What tip should I use on my billiard cue?

They are so small that sometimes we do not pay attention to them. We spend months without changing or worrying about them, but they are essential. The modern pool is not understood without the tip, a billiard component with two centuries of history.

It was Captain François Mingaud who discovered in 1807 that this small piece of leather placed on the cue head could allow us to make new shots and many blunders could be avoided. Since then the market has evolved in techniques and materials to offer today a huge variety of cue tips, almost a hundred of them. Let's see what we have in mind when choosing them.

All Pool tips have a diameter of between 10 and 14 mm, the latter being the most common measure. The prices range from a few cents for a basic tip up to 20 euros per unit for the Predator Victory, the Kamui Clear Black or Moori, among others. What makes them more expensive? They are laminated tips, they resist the shots better and offer the player many possibilities when applying effects.

The other great feature of the tips to consider is their hardness. They can be soft, intermediate and hard, and based on that, the feeling when shooting will be different. In general, soft tips, like Elk Master, Tiger or Kamui Black, retain the chalk better, absorb the impact more and allow greater control over the effects of the white ball, but, however, they deform faster and require more maintenance. The hard tips, like Moori hard or Kamui Black hard, however, resist the shots longer and do not require replacement as often, but absorb the impact less and are therefore more prone to gaffes when you play with effects.

Why nowadays the best tips are laminated? The piece of leather has multiple layers, one above the other. That makes the tip much more consistent and uniform, which means that lasts longer and deforms less.

Until a few months ago I used to play with a basic Bear shaft without laminated tip. Changing my shaft to a Predator 314 2 laminated shaft, has been a radical change and now I am very satisfied with the tip that comes by default on the Predator shaft, a Tiger Everest 14 mm, a very resistant laminated tip with medium hardness.

Billiard brands say we should change the tip every six months, but we usually don’t do it. We keep playing with it because it has not been consumed and gives us the feeling that still works well, but after a time it loses all its qualities. We should be more cautious with the tip, because it is where energy from the cue is transmitted, with the help of chalk, towards the white ball.

By the way, my tip turns half a year in August. We will have to find a replacement soon :)

Tell us in the comments what tip you use and what your favorites are.