on Slow or Fast cloth?
3. Do you LIKE to experiment, or are you resistant to change?
4. How much is TOO MUCH to spend on a tip?

Generalizing tip performance -- Candidly, if there was a simple formula that I could give you that would "spit out" the right tip based on the simple questions above, I would be rich and be a consultant to all the Tip Manufactures on the planet, but it's just not that objective! It really all boils out to the ever elusive "FEEL" issue, and what feels good to one player, doesn't necessarily feel good to the next player.

I can however try to help by describing some basic "truths" about tips, and I hope you don't feel that I'm too far out on a limb  when I use the following statements:

1. Softer tips will let you spin the cue ball with greater ease than Harder tips given the same stroke

2. A well chalked Hard tip will still miscue more often than a well chalked Soft tip -- "I bet this generalization will be hotly contested by some people reading this" :-)

3. Softer tips generally lose their shape faster than Harder tips (more mushrooming)

4. Layered tips "seem" to apply English (side-spin), Draw and Follow more easily than Non-Layered tips of the same hardness

5. Softer tips "feel softer"...duh!. Conversely, Harder tips "feel harder"...double duh!

Recommendations, but the choice is yours! -- It is my personal opinion that Layered tips perform better than Regular tips of the same general "hardness level" when it comes to "standard play" especially if your style of play includes the use of any form of SIDE SPIN (English). Layered tips also outperform regular tips when it comes to applying FOLLOW and DRAW as well, and for me, are less prone to miscuing when applying extreme spin (or when I've done a less than stellar job of applying chalk to my tip). They also appear from my experience and the experience of the many players whose tips I've replaced, to have more "consistency" from tip to tip and stay "groomed" longer with far less mushrooming than all the other types of "regular" tips I've ever used. Of course, even layered tips are "not all created equal" with some of them able to perform better over the long haul than others, but again, this along with all the other statements I've made are more "subjective" than "objective", and candidly, I don't know of any definitive scientific study ever done on the subject.

So now what???? Well, if you can afford the time and the expense, the best method to find the "perfect tip" for yourself is to perform some experiments and I would suggest that you try a variety of tips before you decide on which one works best for you and your style of play. Of course, this approach is "dangerous" to your game and can lead to your game being "thrown off" for a while because you will need to "adjust" to the different performance characteristics of the new tip

What I typically suggest to people that have 2 shafts (preferably identical) with their favorite playing cue, is that they use one shaft as an EXPERIMENTAL TIP PLATFORM so that they can try a variety of tips and perform an active comparison with their "standard playing tip". Give yourself and the new tip an opportunity to "become friends" for a while before you decide whether it's better or worse than your standard tip. To minimize the experimentation (and the expense) I suggest that you see how many of your buddies are using the tip you're interested in and see if you can play a rack or two with their cue (you better be a REALLY GOOD FRIEND or the answer will be NO...loaning someone your cue is in some sense like letting them drive your car...you REALLY need to trust the person) to see if it's "way off base" or not.

I would suggest that you start off with the tip you "think" will be the best using your original tip as a baseline...if the tip you're currently playing with is layered, it's unlikely that you'd want to go back to a regular tip, so don't waste your time. If you're using a Medium tip and are happy with the feel, don't waste your time going to a Harder tip unless you're looking to change your definition of "feel", you'll be better off trying a different Brand with Medium hardness....get the point?!

Finally, no matter what tip you choose in the long-run, if it isn't well maintained, your game will suffer This text is currently hidden (see my page on Tip Maintenance).

As one last general rule of thumb...do yourself a favor and buy and install (or have it installed) the VERY BEST tip that you can afford (or at least are willing to spend). There is nothing worse in my opinion than someone who chooses to put a $.50 tip on a $400 cue JUST BECAUSE they think that spending a few extra dollars on something so "trivial" as the TIP is stupid! This is one area that will ABSOLUTELY improve your game and once you "hone in" on the tip that works best for you (including that $.50 tip...ugh!) stick with it and stop experimenting.