Possible to play snooker with a 8.5mm tip??

[Dave Maguire]

Hey guys , just wondering , is it possible to play snooker with an 8.5mm tip?? a friend of mine is thinking of buying a second hand trevor white that is for sale in the club but it has an 8.5mm tip on it. Basically he is wondering , will an 8.5mm tip be able to do the same as a 9.5mm tip on a snooker table?? Dave

[jim evans]

it will prob do more if he's a very good cueist

[perpetualboredom]

Hey guys , just wondering , is it possible to play snooker with an 8.5mm tip?? a friend of mine is thinking of buying a second hand trevor white that is for sale in the club but it has an 8.5mm tip on it. Basically he is wondering , will an 8.5mm tip be able to do the same as a 9.5mm tip on a snooker table?? Dave

Only if you have a good cue action, as it's easier to add unwanted side.

[willtyson]

I once tried playing a little bit with an 8mm cue tip and to be honest it wasn't that bad! Only problem was a couple of miss cues with extreme top but got a very responsive cue ball when I hit it right. I personally wouldn't consider myself a great player, so really it's just depending if your friends got a good cue action or not. :snooker: I did change back to my 9.5mm tip though as the cue is a nicer one than my 8mm tipped one :snooker:

[Johnson88]

My friends highest break is 142 and he used a 7mm tip so yes it is possible lol

[trevs1]

Hey guys , just wondering , is it possible to play snooker with an 8.5mm tip?? a friend of mine is thinking of buying a second hand trevor white that is for sale in the club but it has an 8.5mm tip on it. Basically he is wondering , will an 8.5mm tip be able to do the same as a 9.5mm tip on a snooker table?? Dave

I think perhaps a more sensible answer would be yes, but it maybe depends on what he is used to using to date. If he is a player who has used nothing less than 9.5mm or over, then I'd suggest he leaves it alone, as the reduction in ferrule size will make the cue uncomfotable for him to use. If however he's used to maybe 9mm, then going back to 8.5mm would not be such a major step. The very best way to know is by trying the cue, he will surely know then what it feels like for him.

It's a little bit of a myth that smaller tips allow more reaction on the white ball too, as it depends far more on the playing characteristics of the particular cue. A smaller tip will maybe allow you to strike the ball a little lower, but only marginally so, and as such has limited affect on generating (extra) backspin on the cueball.

As a rule (speaking for myself only here) I'd never advise going less than 8.5mm for playing snooker, simply because it will mean more chances of problems with tips / ferrule over time, as well as the inherent weakness that an extremely small tip is very likely to have in terms of its ability to dominate the cueball.