Information on Soft Cue Tips for Billiards

Soft cue tips are made in such materials as leather, pig skin, water buffalo hide, rubber and synthetic polymers. The hardness each are used for different games and levels of control by professionals. A soft cue tip offers varying degrees of cue ball control as opposed to the more unwavering, solid hard cue tip.

  1. Control

    • Soft tips make more solid contact with the cue ball than a hard tip due to compression. This gives an adequately chalked soft tip more of a "grab" on the cue ball, and thus more control. Some players believe, however, that a soft tip can't apply English to the cue ball the way that a harder tip can. Soft tips "soak up" chalk crystals rapidly, so chalk a soft tip frequently and thoroughly. It is each player's preference as to whether or not a soft tip is right for her. Experiment with tips in varying degrees of hardness, until you decide which tip works best for you.

    Sizes

    • Soft tips, like hard tips, come in varying sizes and levels of softness, expanding upwards into a "medium" tip. In measurements of density, a soft tip can range from 66 to around 79 durometers, with the latter being closer to a medium-soft tip. In terms of diameter, soft cue tips range from 11 mm to 15 mm. The smaller the diameter, the less wavering of the tip, which could be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your viewpoint. The radius at the top of a soft tip ranges from about 6 mm to 9 mm. Flatter tips create less spin on the ball after impact.

    Maintenance

    • Soft tips tend to mushroom and flatten out quicker with each stroke, as opposed to a hard tip, which possesses stability and the reliability to keep its shape after constant use. Soft tips will dent easily following powerful strokes. A quick fix for an indentation is to file the tip down, favoring the edges, until the tip surface is flat again. On the whole, soft tips require more upkeep than hard tips and need to be replaced frequently. An average player using a soft tip should aim to replace his tip no more than once a month. If you find yourself replacing it more than once a month, bump up the density of your soft tips. When applying a new tip to the ferrule, make sure the ferrule is void of leather remnants from the last tip. The ferrule surface should be completely flat but rough, so that the glue holds effectively.