Back around 1970-72, I purchased a dozen cues equipped with built-in rubber tips for a lodge recreation room. (Today I was looking online to see if I could find such a thing today.) Folks in this thread have theorized considerably, and make some good points, but only in theory. Rubber tips of a hard enough consistency work well, and “do” allow ease of putting English, backspin, etc., on the cue ball…entirely WITHOUT CHALK.
What this offers is:
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better English application for those who wish to apply extreme English (however a good stroke, proper and coordinated at the right strength does this fine without rubber…obviously)
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less need for extreme power shots, which are at times responsible for ripping table covering felt, etc.
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zero need for chalk, meaning that tables remain much cleaner (unless you use powder), costs for chalk over the years is nil, and you never “run out of chalk” (not that any of you would of course LOL) - We just had a couple seniors who decided to try out their new black chalk on our table. Golly what a mess! Black marks in the green…nasty. For my money, a chalk should be the same color as the felt…green…but alas, most people use blue. Go figure!
These tips were built-in, not glued on and not screw-on. Bad choice of manufacture I think, but that’s what they were. (I don’t know the manufacturer, and purchased them before the Internet was a public web.)
Some on the thread have talked about squishiness. Not all rubber is squishy, and today there are plenty of synthetic variations. I think that while this is logically valid, in practice and with today’s technology, it isn’t actually valid.
Some have talked about durability, and changes with humidity, etc. I think the latter is stretching a lot. As to durability, today’s synthetics and even yesteryear’s rubber are plenty durable. But consider that people today, as someone said, do not simply buy one cue, or one tip and expect it to last forever. There is no reason whatsoever that a rubber tip and rubber screw-on tip could not be marketed and be in use.
Will people resist them? Of course they will, and some would never touch one, just as some will never use a fiberglass, titanium shaft cue…despite the fact that in many ways they are simply better all around general use cues. People will resist using my new 350-degree, use in any situation bridge too, and my weighted AND balanced shorty cue, and my built-into-the-table design for bridging that does not need to be removed quickly to avoid being hit by a ball rebounding off the cushion. Two of these have had a rough draft prototype made and they work rather sweetly. People largely play 8-ball and 9-ball, etc., but for those of us who like 14:1 straight pool, snooker, etc., it is a big deal to have a shot that you just can’t get to even with a bridge. I’m 65 now, but I hope to change that scenario before I turn full frog. Never assume that because something has been considered, tried, and discarded, that it is not viable. Often things are discarded because the manufacturers can make more money selling other and often older less efficient items. Money does indeed talk.
When you want to make a 6-rail kick shot accurately, so that the cue ball tracks exactly where you expect it to in order to arrive, English is everything. If I can find some existing rubber cue tips, you can believe I will try them out again. The youngsters at the lodge thought it was cool to break all 12 cues in short order, and I moved on to other things not at the lodge.
