If You Like Rock Hard Solid Tips, These’ll Rock Your Boat…

SnookerZone has reviewed no less than 12 tips for the Equipment Zone so far and in this post, we review a tip that’s been on the market a while but is always worth a mention.

The Talisman Pro tips are high-quality pigskin laminated tips and come in a pack of three.

The spiel on the Talisman website says this…

Talisman consistency is the basis of our business and very strict quality control standards ensure that all products meet the rigid standards imposed. Our secret glue formula used with only the very highest quality raw materials have created cue tips that are just a dream to play with. You will notice this from the very first game you play, after having installed a Talisman. They may take an hour or two to initially settle down, during which time you may have to reshape a little. After that they should require very little maintenance.

At first, when you get them – they don’t look anything much, but – when you get to play them you will realise that they are a well-made, solid quality tip.

This tip wasn’t a sample. We were on Twitter looking at snooker related stories for SnookerZone and noticed a tweet from an ex-pro, Fraser Patrick (see our interview with him, here), who was selling some tips he wasn’t using. We bought three: An exquisite, a Talisman Pro and Trinity.

We’ve already reviewed the Exquisite. Read our review, here, now!

Onto the Talisman…

Fraser Patrick sent a medium. When this was glued onto SnookerZone’s Cue Craft cue, we had an initial knock with it and found that although they’re a medium, they felt a lot harder than your average medium tip. After trying out a few tips, as a player, you will start to realise that some tips feel harder than others, despite the grade.

Feel of the Talisman Pro

These appeared hard – but were very effective for screw backs. There was plenty of spin generated by them and although on the Talisman website, it says it will take a time to get used to them, SnookerZone found that we had bedded it in within half an hour! Even though it says at least two hours.

Talisman Pro: Shaping…

As for shaping, the website also said you may need to keep shaping every so often. So far, we’ve not needed to do that, but, in SnookerZone’s view, it’s a personal thing to how you like your tip shaped. The tip should be nicely shaped in a rounded dome, but, it isn’t compulsory to have it as rounded as a dome. As long as you can play the shots you need in snooker with it, then the shape is personal preference. These do hold their shape well…

One issue that was mentioned by Fraser was that he felt these had a potential for splitting. Many have suggested that you have to shape these carefully, and that’s true as well. However, when we shaped, we didn’t experience any problems and the tip seems to hold its own. SnookerZone has mentioned in the past about burning his tips (especially hard ones, as we feel it helps to spread the chalk easier. Sometimes, on very hard tips, the chalk can be a bit more uneven when spread. A small burn seems to help the chalk grip the tip better. Try it. If it doesn’t suit you, don’t. But it works for us! lol…

Pricing…

How do they compare to others? Again, on the website, it says they are reasonably priced to paraphrase. For the quality, you do get what you pay for and at roughly £20 for three, similar to Elk pros cost wise, for some, that might be classed as expensive. It’s all down to individual feel. If you like the clunkiness of a tip and air on the hard side, then these will rock your boat.

[bctt tweet=”A small burn seems to help the chalk grip the tip better. Try it. If it doesn’t suit you, don’t. But it works for us! lol…” username=”@chrisgaynor2″]

However, if you’re more into softer tips, then these may not be for you. We’d suggest trying the Whirlwind tips, they are quite soft in feel!

SnookerZone has a few more tips in the pipeline to review. They include…